Exclusive interview with Her Royal Highness Margarita, Princess of Bourbon-Parma and the Countess of Colorno

Your father, the late Duke of Parma gave you the title the Countess of Colorno. Have you ever visited this area located in the province of Emilia-Romagna?

I have been visiting Parma regularly since my young age because this is one of the things my father decided it was important to us to learn about our heritage. And I speak Italian fluently of course. The former Duchy of Parma is part of our family former homeland. However, our family has several branches in Europe, we have Spanish, Dutch, French, Italian and Austrian lineages. So actually, we can say we are Europeans. Our family has a lot of good friends in Parma so we visit this part of Northern Italy quite often. Furthermore I have jeweller colleagues in Milan. This city is the capital of design, so I visit the Salone del Mobile and Fuori Salone every year. Parma is one of the most beautiful towns I know, I love being there and just enjoy the scenery. Our family grave is there in the beautiful basilica the Stecca of Parma (Basilica di Santa Maria della Steccata).  My father rests there in the family crypt so I don’t miss the chance to visit his grave. So a very important part of our family is there.

Your parents’ marriage was a truly romantic story. Their love persisted even in spite of the will of the family almost provoking a constitutional crisis. Your mother, Her Royal Highness Irene, Princess of the Netherlands had to waive her rights to the Dutch throne although she was second in line after her elder sister, former Queen of the Netherlands (after her resignation Princess Beatrix). Meanwhile your father played an active role in opposing the regime of General Franco and laid the claim to the Spanish throne. The Dutch government warned your grandmother Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands Juliana I in case she visited her daughter the government would resign. It’s not an everyday story, is it?

No it isn’t, but I am really proud of my parents they stood up against the injustice of the dictator. My grandfather lived through and survived both of the world wars and the prison camps, and when he came out he continued to fight for Spain. He was a very good person who believed that his background obligated him to be in service to people and this is what a monarch should do. Uniting the people is more important than use the right to claim the throne. My parents believed in unity not in division.

It seems that in your direct family politics and active participation in public affairs played an important role. Why did you turn to the art and became a designer?

First of all, I have three siblings so it wouldn’t be useful if everybody was in to politics. My brothers and my sister are very good in the political world, and I have to tell you I am very political too but not in that sense. I didn’t want to dedicate my life to politics. I’m very lucky I build my career in a different direction. It doesn’t mean that I’m not critical. I have art pieces in my mind that are critical and reflect on how the world changes. Nature is under pressure and my way to contribute is to help finance nature conservation projects, rewilding and replanting trees, with part of the proceeds of the sales of my jewellery. This way I can stimulate people to contribute tot the future of our planet. I decided my voice is creativity, that is what I started to do. And because I’m an outdoor person, nature is very important to me, I wanted to show to people through my work and design how beautiful it is. This is in my DNA, this is where my inspirations come from.

Can you be critical as a member of the extended Dutch royal family who lives in the Netherlands?

We are member of the extended Dutch royal family from my mother’s side which means we are a public figure in the Netherlands. But we are not members of the House of Orange-Nassau, we are the Bourbon-Parma branch therefore we can articulate our voice more freely.

How did art come to your life?

Art has always been a significant part of my life. I developed my skills from a very young age, always created things with my hands to communicate with art. However, it is quite funny because I studied politics at university, not art. I was interested in different cultures, and after my studies I started to work with architects. I was an autodidact, so I never studied interior design. So I worked for architect and designer friends and so on. But knowledge, like history, is very important to understand the context of things. If there is no context, there is no way to understand certain taste or trend from the past. I help for a lot of young stylists to understand this, because I feel this is lacking from the education system. For example I see that if people  have a limited knowledge of history or history of art they miss how rich our own culture is which is a shame. If you don’t know where you came from, you don’t know where you are going. If you don’t have reference points, what are you going to do? So knowledge, I believe, is very important. We as artists need to be the voice of what happens in the world, we show this in our art.

Your mother is a dedicated nature-lover. Her book (Dialogue with Nature) reveals her pantheistic philosophy about the connection between nature and humanity. She established two non-profit organizations (NatuurCollege and NaturWise). She is also an honorary member of the Club of Budapest which main target is to protect the environment. On your artistic work as a designer there is a strong inspiration of nature, so the question arises. How much has your mother had a formative influence in your artistic work?

Our mother is a big inspiration for all of us and so was our father. Voicing her opinions about nature was very controversial in that time, she was ridiculed for this. She was strong and stood by her work and kept on going. And now the things she believed in are part of our world view. She was ahead of her time. I am really proud of her. My father was also very idealistic and taught us also to stand up for what you believe in. On the other hand he was an engineer so had a technical side, he showed us how things are made. When we were kids he would explain thing to us. For instance what the role of the mushrooms is in the circle of life or how an engine of a car functions and how an airplane can fly. So all sorts of information. The technical things that he explained are crucial for a designer. So both my mother and father inspired us to stand up for our point of view. My designs are all about nature because it is the most important thing that we have. We need to protect our nature, our natural environment if we want to keep living on this planet. My way is to show people how beautiful it is I find very important. In the future I am going to write more about it on my website. Most of the people don’t realize how much more there is to see when you go out into nature to walk. Sometimes I wonder if they see the shapes, the diversity of colors, the many shades of green, they don’t see really when a tree blossoms because they never look. One of my upcoming collections’ theme is the blossom of oak trees. The only way we can change people to give them the knowledge. What I’m doing now is to take inspirations from four different biotops, like the forest, like the Dutch sweet waters or the grasslands. But the leaves are my starting point because trees are very important to our environment. They give so much life, it is amazing. People have no idea there is so much biodiversity around them. I am very grateful for all of the teachings and information that I got from both of my parents.

