She was a face of high society, a frequent subject of the tabloid press, and she also launched a film career. Now Ira von Fürstenberg has died.
The Italian actress and jewelry designer Ira von Fürstenberg is dead. This is reported by the Italian news agency Ansa. Accordingly, von Fürstenberg died in Rome at the age of 83.
Ira von Fürstenberg was the daughter of Prince Tassilo von Fürstenberg and the sister of the former Fiat boss Giovanni Agnelli, who died in 2003. She grew up in Switzerland and attended boarding school in England.
She married at 15 years old
She first hit the headlines when she was just 15 years old. Back in 1955, she married the jet-set aristocrat Alfonso Prinz zu Hohelohe at a lavish wedding celebration in Venice, which was considered one of the most important social events of the time and yet caused a scandal due to the bride’s young age. Through marriage, von Fürstenberg ended up in the public eye.
Von Fürstenberg was in a relationship with Alfonso zu Hohelohe for five years. The former couple had two sons together: Christoph died in 2006, Hubertus is a former professional skier. From 1961 to 1964, von Fürstenberg was married to the Brazilian entrepreneur Francisco Matarazzo Pignatari.
Ira von Fürstenberg worked as a designer, model and actress. She appeared in around 30 film productions. She was always a topic in the tabloid press. In the mid-1980s, there were rumors that she wanted to marry Prince Rainier of Monaco, father of the current Prince Albert II. She denied these reports a little later. She said at the time that she had been misquoted at a press conference where she had simply stated that she had known him for 30 years and found him likeable.