The Children of King Albert II

Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, is the eldest child of King Albert II and Queen Paola. He was born on 15 April 1960 at Laeken and was educated at the Belgian Royal Military School, Oxford and Stanford University in California. He graduated there in 1985 with a master’s degree in political science. He trained with the armed forces becoming a certified pilot, paratrooper and commando. In 2001 he was appointed Major General in the land and air forces and Rear Admiral of the naval forces. In 1999 he married Mathilde d’Udekem d’Acoz and together they have had four children born from 2001 to 2008. His daughter Princess Elisabeth will one day be the first reigning Queen of the Belgians. When he was young some spoke of him as a possible successor to his uncle King Baudouin but others have objected to him even succeeding his father because of his religiously and socially conservative nature. Which is, naturally, ridiculous to say in a kingdom. Prince Philippe helps many social causes, travels extensively to promote trade and business with Belgium, is very much involved with defense issues and has spoken as a strong supporter of maintaining national unity, which he will one day be responsible for.

Princess Astrid of Belgium, second child of King Albert II and Queen Paola, was born on 5 June 1962 at Laeken and was named after her grandmother the beloved Queen Astrid, consort of King Leopold III. Princess Astrid was educated in Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and at the Institute of European Studies in Michigan, Unites States. On 22 September 1984 she was married to Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este at which time she became also Archduchess of Austria-Este. The couple have five children born from 1986 to 2003. She has also stood as godmother to Prince Sebastian of Luxembourg and Prince Gaston of France. From 1994 to 2007 she served as Chairwoman of the Belgian Red Cross, stepping down when the language communities began squabbling because she would not take sides between the French and Dutch speakers. She also serves as a colonel with the medical corps of the Belgian armed forces. Princess Astrid does a great amount of social and charitable work dealing with cancer, epidemics and pandemics and has shown great concern for the disabled and victims of social and political violence and the struggles of women in less fortunate countries.

Prince Laurent of Belgium, youngest child of King Albert II and Queen Paola, was born on 19 October 1963. Educated in Antwerp and Brussels, after finishing school he trained with the armed forces and entered the navy, training on frigates and mine-sweepers. He became an officer in 1985 and specialized as a diver and helicopter pilot. In 1994 he was promoted to commander before going to the United States to study in a number of civilian industries as well as world politics and business. He is greatly interested in the environment and is involved in a number of organizations to promote conservation, clean energy and the protection of wildlife. In 2003 he married Claire Coombs with whom he has three children; a daughter and twin boys. Prince Laurent is loved by some and ridiculed by some for his open and informal style, saying what he thinks and being very opinionated. In 2004 he was promoted to captain in the naval service though he has also had to deal with scandals relating to the use of naval funds. However, unfair attacks on the Family Royal have become so commonplace it is difficult to believe anything that is reported in the media. Since 2000 Prince Laurent has also served as a Senator.

The Children of King Leopold III

Princess Josephine-Charlotte was the first child of King Leopold III and Queen Astrid. She was born in Brussels in 1927 and was educated in the palace and at boarding school. During World War II she was taken with her family to Germany as prisoners at the end of the war. When it was over she studied in Switzerland then went home to Belgium to help those struggling with recovery and to encourage the arts. In 1953 she married Prince Jean, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg. In 1964 they became the Grand Duke and Duchess of Luxembourg. Josephine-Charlotte was very popular and the picture of refinement, style and charitable generosity in Luxembourg. Through her marriage she and Grand Duke Jean had five children; 3 sons and 2 daughters. She was very glamorous but loved nothing more than working in her garden or going hunting and fishing. A beloved daughter of Belgium she became a national treasure in Luxembourg, strengthening ties between the two countries. She died in 2005.

Baudouin, who would be the fifth King of the Belgians, was born to King Leopold III and Queen Astrid in 1930, close to the anniversary of Belgian independence and so the birth of an heir to the throne was particularly celebrated. However, family tragedies became rather routine in the early years of Prince Baudouin. Toward the end of World War II he had to endure horrible conditions with his family in German captivity which was followed by the “Royal Question” which troubled Prince Baudouin greatly who would rather have been a priest than become king. But, his father was going to abdicate and two abdications would potentially ruin the monarchy. At the age of 21 in 1951 he became King of the Belgians in a very traumatic and difficult atmosphere. The country was going through many social upheavals and agitation. The Belgian colonies in Africa were lost, the division of the country between Flanders and Wallonia occurred and King Baudouin was greatly troubled by the moral decline in society. He never had children and died in 1993.

