HAVANA, Cuba.- It is said that Cubans are everywhere. They are found at any latitude, regardless of language barriers, weather or laws. The same in a favela in Rio de Janeiro, in a refugee camp in Serbia, in New Zealand, or in Hong Kong; but also in the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg.
In that small and rich duchy of Europe, the Cuban María Teresa Mestre Batista, Her Royal Highness, has resided for decades. Born in Marianao on March 22, 1956, today grand duchess de Luxemburgo comes from one of the most prominent and wealthy families of republican Cuba. She was the daughter of José Antonio Mestre and María Teresa Batista, her maternal grandfather, Agustín Batista y González de Mendoza was a landowner from Puerto Príncipe and President of the Board of Directors of the Trust Company of Cuba; while her maternal grandmother, María Teresa Falla Bonet, was the daughter of the Spanish Laureano Falla y Gutiérrez, owner of sugar mills and two banks, all assets confiscated by Fidel Castro’s revolution.
The family left Cuba as soon as the defeat of the republican order became evident. Exile led them first to New York and then to Santander, Spain, to settle permanently in Switzerland. There the young María Teresa continued her careful education. In 1980 she graduated in Political Science at the University of Geneva, where she met Henri, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg.
They married in February 1981. Nine months later, their eldest son and heir, Guillermo, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, was born. The couple had four other children.
Since the year 2000, María Teresa Mestre Batista has held the title of Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. After the death of her mother-in-law, the illustrious Cuban born in Marianao revealed in an interview that her relations with the mother of her husband, Grand Duchess Josefina Carlota, were not good due to her Cuban and commoner origin. she.
