Maria Galitzine: life and death of a young Austrian princess in Texas

She was about to celebrate her 32nd birthday with her husband and her two-year-old son. But then, princess Maria Galitzine of Austria passed away unexpectedly from a cardiac aneurysm.

(Photos from Maria Singh, Facebook, unless indicated otherwise)

The accident happened in May 2020. Princess Maria Galitzine lived in Houston, Texas, and was married to the local celebrity chef Rishi Roop Singh in 2017.

Born in Luxembourg, raised in Moscow, and living in Belgium and the USA for her career, Maria Galitzine finally settled down with Rishi Roop in the Texan city of Houston. On social media, she appeared very happy with her husband and their young son Maxim.

Princess Maria lived a quiet life with few public appearances. The little boy Maxim was "the apple of her eye," her obituary read. Maria had adopted her husband's name, Singh. It did not remind anyone of her roots in the majestic Habsburg family.

Maria's mother, Archduchess Maria-Anna, is the granddaughter of Charles I, the last Emperor of Austria. She is married to Prince Piotr Galitzine, a Russian aristocrat. They have six children together, one of whom is Maria.

Image: EmperorCharles.org, 2016

Maria and her sisters Xenia and Tatiana Galitzine would sometimes appear at society events in Houston. In this photo, we see Tatiana with her husband on the red carpet. Whenever the Habsburgs appeared somewhere in the Texan city, local media like Paper City Magazine would proudly state that they had "royalty among us."

Image: Getty

The Austrian Habsburgs stem from an iconic imperial family. The great-grandparents of Maria Singh are Charles I of Austria and Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma. Charles ruled as Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary until the Austrian-Hungarian empire was dissolved after the First World War.

Princess Maria did not display her imperial heritage much though. She worked as an interior designer in the USA, loved art, and fell in love with the chef of the well-known Hotel Derek in Houston. For her and her sisters Tatiana and Xenia, life was "completely normal unless we are invited to royal weddings."

These words were from her sister Tatiana in the Houston Chronicle. More than her siblings, Tatiana has taken the spotlight as an outgoing and decadent Habsburg aristocrat. She's had some "messy breakups" (one self-confessed in Paper City Magazine), is a regular guest at galas with her husband Guillermo Sierra, and had their 2018 wedding photos published in a way that many glamorous royals do.

(Photos: Facebook, Tatiana Sierra)

Although Maria was more down-to-earth than her sister, and most of the family tend to leave the title of 'Princess' or 'Duchess' out of their names, the Galitzine children "always knew what it meant to be royal," Tatiana told the Houston Chronicle. They were "raised with a sense of duty towards Austria and Russia," Paper City adds, and they were "taught cautious behavior. Being a Habsburg descendant means not doing anything to offend or embarrass the family name."

Maria Galitzine Singh's sudden death was a great shock to her family. Her son Maxim will surely grow up with stories about his mother, their Habsburg roots, and the lovely home she made for him with Rishi Roop Singh.