Albert II, our esteemed reigning King of the Belgians, is the second son of King Leopold III, born in 1934. In 1940, with his siblings, they fled to France and then Spain from the Germans but came home later in the year. Like the rest he spent time in captivity by the Germans, then in exile in Switzerland only to see his father abdicate and his brother become King. In 1959 he married our Queen Paola from an Italian princely family and began work as an important trade official for Belgium. He also started a family, eventually having three children. He served as President of the Belgian Red Cross and set up his own foundation to also help in the area of trade and business. When his brother died in 1993 he became King Albert II of the Belgians. Since that time he has worked tirelessly to promote Belgian interests, unite the country and encourage the political parties to work together. Since the internal division of the country between the Flemish and Walloon the King has been forced to shoulder an ever greater burden in bringing the factions together to form coalitions for effective governments. He has always accepted the will of the people but has refused to deal with those who would see Belgium destroyed.

Prince Alexandre was the first son of King Leopold III and his second wife Princess Lilian who he married during the war (she was never queen). Alexandre was born during the war in 1942 and so was only a baby when the family was shuffled around to Germany, to Austria to Switzerland and finally able to return to Belgium. Because of political prejudice against the marriage of King Leopold to Princess Lilian their children together were not included in the succession to the throne but with two sons already this did not matter much but there was some distance between the two parts of the family. Prince Alexandre studied first medicine but then decided on business, looking to a career in trade. His mother raised him according to high standards thinking he would have official duties with the monarchy but this did not occur. He married in secret in 1991 because he feared there would be disapproval over his choice of wife; a twice divorced mother of two. Prince Alexandre died in 2009 of pulmonary embolism.

Princess Marie-Christine is the second child of King Leopold III and Princess Lilian. She was born in 1951 in Laeken and has been, much the pity, the “black sheep” of the children of Leopold III. She was given the best upbringing her parents could give but in the end she totally rebelled against them and really all of her background completely. This would have been only moderately bad if she had chosen to go and live her own life but she instead tried to actually harm her family while still enjoying the privileges of her status. She has spread the most horrid lies about her youth and her family (Princess Lilian especially) and mocked the monarchy while living the high society life. She has been married twice, once in Canada and once in the United States and tried to become a famous actress without success. She publicly denounced her half-brother King Baudouin and refused to attend his funeral or that of her full brother Alexandre. She has also expressed republican sympathies. I am sorry but she is a bad princess!

Princess Marie-Esmeralda, the youngest child of Leopold III and Princess Lilian, is thankfully a much better person than her sister. She was born in Laeken in 1956 and, like the others, did not have an especially easy time growing up, much of the tensions probably resulting from the politically imposed division between the family that made the children of Princess Lilian somewhat of “second class” royals. However, Marie-Esmeralda had a more mature attitude than her sister and remained attached to her parents through the good and not so good times. She has defended King Leopold III and Princess Lilian from the heavy unfair criticism they have faced, before and even after their deaths. Using the name Esméralda de Réthy she succeeded in becoming a journalist and in 1998 in London married a British Honduras pharmacologist. She has happily had two children; a daughter and a son both born in London and she enjoys her work as a journalist and a writer as well as trying to continue the good works of her parents. She described her character as like that of her mother, in the good and bad ways.

The Children of King Albert Ier

Leopold III was the first child of King Albert and Queen Elisabeth, born on 3 November 1901. As a youth he defended his country in the Great War as a common soldier. Educated in the UK and US he married Princess Astrid of Sweden in 1926. She died in 1935 to the great sadness of all. As king Leopold had to deal with rising radical factions in the country and increased regionalism. He was sympathetic to the complaints of the Flemish. He tried a policy of neutrality but this was not respected by the Germans. In World War II he led the army in defending the country, fighting for 18 days before being forced to surrender. Refusing to escape he remained with his people to help them endure the occupation. In 1941 he married Lilian Baels. Hitler tried to enlist his cooperation but Leopold refused. He also had trouble with his government who had fled to Britain. The Germans took him out of Belgium and at the end of the war he moved to Switzerland. Because the public was so divided over his return he abdicated in 1951 to spare his country.

Prince Charles, Count of Flanders, second child of King Albert and Queen Elisabeth was born on 10 October 1903. His personality was very different from his older brother. He became Count of Flanders in 1910 and trained with the navy and the army of Great Britain before taking up his own position in the Belgian service. During World War II he defended the country as a colonel with the cavalry corps. After the surrender he retired to his home in Brussels. When the Allied invasion of Europe came he moved to a secret home in Wallonia. When the Allies entered Belgium he was named regent by the government while the King was in Switzerland. Many important changes took place during his regency. The US “Marshall Plan” was put into effect, women were given the vote, a social welfare system was set up, the Benelux union was formed and Belgium joined the United Nations and the NATO alliance. When the Royal Question was settled he retired to Ostend to devote himself to his love of art, drawing and painting.

