Mafalda, a female name used in Spain, Italy and Portugal, deriving from the Germanic elements maht meaning battle and hild meaning strength

It was also originally a medieval Portuguese form of Matilda


Matilda of Savoy (French: Mathilde or Maud, Portuguese: Mafalda or Matilde; c. 1125- 3 December 1157/58) was Queen of Portugal, after her marriage to King Afonso Henriques, the first sovereign of Portugal, whom she married in 1146.Matilda was the second or third daughter of Amadeus III, Count of Savoy and Maurienne,and Mahaut of Albon[. Although the Annales D. Alfonsi Portugallensium Regis, record that the wedding of Alfonso and Mafalda was celebrated in 1145, it was not until a year later, in May 1146, when they both appear in royal charters. Historian Jos� Mattoso refers to another source, Noticia sobre a Conquista de Santar�m (News on the Conquest of Santar�m), which states that the city was taken on 15 May 1147, less than a year after their marriage. Since at that time no wedding ceremony could be performed during Lent, Mattoso suggests that the marriage could have taken place in March or April of 1146, possibly on Easter Sunday which fell on 31 March of that year. The groom was almost thirty-eight years old and the bride was about twenty-one years old.They had 7 children

Mafalda of Portugal (1153, � after 1162) was a Portuguese infanta, the fourth legitimate child and third daughter of Afonso Henriques (the first king of Portugal) and his wife Mafalda of Savoy In January 1160, her father and Ram�n Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, negotiated the marriage of Mafalda to Alfonso, future King Alfonso II of Aragonwho was three or four years old at that time. After the death of Ram�n Berenguer IV in the summer of 1162, King Ferdinand II of Le�n convinced his widow, Queen Petronilla, to cancel the infante's wedding plans with Mafalda and for Alfonso to marry instead Sancha, daughter Alfonso VII of Le�n and his second wife Queen Richeza of Poland This did not compromise the establishment of long-lived good relations between Portugal and Aragon, since Mafalda's younger brother Infante Sancho (future Sancho I of Portugal) married Dulce Infanta of Aragon, sister of Alfonso II in 1174

Mafalda de Castilla (1191�1204) was an Infanta of Castile and daughter of Alfonso VIII of Castile and Eleanor of England and sister of Henry I of Castile and Berenguela of CastileShe would have been married to Ferdinand of Le�n, but she died in 1204 in Salamanca.

Infanta Mafalda of Portugal (also known as Blessed Mafalda, O.Cist. (c. 1195 � 1 May 1256) was a Portuguese infanta (princess), later Queen consort of Castile for a brief period. She was the second youngest daughter of King Sancho I of Portugal and Dulce of Aragon. Married briefly to the ten-year-old Henry I of Castile, she held for a time the title Queen of Castile.Upon the dissolution of the marriage, Mafalda returned to her homeland. She chose to become a Cistercian nun, and became noted for the holiness of her life. She was declared Blessed by the Catholic Church five centuries after her death.


Princess Mafalda of Savoy (19 November 1902 � 28 August 1944) was the second daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and his wife Elena of Montenegro. In 1925, at the age of 22, she married the Landgrave of Hesse, Philipp. In 1943, during World War II, she was imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp, where she died. The future King Umberto II of Italy was her younger brother.Mafalda was born a princess of Savoy. She was the second child and daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and Elena of Montenegro.  In 1925, Mafalda married Philipp, Landgrave of Hesse. They had four children together. In 1943, during World War II, Mafalda was tricked into going to the German Embassy, under the impression that her husband needed to speak to her. However, her husband was already imprisoned in a concentration camp, while her children were in Rome. When she arrived in Nazi Germany, Mafalda was arrested. She soon was imprisoned in the Buchenwald concentration camp.On 24 August 1944, the Allies bombed Buchenwald�s ammunition factory. Mafalda suffered from burns on her left arm and face, and was found covered up to her neck in debris. Her arm soon became infected, and she had an operation done. The operation resulted in her death from blood loss during the night of 28 August


Princess Mafalda of Thurn and Taxis (6 March 1924 � 24 July 1989) daughter of Karl August, 10th Prince of Thurn and Taxis  (23 July 1898 � 26 April 1982) and  Infanta Maria Ana of Portugal ((3 September 1899 � 23 June 1971)  She  married Prince Franz of Thurn and Taxis (a distant cousin)


Mafalda Margarethe Prinzessin und Landgr�fin von Hessen (born 6 July 1965), known also as Princess Mafalda of Hesse, is a German aristocrat and fashion designer. She is the eldest child of Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse and Princess Tatiana of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. Mafalda first married Count Enrico Marone Cinzano on 8 July 1989, but they divorced soon after. The marriage was childless. Second, she married Carlo Galdo on 19 December 1991. They have two children. The couple divorced in 1999. Third, Mafalda married Count Ferdinando Brachetti Peretti on 14 July 2000. They have two children. They were divorced in 2014


Mafalda-Cecilia von Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Mafalda-Cecilia Sakskoburggotska; born 27 July 1994), known professionally as Ona Mafalda, is a British singer-songwriter and member of the former Bulgarian royal family. As a granddaughter of Simeon II, the last reigning tsar of Bulgaria, she is a princess of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koh�ry.Mafalda was born on 27 July 1994 in London to Rosario Nadal, a Spanish aristocrat and art director, and Kyril, Prince of Preslav, a member of the Bulgarian royal family On May 28, 2022, she married Marc Abousleiman in Palma, Mallorca


Princess Mafalda of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (26 April 2024), the 2nd child and only daughter of Gustav, 7th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg  (12 January 1969) and Carina Axelsson ( August 5, 1968). Just like her older brother Prince Gustav Albrecht (26 May 2023) born in the USA via surrogacy

In Latin America, Mafalda is a famous cartoon character, her �stories� used to be published in all major newspapers.