Infanta Beatriz of Spain, Princess of Civitella-Cesi (Beatriz Isabel Federica Alfonsa Eugénie Cristina Maria Teresia Bienvenida Ladislàa de Borbón y Battenberg; 22 June 1909 – 22 November 2002) was a daughter of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, wife of Alessandro Torlonia, 5th Prince di Civitella-Cesi.
[10] Because Beatriz and her sister could be carriers of hemophilia, like their mother, King Alphonso XIII was reluctant to follow the tradition of finding husbands for them among Catholic royal princes.
[12] It was expected that Infanta Beatriz would marry Alonso and Maria Cristina, Alvaro, but nothing came out of it as their companionship was interrupted when the turbulent political situation in Spain derailed their lives.
Infanta Beatriz, her mother and her siblings, except for Infante Don Juan, who was away on assignment in the Spanish navy, were left behind in Madrid.
Following the advice of her supporters, the queen and her five children left the Royal Palace by car to El Escorial, and from there, they took a train to France.
[16] Infanta Beatriz and her sister became friends with the members of the Italian royal family and quickly adapted to life in Rome.
Beatriz, who was spending summer vacation in Pörtschach am Wörthersee in Austria, was driving a car with her brother Gonzalo as passenger.
[21] Torlonia, who had inherited large estates from his father in 1933, was the son of Marino, 4th Prince di Civitella-Cesi and Mary Elsie Moore, an American heiress.
[21] His family had acquired a fortune in the 18th and 19th centuries by administering the finances of the Vatican, receiving the title of Prince of Civitella-Cesi in 1803 from Pope Pius VII.
[25] Alfonso XIII, realizing that the combination of the threat of hemophilia and their situation in exile would make it difficult for his daughters to find royal husbands, gave his consent to this union.
However, neither Queen Victoria Eugenie nor Beatriz's eldest brother, Alfonso, Count of Covadonga, who were on bad terms with the King, attended the wedding.
In 1950, while staying with her brother Juan, in Estoril, Portugal, Infanta Beatriz obtained authorization from Francisco Franco to make a visit to Spain.
They stayed at the Ritz hotel in Madrid visiting the palace of la Granja, where the Infanta was born, and the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza.
Infanta Beatriz was received with such a manifestation of support for the monarchy that after only a week, of a planned much longer visit, the government gave her only twenty four hours to leave the country.
[33] Infanta Beatriz remained very fond of Spain and supported the claims to the Spanish throne of her brother Don Juan.
In 1962, she joined the Spanish royal family in the celebration in Athens for the wedding of her nephew the future King Don Juan Carlos with Princess Sophia of Greece.
Her fragile health did not allow her to join her family at the ascension to the throne of King Juan Carlos, the wedding of the Infantas Elena and Cristina or the ceremonies for the return to Spain of the remains of her parents and siblings who had died in exile.