Italy's last queen dies at 94

The late Maria Jose, pictured in Geneva aged 62

ROME, Italy -- Italy's last queen, Maria Jose, who reigned with her husband Umberto II for just 27 days, has died.

Vittorio Emanuele said his 94-year-old mother died in a Geneva hospital on Saturday night.

Maria Jose and Umberto reigned in the twilight days of the monarchy at the end of World War II before a referendum introduced the Italian republic on June 2, 1946.

Born Princess Maria Jose Charlotte Henrietta Gabriella of Saxony-Coburg on August 4, 1906, at Ostend, she was the daughter of King Albert and Queen Elizabeth of the Belgians.

She spent much of her childhood in Italy and royal biographers believe her marriage to then Crown Prince Umberto, son of King Vittorio Emanuele III, had been arranged at an early age.

They married in grand style in 1930 at the Quirinale palace, then seat of the royal family and now residence of the Italian president.

King Vittorio Emanuele III appointed Benito Mussolini prime minister in 1922, but as Mussolini's dictatorship reached its zenith both Crown Prince Umberto and Maria Jose were largely excluded from public life after gaining reputations as anti-fascists.

The royal couple divided their time between palaces in Turin, Naples and the Valle d'Aosta, producing four children -- Maria Pia, born in 1934, Vittorio Emanuele (1937), Maria Gabriella (1941) and Maria Beatrice (1943).

Criticisms after the war of Vittorio Emanuele III's role in the fascist regime led to his agreeing to abdicate on May 9, 1946, and to leave the future of the monarchy in the hands of the people.

Umberto and Maria Jose then reigned in the 27 intervening days until the referendum introduced the republic.

Maria Jose abstained in the referendum, but before the result heralding the Italian republic was known she and Umberto had left for Portugal.

The following year she left him and set up home in an 18th century villa at Merlingue near Geneva, working for the International Red Cross and writing several books about the Dukes of Savoy as well as a biography of her parents.

Forced to leave Italy when the monarchy was abolished, Maria Jose finally won the right 41 years later to return to Italy.

At the age of 81 and stooping over a walking stick Maria Jose made the first of several brief, low-key, return visits to Italy in March 1988.

The Italian constitution still bears a clause banishing male heirs of the house of Savoy, Italy's royal family, from returning to Italy.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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