[1] Margherita, born in the Royal Palace of Capodimonte, Naples on 7 April 1930, is the eldest daughter of Prince Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta, and Princess Anne d'Orléans, first cousins married in 1927.

The princess was baptised in the chapel of the Capodimonte Palace on 28 May 1930 with the names Margherita Isabella Maria Vittoria Emanuela Elena Gennara.

Her father, the Duke of Aosta, was appointed Viceroy of Ethiopia on 21 December 1937, and Margherita spent part of her childhood in Africa.

The fall of the Italian monarchy in June 1946 forced Margherita, her mother and her sister to leave the country and settle in Belgium, where they stayed for just over a year, before moving to Switzerland.

[2] The wedding was also attended by former King Umberto II of Italy and Robert's older brother Otto of Habsburg, the claimant to the Austrian throne.