Actress and aristocrat Ira de Fürstenberg dies at 83: Marbella says 'goodbye' to its princess

Virginia Carolina Theresa Pancrazia Galdina zu Fürstenberg, best known as Ira de Furstenberg, died this Monday in Rome at the age of 83. The aristocrat, known as the 'princess' of Marbella, was one of the most important figures of the jet-set in the golden years of the Malaga town.

Von Fürstenberg was the daughter of the prince Tassilo von Fürstenberg and the heiress Clara Agnelli (from the founding family of Fiat and owner of the Italian soccer club Juventus of Turin). She married the prince at the age of 15 Alfonso de Hohenlohe-Langenburggodson of Kings Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenia, and was the mother of two children: Christoph (died under strange circumstances in 2006 in a prison in Bangkok after being accused of manipulating the visa to stay in the Asian country) and Hubertus de Hohenlohe. This first marriage lasted just five years. In 1961, she married the famous playboy Francisco Pignatari in Las Vegas. They divorced in 1964.

She jumped into the media in the 1980s thanks to her role as an actress. In Spain she starred in some of the most popular films of the time, such as You will not want the neighbor on the fifth floorcon Alfredo Landa. Also very famous is the rumor that she was romantically linked to the prince. Rainier of Monaco.

A very important designer, she created more than 2,000 works of jewelry working by hand with materials such as quartz, rock crystals, porphyry, malachite and gilded silver, but also gold and jade, coral and ebony, mother-of-pearl and bronze. In addition, the aristocrat organized exhibitions of her jewelry throughout Europe.