Ira von Fürstenberg


Princess Virginia von Fürstenberg, known professionally as Ira von Fürstenberg, is a European socialite, actress, jewelry designer and former public relations manager for the fashion designer Valentino Garavani. She is a member by birth of the princely family of Fürstenberg and a former member by marriage of the princely family of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

Background

The daughter of Prince Tassilo zu Fürstenberg and his first wife, Clara Agnelli, she was born in Rome, Italy. Her paternal grandparents were Prince Karl Emil von Fürstenberg and the Hungarian Countess Mária Matild Georgina Festetics von Tolna, who was the daughter of Prince Tassilo Festetics von Tolna and Lady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton. Her maternal great-grandmother was an American heiress, Jane :it:Bourbon del Monte Santa Maria|Bourbon del Monte, Princess di San Faustino, born Campbell, and the elder of her two brothers was Prince Egon von Fürstenberg, a fashion designer. She also has a younger brother, Prince Sebastian.
Her former sister-in-law is the fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg, and an uncle was Gianni Agnelli, the chairman of FIAT. She is a first cousin of Prince Karl von Schwarzenberg, a former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic. She speaks several languages, including Italian, French, German, Spanish and English.
She was reportedly an occasional companion and potential wife of the widowed Prince Rainier III of Monaco, but premature speculation in the press by her son about the marriage apparently dissuaded the Prince from making a proposal. Like the late ruler of Monaco, who was her second cousin, she is a great-grandchild of the Scottish aristocrat Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton, the first wife of Prince Albert I of Monaco. However, Princess Ira is descended from Lady Mary's second marriage with Tassilo Festetics von Tolna, a Hungarian Count and later Prince. Tassilo's sister, Countess Georgine Ernestine Festetics von Tolna, was the great-grandmother of the current ruler of Liechtenstein, making Princess Ira a third cousin of Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein.
The princess is patron of a number of charities, including the Children of Africa Foundation set up by Dominique Ouattara.

First marriage

Her first husband, whom she married at Venice, Italy, on 17 September 1955, was Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, who founded the Marbella Club, a Spanish resort. At the time of the wedding, the bride was 15 and the groom was 31. They were divorced in 1960, and the marriage was annulled in 1969.
They had two children:
Her second husband was Francisco "Baby" Pignatari, a Brazilian industrialist. They married in Reno, Nevada, on 12 January 1961. They divorced in Las Vegas in January 1964 and had no children.

Film career

Known for her plush silhouette, sloe eyes, and gift for light comedy, Ira von Fürstenberg was a sumptuous star of European-made B-movies in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Her film appearances included the spy spoof Matchless, I Killed Rasputin, Dead Run, My Bed Is Not for Sleeping, The Vatican Affair, The Battle of El Alamein, Five Dolls for an August Moon, No desearás al vecino del quinto and The Fifth Cord.

Notable published works