Ira von Fürstenberg
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Princess Virginia von Fürstenberg (Virginia Carolina Theresa Pancrazia Galdina Prinzessin zu Fürstenberg;<ref name="Repubblica" /> 17 April 1940 – 18 February 2024), known as Ira von Fürstenberg,<ref name="Repubblica" /> was an Italian socialite, actress, jewelry designer, and public relations manager for the fashion designer Valentino Garavani. She was a member by birth of the princely family of Fürstenberg and a member by marriage of the princely family of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.
Family and early life
The daughter of Prince Prince Tassilo zu Fürstenberg from the house of Fürstenberg and his first wife, Clara Agnelli of the FIAT Agnelli family,<ref name=telegraph>Template:Cite news</ref> she was born in Rome, Italy,<ref name="Pawlowski" /> on 17 April 1940.<ref name="TelegraphObituaries">Template:Cite news</ref> The elder of her two brothers, Prince Egon von Fürstenberg, became a fashion designer.<ref name=telegraph /> She also had a younger brother, Prince Sebastian.<ref name=telegraph /> Her former sister-in-law is the fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg, and an uncle was Gianni Agnelli, the chairman of FIAT.<ref name=telegraph />
During the Second World War, she lived in Switzerland, later in Italy and Austria.<ref name="Baum" /> When her parents separated<ref name="WDR">Template:Cite web</ref> she was educated in a boarding school in England for a while.<ref name="Baum" /> She spoke several languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, and Italian.<ref name="Pawlowski">Template:Cite web</ref>
She became the patron of a number of charities, including the Children of Africa Foundation set up by Dominique Ouattara.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Career
Ira von Fürstenberg started a modeling career at age 13, walking down the runway for Emilio Pucci,<ref name="Baum" /> and later collaborating with Diana Vreeland.<ref name="Coviello">Template:Cite news</ref> She posed for Helmut Newton and Cecil Beaton.<ref name="Coviello" />
She was well known by the tabloid press. Film producer Dino De Laurentiis thought of a career in film for her and offered her a role in his Matchless, a 1968 parody of James Bond, co-starring Patrick O'Neal.<ref name="Baum" /><ref name="GQ">Template:Cite magazine</ref> It became the first of 28 films,<ref name="Baum" /> some of them European coproductions of genre films.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She never trained as an actor. In 1968 Roger Vadim offered her Barbarella, but she declined, and Jane Fonda landed a success.<ref name="Baum" /> Her appearances included I Killed Rasputin (1967),<ref name="GQ" /> Dead Run (1967, co-starring Peter Lawford),<ref name="GQ" /> Template:Ill (1968),<ref name="Baum" /> The Vatican Affair (1968), The Battle of El Alamein (1969), Five Dolls for an August Moon (1970), No desearás al vecino del quinto (1970), Hello-Goodbye (1970) alongside Curd Jürgens,<ref name="Baum" /> and The Fifth Cord (1971).
She co-hosted the 20th edition of the Sanremo Music Festival with Nuccio Costa and Enrico Maria Salerno in 1970.<ref name="Coviello" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> She returned to fashion, with a post of president of the Italian branch of the cosmetics company Germaine Montell, and from 1978 general director of Valentino.<ref name="Baum" /><ref name="GQ" /> In 1992, she founded a fashion house, the "Ira von Fürstenberg Collection",<ref name="Coviello" /> and designed jewelry titled Objets Uniques.<ref name="Baum" /> She presented a television show in German, "Palastgeflüster, on SAT.1 from 1992.<ref name="GQ" />
Personal life
Her first husband was Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1924–2003), who founded the Marbella Club, a Spanish resort. They married in Venice on 17 September 1955, when she was aged 15 and the groom, 31.<ref name="Park">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Baum">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The wedding was a lavish feast, attended by international society.<ref name="Baum" />
The couple had two children:
- Christoph Victorio Egon Humberto (known as "Kiko";<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 8 November 1956 – 6 August 2006), who died of massive organ failure a few days after being imprisoned in Klongprem Central Prison in Bangkok on charges of suspicion of illegally altering a visa. His health had been weakened from a weight-loss regimen at a Thai wellness center.<ref>Fujimori, Leila. (16 August 2006) News | /2006/08/16/ Template:Webarchive. starbulletin.com. Retrieved on 27 July 2015.</ref><ref>Marrone Cristina (8 August 2006) Ira Fürstenberg's Son Dies In Prison Template:Webarchive. Corriere.it. Retrieved on 27 July 2015.</ref>
- Hubertus Rudolph (known as "Hubi";<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> born 2 February 1959), a musician and photographer who was on Mexico's Olympic skiing team in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 2010, and 2014.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Married to Simona Gandolfi on 17 June 2019 in Vaduz.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
They lived in Mexico City, because her husband had family ties there, and introduced the VW Beetle into Latin America. She left with the children in 1960.<ref name="Baum" /> They were divorced in 1960, and the marriage was annulled in 1969.<ref name="Park" />
Her second husband was Francisco "Baby" Pignatari (1916–1977), a Brazilian industrialist. They married in Reno, Nevada, on 12 January 1961. They divorced in Las Vegas in January 1964.<ref name="Baum" />
Von Fürstenberg died on 18 February 2024, at the age of 83, from injuries sustained in a "domestic accident" at her residence in Rome.<ref name="TelegraphObituaries" /><ref name="Repubblica">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The funeral service took place on 23 February 2024 in the Church of Santa Maria in Rome. In addition to the family, John Elkann and his wife Lavinia, Tomás Terry and Marisela Federici were also present.<ref>https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/02/24/ira-furstenberg-princess-actress-dies/ Template:Bare URL inline</ref> Her grave is located in the cemetery in Strobl am Wolfgangsee.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>