by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps was the mistress of the future King Albert II of the Belgians from the mid-1960s until the early 1980s. Their child, Delphine Boël, now Her Royal Highness Princess Delphine of Belgium, is well-known to many for having pursued legal acknowledgment of her parentage. This was finally received in early 2020.

Sybille was born on August 28, 1941, in Uccle, Belgium, the second child of Count Michel François de Selys Longchamps and Countess Pauline Cornet de Ways-Ruart. Her father had valiantly served in the Belgian military and was active in the resistance during World War II. He later served as Belgian Ambassador to numerous countries, including the Netherlands, Italy, Luxembourg, and the United States. She had five siblings:

• Michel (1938) – married Florence van den Perre
• Anne-Michèle (1942) – married Barn Henry van der Straeten Waillet
• Jean-Patrick (1944) – married Margaret de Brouwer
• Daniel (1946) – unmarried
• Nathalie (1951) – married Guy Verhaeghe de Naeyer

In 1962, Sybille married Jonkheer Jacques Boël, a wealthy industrialist. About four years later, Sybille first met the future King Albert (then Prince of Liège) in Athens, Greece, where her father was serving as Ambassador, and Albert and his wife were on holiday. Several months later, she was invited to a dinner and seated right next to him. Soon, the two began an affair that reportedly lasted until around 1982. In 1968, Sybille gave birth to a daughter – Delphine – who was registered as the daughter of Jacques Boël.

Despite their marriages, Sybille and Albert maintained their relationship for many years, and according to Delphine years later, Albert even considered divorcing his wife but Sybille talked him out of it. For reasons unknown, Albert ended their affair somewhat abruptly in 1982, ending all contact with Sybille and their daughter. By then, Sybille had divorced her first husband (in 1978), and in 1982 she remarried to the Honourable Michael-Anthony Rathbone Cayzer, a younger son of Herbert Cayzer, 1st Baron Rocherwick. Sybille and her daughter then lived in England until Cayzer’s death in 1990. Since then, she has split her time between Belgium and Provence.

In 1999, in a biography of Queen Paola, the first public allegation was made of Sybille’s affair with Albert and the subsequent birth of their daughter. The Belgian royal court quickly dismissed the report as “gossip”, but later that year, the King seemed to make reference to the situation. In his Christmas message, he spoke of a “crisis” in his marriage some 30 years earlier that they had overcome, but of which they had been recently reminded. That would be the last public statement on the matter for many years.

Having spoken publicly about the matter for several years, in June 2013, Delphine filed a lawsuit asking King Albert and two of his legitimate children to provide DNA samples to prove her lineage. In September of that year, Sybille appeared on a television program entitled “Our Daughter is Called Delphine”, in which she detailed her relationship with the King and the birth of their child together.

By March 2017, the courts had dismissed Delphine’s lawsuit. But she continued to pursue the matter, and after Jacques Boël was proven to not be her father, a Belgian court instructed the now-former King Albert to provide a DNA sample. Albert appealed the ruling, unsuccessfully, and was assessed with a fine of €5,000 per day until he cooperated. Soon, he did provide a sample, and in January 2020, it was made public that the test had proven that he was, in fact, Delphine’s biological father.  In October 2020, the Belgian Court of Appeal ruled that Delphine is entitled to the title of Princess of Belgium and the style of Royal Highness.  This also applies to her children.  She is also entitled to inherit one-quarter of the former King’s estate, a share equal to those of his legitimate children.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Caroline Lacroix was the royal mistress of King Leopold II of the Belgians from 1900 until his death in 1909. She was just sixteen years old when their relationship began, while the King was nearly fifty years her senior.

Blanche Zélia Joséphine Delacroix – later known as Caroline Lacroix – was born in Bucharest, Romania on May 13, 1883, the 13th child of Jules Delacroix and Catherine Josephine Sebille. By the time she was in her mid-teens, she was the mistress of a former French army officer, Antoine-Emmanuel Durrieux, who often arranged for Caroline to provide ‘company’ to other wealthy men to support themselves. Through these encounters, Caroline caught the attention of King Leopold II of the Belgians.

King Leopold II sent a messenger to arrange a meeting with Caroline which went well enough that the King asked Caroline to accompany him on a trip to Austria. Just sixteen years old at the time, Caroline was far from discreet about her new relationship with the King. It quickly became public knowledge and was discussed widely in the Belgian media. She frequently accompanied Leopold on his travels, including accompanying him to London in 1901 for the funeral of Queen Victoria. Following the death of his wife, Queen Marie Henriette in 1902, Leopold arranged for Caroline to move into Villa Van der Borght, just outside the grounds of the Royal Palace of Laeken. He even had a footbridge built so he could easily visit her regularly.

The couple had two sons together:

• Lucien Philippe Marie Antoine ( 1906 –1984), Duke of Tervuren
• Philippe Henri Marie François (1907 – 1914), Count of Ravenstein

At the time of Lucien’s birth, Leopold granted Caroline the title Baroness de Vaughan, and both sons were given courtesy titles. However, the titles were never formally granted by royal decree, making them strictly honorary titles. Both sons’ births were registered in France with only Caroline’s name.

