Lights and shadows of Ira de Fürstenberg: from her famous romance with Rainier of Monaco to the mysterious death of her son

Multifaceted, talented, empowered, sophisticated, highly educated… Ira de Furstenberg He has been one of the great personalities of European high society. Born of the blue blood of Prince Tassilo von Fürstenberg and the millionaire heiress Clara Agnelli (Fiat family), she starred in her first scandal at the age of 15, when she married Alfonso de Hohenlohe-Langenburgthe driving force behind Marbella's golden era.

Two husbands and 'one' lover

The businessman was literally twice his age: he was 31 years old on their wedding day in 1955. The German-Spanish prince and his very young wife left Venice to settle in Marbella with a common dream: to convert it in the epicenter of glamor and the meeting place of the jet set in the 60s. “Marbella was a wild party where you entered and left with different people. One night it could be the Francos or the Bismarcks. Another Cayetana de Alba”Ira said in an interview.

After giving birth to her two children, Christoph and HubertusIra discovered that the quiet and submissive life was not for her and she let herself be loved by Francisco Baby Pignatari, a rich Brazilian businessman with whom he eloped to Florence. Accused of adultery, they were arrested in Mexico and after obtaining their respective divorces, they married in Las Vegas and settled in Brazil: “Going with Baby was a liberation for me. Pignatari helped me change the life I was leading, in who was always in the shadows, she was the woman of constantly If she had not appeared, she would never have had enough strength to leave Alfonso and start over. “I think Baby was the man of my life.”

This second marriage did not work either: she was 20 years old, he was 45. They divorced in 1964 and she swore never to remarry. She had lovers. The best known of all, Rainier. The prince of Monaco fell madly in love with Ira and even asked her to marry him after becoming the widow of Princess Grace. They caused a sensation when they appeared arm in arm at the Monaco Red Cross ball and other high-profile social events.

The soul of all parties

Ira had learned her lesson and wanted to enjoy herself without commitment. Her popularity skyrocketed and she tried her luck in the world of acting, acting in films like You Will Not Wish Upon Your Fifth Grade Neighbor and You will not desire the neighbor's wife (with Alfredo Landa) o Five dolls for the August moon. “I am in favor of women being able to do everything they want, that there are no barriers for them. But sometimes I have the feeling that they have become too aggressive now. “I have my character, I am a strong woman, but I always maintain my femininity.”decía Ira.

He also conquered the world of fashion and grabbed covers in Vogueposed for Helmut Newton and became one of his closest friends. Karl Lagerfeld. He also worked for Valentino y Chanel.

In the 90s, now at the age of 50, Ira took a turn in her professional life and entered the world of design. Her creations are handmade and exclusive and range from jewelry boxes to centerpieces. She has exhibited his work in the main capitals of the world (Paris, London, New York, Hon Kong) and they are sold at a stratospheric price in high society in which he moves like a fish in water. Among his clients is Corinna Larsenwho bought him a small fruit bowl in 2011 that he gave to the King Juan Carlos: “I have been a curious woman, dissatisfied by nature. One of those who, when she has achieved something, stops being interested in it. I suppose it's a bad thing, but that's how I am.”

The death of his son

Ira's life, however, was not always a party. She suffered the greatest worries as a mother. First, by divorcing her first husband and father of the children. The judge granted shared custody of the minors, who lived for six months with her mother in Brazil and another six with her father in Spain. However, Alfonso disobeyed the sentence and in one of those periods, the children never crossed the Atlantic again. She saw them, but she could never get them back: “That was very hard for me because Alfonso did not comply with the court's sentence.”

Years later, relations were reestablished, cordiality was recovered. And then, Ira suffered the greatest pain a mother can suffer: the death of her son. Kiko, as Christoph was called, died in a prison in Thailand. He had traveled to enter a weight loss clinic after gaining a few kilos in Manila. When he wanted to leave the country, he was accused of altering the expiration date of his passport to avoid procedures and went to prison, where he contracted an infection that turned out to be fatal. The family did not want to give details about what happened but according to the newspaper Corriere della SeraHohenlohe's death certificate speaks of a “simultaneous collapse of several organs caused by septicemia” (a generalized infection of the blood) and “accumulation of ketonic acids”, something normally linked to diabetes. “It was very hard. I miss Kiko enormously. He really liked Bangkok, he helped me buy material for my objects and gave me ideas. He accompanied me to everything, he was friendly, happy, special. He went with Valentino on his boat to Ibiza and he really liked Hawaii; I went to see him there in the summer, then we went to the Philippines, where Imelda Marcos, who loved him very much, gave him parties. He was very close to my life,” he confessed after his death.

Her mother never recovered from such a loss, which served, however, to unite her even more with Hubert, with whom he spent long periods in Marbella. The relationship with her daughter-in-law is also wonderful, Simona Gandolfi. “I had a very pleasant relationship with Kiko until he died. With Hubertus it has always been different… We get along well, but it hasn't always been like that. I think he didn't forgive me for leaving them to go with Pignatari, perhaps because at that time he was very small.”