Princess Marie-José was the only daughter of King Albert and Queen Elisabeth, born on 4 August 1906. On 8 January 1930 she married Crown Prince Umberto of Italy and became a very fashionable figure in Rome and Italian society. This marriage was arranged because the Italy was about the only royal Catholic monarchy left besides Belgium. However, the marriage was not exceptionally happy but the couple did have four children. During World War II Princess Marie-José set an example of sacrifice for the war effort and was made president of the Red Cross. However, she did not support the fascist regime and was able to act in a subtle way as a bridge between the fascist government and the Allies when Italy was moving toward discharging Mussolini and switching sides in the war. Her husband took charge of Italy and in 1946 her father-in-law abdicated and she became Queen of Italy alongside her husband King Umberto II. However, after only 35 days as nominal queen the Italian monarchy was abolished by a referendum. She parted from her husband and lived in exile forever after.

The Children of Leopold II

Princess Louise-Marie was the first daughter of King Leopold II, born on 18 February 1858 in Brussels. Her relationship with her parents was not ideal, her father being too busy for her and her mother being overly strict. As is often the case this led Princess Louise to become a rebellious character and the most famous flirt of the Belgian royal house. In 1875 she was married to Prince Philippe of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry and later had two children. However, the King disliked the marriage because he was growing distrustful of the Prussians/Germans but her mother approved only because Philippe had a connection with her beloved Hungary. However, it was not a happy marriage at all. While in Vienna Princess Louise-Marie suggested the marriage of Princess Stephanie to the Austrian Crown Prince Rudolf. In 1897 she left her husband after falling in love with an officer in a Croatian regiment of the Austrian army. Her children left her and her husband was wounded in a duel with her lover. The man later went to prison for forgery but in 1906 Louise-Marie and Philippe were finally divorced. Her high living left her with little money and she went to an asylum. When her old lover, Géza Mattachich, got out of prison he helped spring her and they ran away to Paris where they lived till his death. The Princess was then taken care of by Queen Elisabeth until her own death in 1924 in Wiesbaden.

Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant, the only son of King Leopold II, was born in Brussels on 12 June 1859. His birth was a great joy for the country and the royal house; the promise of the continuation of the dynasty. His parents did not have the best marriage but his birth was what it was all about and it was the hope for a son and heir, more than anything else, that kept the King and Queen together for the good of the country. His older sister had been named after her grandmother and Leopold was named after his grandfather (and his father too). When Leopold II became king in 1865 the little Prince Leopold became the Duke of Brabant and he was groomed with the expectation that he would one day be King of the Belgians. However, that was not to be since his young life was cut short when he fell in a pond at Laeken when he was only 10 years old in 1869. He did not drown but came down with pneumonia (it was January and very cold) and died because of that. The usually stern King Leopold II was crushed by the death of his son, collapsing in sobs in public beside the coffin of his little boy. Those who are quick to characterize Leopold II as cold and unfeeling should remember that very public emotional moment. Prince Leopold was buried at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels.

Princess Stéphanie was born at Laeken on 21 May 1864, the second daughter of Leopold II and even at a very young age was considered her duty to marry for the country. The Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria was looking for a wife and Princess Louise-Marie suggested her sister Princess Stéphanie and in the absence of any other royal Catholic princess the agreement was made for another Belgian-Austrian marriage. Because she was so young the wedding had to be put off until she was mature enough to have children and in 1881 the couple were married in Vienna in a very glamorous ceremony. Alongside the members of the Austrian Imperial Family the future Kaiser Wilhelm II attended as did the famous King Edward VII of the British Empire. However, the marriage was not very successful and Rudolf was known for being unfaithful. The Austrian Empress Elisabeth did not welcome her and neglected by her husband Princess Stéphanie fell in love with a Polish count. In 1889 Rudolf killed himself and his mistress and in 1900 in Italy she married a Hungarian count and moved to his country. She survived both world wars and had to flee from the Soviets before her death on 23 August 1945.

