Francesca Thyssen, the heiress eternally confronted with Carmen Cervera

There is nothing like being passionate about something and having money, a lot of money, to be able to make dreams come true.

In the case of Francesca Thyssen, the daughter of Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, her dreams have always revolved around the world of art and the enormous fortune she received from her father has served to support it and aspire to create social awareness through it.

Creator of the Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation, who for years has been the public face of the confrontation between the Baron's children and Carmen Cervera, his last wife and widow, has returned to the pages of the Spanish press both for her professional activity and for his personal life.

In September 2019 he made the news for the inauguration in the museum that bears his surname in Madrid of the exhibition More-than-human and now he has returned to star in some information about a much more earthly fact: the confirmation of his divorce from Carlos de Habsburgo -Lorena whom he married in 1993 and from whom he separated 10 years later.

The link between the head of the imperial house of Austria and the daughter of the businessman who became one of the most important art collectors in the world sounded like the wedding of the year and also had many ingredients to fill the pages of the pink chronicle: Baron Thyssen served as best man dressed as a hussar, Francesca wore a Versace dress and the bride's stepmother, Carmen Cervera, was one of the usual faces of the Spanish pink press.

Now, 17 years after the marriage separated, Carlos de Habsburgo-Lorena has confirmed to an Austrian media that the ex-partner signed the divorce when their three children had already reached the age of majority, a fact that as soon as could happen in 2017 , when the youngest daughter of the three they had together turned 18 years old.

In all these years of effective breakup, the ex-partner has always maintained a cordial relationship, they have coincided in different events and Francesca has even attended some official Habsburg-Lorraine appointments after the separation, since officially she was still a member of the family imperial of Austria.

Her ex-husband maintains a relationship, which became known in 2017, with the Portuguese businesswoman Christian de Reid, and she is said to have also been romantically linked for a long time to a person involved in the art world and directly related to her foundation. .

The last time the whole family was photographed together was on July 20 at the wedding of his daughter Eleonora, 26, which due to the pandemic was held in Monaco with few guests and many security measures.

The young woman, who dedicates herself to jewelry design and works as a model, married Jerome d'Ambrosio, a Belgian Formula E racing driver, in a ceremony officiated by the mayor of Monaco, George Marsan, and away from the wedding in style that they had planned before the covid-19 imposed new rules on the world.

Her other two children, Ferdinand and Gloria, have not been inclined towards their mother's work for now.

Ferdinand is a racing driver, a sport that his grandfather Heinrich also liked very much, of whom he does not have many memories because he died when he was very young.

And Gloria studies law in London and seems to be the one who has chosen to have, at least for the moment, a life as little exposed to public curiosity as possible.

The mother of the bride, Francesca, has continued with what is her main occupation, which is the presidency of the foundation that bears her name.

A position that he does not hold on an honorary basis but is a job to which he has dedicated himself body and soul since he created his foundation in 2002 in Vienna.

He surrounds himself with good and competent collaborators - as has happened for his Spanish subsidiary based in Madrid, led by Carlos Urroz, who was previously director of ARCO - but everything that concerns the foundation's activity has his stamp, his supervision and their demand for quality at the highest level.

Accustomed to the art world by family tradition, she herself has an important collection of contemporary art that she has acquired over the years and precisely manage it, organize exhibitions with artists from all over the world and support many of them, are her objectives.

He speaks Italian, French, German and English, his mother tongue because his mother, model Fiona Campbell-Walter and Baron Thyssen's third wife, was British.

Those who know Francesca Thyssen and move in her work circle, portray her as a very cultured, intelligent, kind and educated woman, but also surrounded by that aura of power that emanates from those who know their place and what they want.

They also claim that she is a very good communicator and clever when it comes to achieving her goals.

Planting his reals in Spain, where the museum that bears his surnames is located, was one of his illusions, and although he has an enormous capacity to attract people because he is known to be powerful in the world of contemporary art, Urroz's choice also demonstrates the intelligence of his decisions because he knows very well the society of Madrid and Spain in the art world, that environment in which Francesca Thyssen aspires to impose the weight of her brand and do it with quality.

Getting benefits from her activity is not her goal because money is not her problem and she is capable of knowing how to spend hers if it is to establish patronage with artists who she considers have something to say.

But she does have a concern that motivates her: the environment, and specifically to carry out actions related to art and aimed at raising awareness of the need to save the oceans.

It does not matter if he settles in his residences around the world, from Madrid to Croatia via London or Jamaica, the passions that drive his life, now less moved than usual due to the pandemic, are art and his family.

The years have even led to a rapprochement with his half brother, Borja Thyssen, and have tempered the sour relationship he has had with Carmen Cervera, whom he has always held responsible for separating her from her father.

And although the tension is chewed when they are close, the foundation that Francesca presides over signed an agreement with the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum that commits the institution to exhibit two samples a year of its collection.

And he has even come to agree with his stepmother in some aspect, as shown by the statements he made to this newspaper in an interview at the end of September 2019: “I have been watching Tita fight in meetings for years.

And, you know, every damn time, Tita was right.

She is impossible, the meetings were tremendous, but she always stood firm, and we are what we are because Tita fought him.

Every time there were clippings and someone wanted to capitalize by borrowing large blocks from the collection, doing trade shows, using tricks that diluted the essence of the Thyssen, she always defended the integrity of the collection ”.

Do not sing victory because the affinity did not reach so much that the recognition came to Cervera from his own mouth.

"You'll read it in the newspaper," Francesca Thyssen laughed.

April 13, 2021 may be a key date for family reconciliation because then it will be 100 years since Baron Thyssen was born and there will be celebrations: “I have already told my brothers, 'Guys, this is our last chance to do the peace, "he said in the same interview.

And peace does not refer to anyone other than Tita, the stepmother who according to Francesca felt threatened by the relationship she had with her father and whom she prohibited from seeing.