Prince and Princess of Piedmont Country Life Magazine Portrait January 18 1930

Prince and Princess of Piedmont Country Life Magazine Portrait, Frontispiece, January 18 1930. LXVII No. 1722

Prince Umberto of Italy (the Prince of Piedmont) and his bride, Princess Marie-José of Belgium, at the Vatican in Rome.

• The Occasion: The couple visited the Vatican to meet Pope Pius XI shortly after their wedding, which took place on January 8, 1930, at the Quirinal Palace.
• The Royal Couple:
  • Prince Umberto II: The heir to the Italian throne and the last King of Italy, reigning for only 34 days in 1946.
  • Princess Marie-José: The daughter of King Albert I of Belgium. She became the last Queen of Italy and was known as "The May Queen".
• Privilège du Blanc: As a Catholic queen/princess, Marie-José is pictured wearing white, a custom known as privilège du blanc, which allows certain Catholic royalty to wear white during an audience with the Pope.

This is an authentic original page from Country Life magazine, part of the iconic series often affectionately referred to as the “Girls in Pearls” portraits — elegant society images that captured a distinctive era of British publishing and portraiture.

Size: Approximately 13.75 x 9 inches (35 x 23 cm)

Condition: Very good for its age. As with all vintage magazine pages, light signs of handling or minor age-related blemishes may be present. Please review the large photo carefully for full condition details.

This original Country Life Magazine frontispiece portrait forms part of The Old Map Shop’s curated archive of society portraits published between 1897 and 2026.