Ludovico Chigi Albani della Rovere


Fra' Ludovico Chigi della Rovere-Albani was Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta from 1931 to 1951.
Chigi was born in Ariccia, the son of Imperial Prince Mario Chigi della Rovere Albani and his wife, Princess Antoinette zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn. His father's family, the Chigi, was among the most prominent noble families of Rome, to which had belonged Pope Alexander VII, who conferred upon his nephew Agostino Chigi the hereditary princedoms of Farnese and Campagnano, as well as the dukedoms of Arricia and Formello, also procuring for all descendants of the Chigi male line the title of Imperial prince and princess from the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I in 1659. In 1509 Pope Julius II had authorised the Chigi family to augment their name and arms with his own, della Rovere, and would become Ludovico's ancestor through six lines of descent from that pope's illegitimate daughter, Felice della Rovere.
On 5 June 1893, in Rome, Chigi married Donna Anna Aldobrandini, daughter of Pietro, Prince Aldobrandini, Prince di Sarsina, and of his wife, Françoise de La Rochefoucauld. They had two children:
Chigi's wife died 17 September 1898.
On 4 November 1914 Chigi's father died and he succeeded as 8th Prince di Farnese and di Campagnano, 4th Prince di Soriano, 8th Duke di Ariccia and di Formello, Marchese di Magliano Pecorareccio, Hereditary Marshall of the Holy Roman Church and Guardian of the Conclave. Chigi was responsible for three papal conclaves. He was an honorary member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences.
On 30 May 1931, Chigi was elected Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, having been a widower for 31 years. Under his leadership the order engaged in large-scale hospitaller and charitable activities during World War II. In 1947 he was appointed president of an international committee to oversee the rebuilding of the Abbey of Monte Cassino.
Chigi died in Rome of a heart attack at the age of 85.

Ancestry

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