Archduchess Marie Astrid of Austria

Her godparents were King Leopold III of Belgium (her maternal grandfather) and Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg (her paternal grandmother).

In her youth, as one of the few eligible princesses from European reigning houses, she was considered an ideal candidate by match makers for marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales. Media reports in the 1970s speculated about the prospects of such a marriage, the Daily Express claiming in June 1977 that the couple's engagement was imminent.[1] (Unconfirmed media reports in the British press claimed that Pope Paul VI had prevented a marriage by refusing under Ne Temere to accept that the children of the couple could not be brought up Roman Catholic.)

It has been since suggested that the marriage rumours were a result of efforts to detect a leaker in the Privy Council. In reality, a marriage between the British heir and the Roman Catholic princess was unlikely, as the terms of the Act of Settlement 1701 would have had to have been repealed or modified.

The archduchess studied in Luxembourg and also in Belgium. She received her diploma as a registered nurse in 1974, and finished her education in 1977, with a nursing certificate in tropical medicine from the Prince Leopold Institute.

She has been the President of the Red Cross for Luxembourg Youth since 1970.

On 6 February 1982 in Luxembourg she married her second cousin Archduke Carl Christian of Austria (born in Belœil, 26 August 1954), younger son of Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria (himself the fourth son of Emperor Charles I of Austria) and his wife Princess Yolande of Ligne, of the prominent Belgian noble family, the House of Ligne.

They have five children:

• Archduchess Marie Christine Anne Astrid Zita Charlotte of Austria (b. Brussels, 31 July 1983), Countess of Limburg-Stirum after her marriage on 6 December 2008 in Mechelen, Belgium, to Count Rodolphe de Limburg-Stirum (b. Uccle, 20 March 1979). They have three sons.
• Archduke Imre Emanuel Simeon Jean Carl Marcus d'Aviano of Austria (b. 8 December 1985) married on 8 September 2012 Kathleen Elizabeth Walker (b. 17 April 1986) in Washington, D.C..[2][3] They have three daughters.
• Archduke Christoph Henri Alexander Maria Marcus d'Aviano of Austria (b. Geneva, 2 February 1988) he married Adélaïde Marie Béatrice Drapé-Frisch (b. 4 September 1989) on 28 December 2012 (civil ceremony) and 29 December 2012 (religious ceremony). They have two daughters.
• Archduke Alexander Hector Marie Karl Leopold Marcus d'Aviano of Austria (b. Meyrin, 26 September 1990).
• Archduchess Gabriella Maria Pilar Yolande Joséphine Charlotte of Austria (b. Geneva, 26 March 1994), engaged on 22 October 2017 to her second cousin, Prince Henri of Bourbon-Parma (born Roskilde, 14 October 1991).[4] They have a daughter.

Marie-Astrid is also godmother to Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Archduke Joseph of Austria and Anna Maria von Auersperg-Trautson.

Archduchess Marie-Astrid and her family live quietly, occasionally appearing at royal weddings and similar events.