Following the revolution of 1959, Maria Teresa and her parents left Cuba for New York. There, Maria Teresa attended school at Marymount, and later at the French School of New York.
In 1965, the family spent several months on their estate in Santander, Spain before settling in Geneva. Maria Teresa attended the Marie-Jose Institute in Gstaad and the Marie-Therese College in Geneva, where she obtained her baccalaureate. She then studied political sciences at the University of Geneva, graduating in 1980.
Whilst still a student, Maria Teresa worked as a volunteer in homes of the elderly in Geneva. She also taught underprivileged children.
The Grand Duchess has an honorary doctorate from Seton Hall University in the United States. She speaks Luxembourgish, Spanish (her mother tongue), French and some English. She also has a knowledge of German and Italian.
Maria Teresa Mestre married Hereditary Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg on 14 February 1981 at the Cathedral of Our Lady in Luxembourg. The couple currently live at Berg Castle with their five children: Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume (born 11 November 1981), Prince Felix (born 3 June 1984), Prince Louis (born 3 August 1986), Princess Alexandra (born 16 February 1991) and Prince Sebastien (born 16 April 1992).
Since 1997, Maria Teresa has been a goodwill ambassador for UNESCO. She is President of the Prince Henri-Princess Maria Teresa Foundation, which aims to enable the disabled and underprivileged to be fully intergrated into society, and is Honorary President of the AIDS Research Foundation.
The Grand Duchess has bestowed her patronage on a number of
She sponsors an orphan in Divin, Belarus, who bears her name.
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