Death of Ira de Furstenberg, aristocrat and flamboyant jet-setter

The fairies had leaned over his cradle. Princess Ira of Furstenberg, a famous woman of the world, died on February 18 in Rome. She was 83 years old. Actress, model then stylist, Virginia von Furstenberg, the daughter of Prince Tassilo von Furstenberg and Clara Agnelli (the sister of the big boss of Fiat, Giovanni Agnelli) will have written her life like a novel with lows and highs which will have made She is one of the favorite subjects of the celebrity press.

Ira de Furstenberg was born in Rome on April 18, 1940, a few days before the start of the Second World War. She spent her very young years in a chic boarding house in England far from her parents who separated. At fifteen, she pleased her father by having, in the latter's words, "a beautiful marriage", by marrying Alfonso de Hohenlohe-Langenburg, an aristocratic playboy fifteen years her senior. With him, she had two children but their affair fizzled out and they divorced five years later in 1960. Never mind, a few months passed, Ira met at Maxim's another extremely wealthy Italian-Brazilian man, Francisco Pignatari, with who she also marries. The idyll lasted until 1964. She said of this story in her memoirs, half-nostalgic, half-fatalistic: “Baby was a great man. He left me after five years, in a sad way, but that’s how it is.”

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After these two divorces, the princess decided to take her destiny into her own hands and became an actress from 1967 to 1982. Without participating in unforgettable films, she will still play under the direction of Robert Hossein (I killed Raspoutine, 1967), Monicelli, Pasolini and Bolognini (Caprice à l'italienne, 1967) and Philippe Clair in a nanar of exception, More beautiful than me you die (1982).

During the same period, her advantageous physique pushed her to try her hand at modeling. She poses for renowned photographers such as Irving Penn, Helmut Newton and Gian Paolo Barbieri. Frequently frequenting the fashion world gave him the idea of ​​becoming a stylist. Imaginative, she will design precious objects that she will sell in the most chic places on the planet that, obviously her rank as a princess, naturally allows her to frequent.

Now promoted to high-flying jet-setter, invited to all the places where “the beautiful world” meets to share a social cocktail or attend a polo game, Ira de Furstenberg becomes an indispensable icon of Monaco. In 1985, she formed “a deep friendship” with Prince Rainier. Rumor has it that they are almost engaged. But in her memoirs she will tell the truth about their relationship, writing: “I didn’t say no to him, he never offered it to me...”