Princess Clémentine of Belgium was the last child of Leopold II, after his birth the King and Queen lived apart feeling their was no chance of having another son and heir. Her mother raised her strictly but Leopold II allowed her more freedom until the death of her mother when she had to become the leading female royal of Belgium. She had a good relationship with the King until he opposed her romance with Prince Victor Napoleon Bonaparte. She asked again and again to marry the Prince but the King did not want his daughter marrying a Bonaparte. However, Princess Clémentine was patient and persevered. After Leopold II died she finally married her Prince Napoleon in Italy in 1910 with the blessing of the new monarch King Albert I. Prince Victor later became head of the Bonaparte family (Napoleon V), making Princess Clémentine the wished-for “Empress of the French” for those loyal to the Bonaparte family. After so many years of endurance and sacrifice for others it is satisfying that she was so happy with Prince Victor Napoleon who she absolutely adored and loved. They had two children, a daughter and a son and heir for the Napoleonic dynasty (Napoleon VI). Sadly her husband died in Brussels in 1926 and she must have worried terribly over her son who was almost killed a number of times during World War II in the French Resistance and German captivity. She died in Nice in 1955.

The Children of Leopold 1er

Crown Prince Louis-Philippe was the first child born to King Leopold I and Queen Louise. He was born on 24 July 1833 at Laeken. He was named after his grandfather King Louis Philippe of the French. He was the pride of his parents and the hope for the future of the new Kingdom of Belgium. The baby prince was baptized at St Michael and Gudula Cathedral in Brussels by Archbishop Engelbert Sterckx of Mechelen-Brussels. His mother nicknamed him ‘Babochon’. Sadly, Crown Prince Louis-Philippe did not live even to his first birthday. He died on May 16, 1834 of an inflammation of the mucous membranes. He was buried in a little coffin wrapped in white velvet, first in the vault of the Dukes of Brabant in Brussels but he was later moved to rest with his parents at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken. Both parents were devastated, Queen Louise writing that his death brought up the painful memories for King Leopold I of the death of his first wife Princess Charlotte.

Leopold, Duke of Brabant, the future King Leopold II was born on 9 April 1835. His birth was a welcome relief in that Belgium had an heir again but there was still sadness over the death of Louis-Philippe and Leopold would never be well liked by his parents and never have a very happy childhood. His mother thought his big nose made him look like a bird and his father referred to him as the “little tyrant”. His younger siblings were much more popular with their parents than Leopold was. Slightly crippled at birth, he was bashful and did not have great social skills. He was also always in the shadow of his father who had a rather exalted sense of himself and was widely revered around Europe as a great leader so it was hard for him to measure up to his esteemed father or his more sociable brother and sister. Visitors often described him as either cold and aloof or excessively friendly and very sly. Being treated unfairly so early in life made him unconcerned with criticism and his desire to live up to and surpass the great accomplishments of his father made him very single-minded and ambitious. He became King on 17 December 1865 with the one goal of making Belgium great.

Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, was born on 24 March, 1837. Throughout his childhood and youth Prince Philippe was known for being friendly, very outgoing and jolly. Because of this he was quite popular. He was born at Laeken palace and was made Count of Flanders on 14 December 1840. At first many would have thought he might make a better king than his brother but Prince Philippe soon became quite deaf and this hampered his abilities as a public figure. However, he cultivated his mind, he loved to read and collected a great many books. In 1867 he married Princess Marie of Hohenzollern, daughter of the Prussian prime minister and sister of the first King of Romania. They had a very happy marriage and had five children which was important because King Leopold II never had any children so the succession was secured by Prince Philippe. They were very religious, very conservative but content with a simple family life, having little time for politics or court rivalries. Philippe and Leopold did not get along very well. Philippe died in 1905 but it was his son, Albert, who would succeed his older brother as King of the Belgians four years later.

Princess Charlotte was born on 7 June 1840 at Laeken and she is probably, alongside her brother who became king, the most famous of the children of Leopold I. Her father had wanted a boy but he quickly adored Charlotte, naming her after his beloved late first wife. She was his favorite child and described as his “pet”. Throughout her life she was very studious, very curious and very energetic. She was always busy with something and devoted herself radically to whatever project she had. She was very popular in Belgium as the exceptional and beautiful young princess. In 1857 she married Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria and with him went to Lombardy-Venetia in Italy (Austrian at the time). They were both bored and idealistic when they accepted the offer to become Emperor and Empress of Mexico in 1864. The situation there was not what Charlotte had been led to believe (she used the name Carlota in Mexico) but she worked feverishly in both politics and social events in Mexico to make their empire a success. She was sad that they could not have children and was overburdened by the stress on her in Mexico. When she went to Europe to try to obtain help for the faltering empire she suffered a mental or nervous breakdown and never saw her husband or adopted country again. Continuing to suffer from mental illness she lived isolated in Belgium until 1927.