Environmental protection goes hand in hand with sustainability and ethical material resources. Nowadays they are the keywords of how we are thinking about the future of design. How can you apply this new direction which is extremely important for the new generations, especially for the Gen Z’s or Alfas in to your brand?

Very important question! If you produce something you have to be responsible for how to make it. For example we always use recycled gold which means old jewelries are remelted. This material is nickel free of course. Furthermore we try to work with pre-used gemstones which is not always possible but we are dedicated to try it every time. Actually it is not recycling, it is upcycling.

De Parme Design fine jewellery pieces are available even at the well-known luxury concept store Corso Como 10 in Milan. How would you describe your brand? Who is your ideal customer?

My line is basically for every woman, but if we have to specify it is for people above 25. Because of our price range probably our base customer is elder with a well-established existence. Our potential customer is interested in nature and understands why it is important. She understands our message, she values the quality and it is important to her to pass the jewellery to the next generation. These women became members of an environmental mission as well because from every purchase we donate money for tree replanting projects. Our potential customers are sensitive to understand why this is important. We have famous customers of course, mostly they are Dutch but we usually don’t mention their names because of the discretion. If the readers searching on the internet probably they can find my family members wearing my jewels as well. Obviously we produce the products in the province South-Holland where there is a big tradition of gold- and silversmith, and excellent education in this area.

One of the characteristics of your jewellery is the combination of simple forms and the use of many gems. This is not only true for the women’s collection, but also for cufflinks. Which materials and gems are your favourites?

Gold and diamonds are my favourites because they always look good, they do not depend on the light conditions. But I also love the red spinel because its color is very intense; I really love to match it with lilac or with soft pink gems. I like the contrasts and graphic patterns, I like natural things, it is not important that every stone has to be the same shade and I don’t use painted materials. Basically, I don’t have a favourite, I love all of the colors.

In these days there are a lot of fine jewellery brands. The big luxury concerns work with huge marketing budgets. How do you see the future of a small and independent jewellery label in the high jewellery market? Especially after the COVID crisis of course.

The gold prices are definitely going up due to war and environmental issues but in my opinion people are looking for the artisanal, hand made and rare pieces. My company is growing and we launch limited editions for instance. But we keep our company small so we can deliver the craftsmanship and quality we believe is essential to our brand.

You have two children and a large family. How can you manage all this beside your job as a designer and leader of your company?

Easy, just do it (laughing). You can manage time, you can organize yourself. There is no limit to do things. Never! You are always your own limit. If you can’t do it, you are the limit, nobody else. Don’t limit yourself, you can achieve anything.

Besides your work and family what do you do in your everyday life? Do you have any hobbies?

One of my hobbies is horse riding, I adore horses. I have six horses now, one of them is a beautiful Spanish stallion. That’s why I am one of the board members of one of the biggest indoor horse events in the Netherlands „Jumping Amsterdam”. I also started a foundation with a group of colleagues for well being of horses who help for example the traumatized people, we have a program helping them, together with horses, we treat them and they get better. Also we have a project called The Young Leaders Program (YLP), which is also adopted in Hungary, where it is called Equestrian Young Leaders Europe (EYLE), in collaboration with the European Equestrian Federation. Besides sports I am involved in the work of Princes Máxima Centrum, the biggest hospital for a child oncology center in Europe. The Hospital’s aim is to cure every child with cancer with optimal quality of life.  Here they unite the research and cure in the same building, so treatments can be faster. The real time communication between the doctors and the researchers can be essential in decreasing the number of the fatalities. You know types of cancer can rapidly and aggressively grow in children, that’s why we would like to create a common space where researchers and doctors can work together. However this is a sensitive thing in the Netherlands. Testing on children is forbidden after the World War II, because the Nazis did a lot of tests on Dutch children.

As a Hungarian magazine we can’t skip the question of the Hungarian connections of your family. Your paternal grandfather’s sister was the last Empress of Austria and last Queen of Hungary Zita of Bourbon-Parma. One of your sisters-in-law is Viktória Cservenyák (now Her Royal Highness Princess Viktória, the Countess of Bardi) whose wedding was well published in the Hungarian media. Have you learnt something about the Hungarian culture or gastronomy from her? It looks from the Princess’ Instagram channel that she enjoys cooking and baking a lot.

Viktória is a wonderful woman, well-educated, independent, an amazing mother and wife of my twin brother Jaime, we love her in Holland. She is working as a strategic manager as the Lead of Food Transformation at the World Benchmarking Alliance since 2015.  I haven’t learned any dishes from her, but maybe next time I will ask her to cook something Hungarian.

Photos: PR (Courtesy of De Parme Design)