Born Principessa Maria Beatrice Elena Margherita Ludovica Caterina Romana di Savoia, she was the third daughter as well as the fourth and last child of the Prince and Princess of Piedmont, known as "Titi" to family and friends.

When she was three years old, her father ruled Italy as Umberto II for slightly over a month, from 9 May 1946 to 12 June 1946.

Maria Beatrice is a first cousin of King Baudouin of Belgium, King Albert II of Belgium, Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, and Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria.

[3] Titi married Luis Rafael Reyna-Corvalán y Dillon (born 18 April 1939 in Córdoba, Argentina – died 17 February 1999 in Cuernavaca, Mexico), son of Cesar Augusto Reyna-Corvalán and Amalia Maria Dillon Calvo, on 1 April 1970 in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Her eldest son died, aged 23, on 29 April 1994 in Boston, Massachusetts, falling from the terrace of the building where he lived.