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Maria Cristina Vettore Austin (June 24, 1929 – March 22, 2001), born in Vicenza, Italy, and educated in Milan. Her father was Edoardo Vettore of Milan, who died when she was a child.〔(Henry Ford, Italian Blonde, Head for Swiss Honeymoon ), The Tuscaloosa News, February 21, 1965〕 She became better known as Cristina Ford or Mrs. Henry Ford II. Cristina was the second wife of Henry Ford II, chief executive officer of the Ford Motor Company (married on February 19, 1965〔). She was an Italian-born socialite, divorced from Robin Willoughby Merivale Austin (married on 20 August 1946), a Canadian from Montreal serving in the British Royal Navy. They divorced in Quebec, Canada in 1955. While married to Henry Ford II, she was described by ''LIFE magazine'' as a “highly effective ambassadress for the Ford Motor Company”. In 1969, the ''Women’s Wear Daily'' called her “the complete Italian”. In 1973, Cristina Ford was listed on the International Hall of Fame of the International Best Dressed List.〔(The Sunshine days of Cristina Ford ), LIFE, June 4, 1971〕 She was a friend of former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos, the wife of former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.〔 In an interview with Walter Hayes, UK public relations executive for Ford, he related how Henry thought the two women were lovers, a charge which Cristina indignantly denied.〔Robert Lacey, ''Ford, The men and the machine'',page 625, Ballantine Books, 1986〕 The two women, as documented in a Filipino newsreel of Imelda Marcos' official visit to Iran to represent President Marcos at the 2500th Persian monarchy celebrations in October 1971, shared her assigned royal encampment tent (which Mrs Marcos received personal permission from Queen Farah Pahlavi to do so ) so that Mrs Ford could stay with her during the event rather than at a hotel in the city of Shiraz. Cristina met Henry Ford II in 1960 during a party at ''Maxim’s'' in Paris, France.〔(Business: Mister Ford: They Never Call Him Henry ), July 20, 1970, time.com〕 After eleven years of marriage, 58-year-old Henry Ford II and 47-year-old Cristina Ford ended the marriage in 1976, with Cristina receiving US$16 million.〔Whittaker, Jeanne. (After 11 Years of Marriage, Is There Still a Ford in Cristina's Future? ), Vol. 5, No. 3, January 26, 1976〕 In 1988, Cristina Ford filed a suit against Henry Ford II’s estate seeking an expanded alimony claim worth an additional US$5 million.〔Schmalz, Jeffrey. (Ford Heirs Fight, and Entertain, in Seeking Estate ), Special to the New York Times, October 1, 1988〕 ==References== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cristina Ford」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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