Thyssen-Bornemisza was born in Lausanne, the daughter of Baron Hans Heinrich von Thyssen-Bornemisza and his third wife, fashion model Fiona Frances Elaine Campbell-Walter, the only daughter of Rear Admiral Keith McNeil Walter (later Campbell-Walter) (1904–1976), aide de camp of King George VI and his wife, Frances Henriette Campbell (b.

She was educated at Le Rosey in Switzerland[1] and at the age of eighteen attended Saint Martin's School of Art in London,[2] but left after two years.

[1] For the ten years after she left Saint Martin's, she lived in England, New York and Los Angeles before moving to Lugano to become curator for her father's art collection.

[4] During the 1991–1995 Croatian War of Independence she visited the country to help protect Croatia's heritage and artworks[1] and to help restore churches and paintings damaged during the fighting.

[10] In 2017, TBA21 provided a temporary building for the Warsaw Museum of Modern Art, designed by Adolf Krischanitz and transferred from its previous location in Berlin.

As the wife of the head of the House of Habsburg Francesca and her children are often accorded the unofficial honorifics of Imperial and Royal Archdukes (or duchesses) of Austria.