Posted by Jane
on 10/10/2009, 21:47:09, in reply to "The royal couple received by the Pope"
198.178.132.249
Can you clarify me on this, again? I first thought that it applied only to Catholic QUEENS; however, I've seen photos of Luxembourg's Maria Teresa wearing white, in the presence of the pope.
Well: a grand duchess technically ranks between a queen and a princess -- so perhaps this makes some sense (if it came to that, I also saw a photo of her late mother-in-law, the Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte, wearing a white dress and veil in the presence of Pope John Paul II).
And perhaps it's by this logic that an Habsburg archduchess (although not a queen, certainly higher in rank than an ordinary princess) is also entitled to the white privilege. I believe this is the case (meaning that Queen Paola's daughter, Astrid, could also wear white in the presence of the Holy Father) -- correct?
However, I believe the line is drawn for princesses: to the best of my knowledge, neither Infanta Elena of Spain, nor her sister, nor sister-in-law could wear white when receiving an audience with His Holiness ... as with Protestant royal women, they would be obliged to wear black -- correct?
What about ex-queens? Surely the late Empress Zita of Austria-Hungary (being a devout Catholic) would have received papal audiences. I've never seen a photo, however ... was she, too, entitled to wear white -- despite her status as a deposed monarch?
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