During their relationship, King Leopold II lavished Caroline with gifts – including several residences. In addition to Villa Van der Borght in Laeken, he also purchased the Villa Les Cédres in Cap Ferrat 1904 for Caroline to use, and in 1908 he bought and gifted her the Château de Balincourt in northern France. In addition to these, she also had use of Villa Leopolda, a sprawling villa that Leopold had built on the French Riviera in 1902.

In addition to these various homes, Caroline received gifts of clothes and jewels and amassed a significant fortune. Caroline was known to boast about her newfound wealth, often claiming that her sons would be more wealthy than the richest men in England.

Sensing his impending death, on December 12, 1909, King Leopold II and Caroline were married in a religious ceremony at the Palace of Laeken. However, no civil ceremony was held – a requirement under Belgian law – and the marriage was not deemed legal. Five days later, King Leopold died, with Caroline and their two sons by his side.

Knowing she would no longer be welcome within the Belgian royal family, Caroline quickly moved on with her life. Just seven months after Leopold’s death, she married her former lover, Antoine-Emmanuel Durrieux, who helped her negotiate through the financial arrangements left for her by King Leopold II. Durrieux adopted her two sons, but the marriage soon ended.

She then lived a quieter life, often in the company of her elder son, and spending time at her various homes around Europe. In 1937, she published her memoirs, and on February 12, 1948, she died in Cambo-les-Bains, France. She is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Arcadie Claret was the mistress of King Leopold I of the Belgians from around 1842 until the King’s death in 1865.

Marie Anne Arcadie Eugénie Claret was born in Brussels on May 30, 1826, one of thirteen children of Major Charles-Joseph Claret and Henriette Neetesonne. Her father was a veteran of Napoleon’s army and the treasurer of the Ministry of War’s Fund for Widows and Orphans of the Belgian Army.

Arcadie was just in her late teens when she became the mistress of King Leopold I. The King moved her into a grand house in Saint-Josse-ten-Node near Brussels, where he visited often. Because their relationship became publicly known and widely discussed in the press, Leopold arranged a marriage between Arcadie and Ferdinand Meyer, his Master of the Stable and friend. This marriage of convenience took place in 1845 and provided some relief from the intense speculation about Arcadie and her relationship with Leopold. Arcadie and Leopold had two sons together. Both were registered as the children of her husband, and given the surname Meyer:

• Georg Meyer, Baron von Eppinghoven (November 14, 1849-February 3, 1904) – born at the monastery of Saint-Joseph des Filles de la Croix in Liège, served as an officer in the Prussian Army. He and his wife, Anna Brust (a former chambermaid of his mother’s), had three children. They lived primarily at the family farm in Langenfeld before his death in Monheim in 1904.

• Arthur Meyer, Baron von Eppinghoven (September 25, 1852 – November 9, 1940) – born at the Château de Stuyvenberg Laken, served as Grand Marshal of the Grand Ducal Court of Coburg. He and his wife, Anna Harris, had one daughter. After the fall of the German monarchies in 1918, he returned to Belgium, formally changing his surname to von Eppinghoven, and took Belgian citizenship. He received some financial support from his half-nephew, King Albert I of the Belgians, and is buried near the Royal Crypt in the cemetery of Laeken.

The subject of intense criticism following the birth of her first child, Arcadie left Belgium in late 1850, just days before King Leopold’s wife Queen Louise Marie, died. After living for a year in Germany, Arcadie returned to Belgium in the fall of 1851, determined to maintain a discreet profile. With financial help from Leopold, she purchased the Château de Stuyvenberg for 80,000 francs, just steps from the Palace of Laeken. Over the next few years, she had the Château enlarged to provide a home for her own family, her mother, and several siblings. Here, the King would often visit every day, enjoying a quiet family life with Arcadie and their sons.

In addition to purchasing Stuyvenberg, Arcadie received a farmhouse in Monheim, Germany, from the King in 1851. A modest residence – originally an abbey farm named Eppinghoven – Arcadie soon had a more substantial castle built and following the King’s death, she would spend the remainder of her life there.

In 1862, a year after Arcadie and her husband formally separated, King Leopold I sought to secure the future of their sons. He attempted to have them elevated to the Belgian nobility but  the government denied his request. Instead, he asked his nephew, Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, to establish noble titles within the Coburg nobility. Both George and Arthur were created Baron von Eppinghoven in 1862, and the following year, Arcadie was also elevated to Baroness von Eppinghoven. I 1870, Arcadie purchased a farm – the Langfort Domain – in Langenfeld for her sons – once again with the help of King Leopold and his generosity.

During the relationship, which lasted over 20 years, Arcadie and King Leopold were devoted to each other. She often accompanied him on his travels and visits abroad and maintained a  peaceful and quiet home for the King in Belgium. Stuyvenberg became a refuge for him from the stresses of his role.

Following the King’s death in December 1865, Arcadie was no longer welcome within the Belgian royal family. Within days of his death, Arcadie and her sons left Brussels and settled at her castle in Monheim. Despite leaving, she maintained ownership of Stuyvenberg for the next 24 years before finally selling it – through an intermediary – to King Leopold II who later transferred it to the Royal Trust.

Arcadie Claret Meyer, Baroness von Eppinghoven, lived a quiet and private life in Monheim for the next 31 years before passing away there on January 13, 1897.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

Philippe, King of the Belgians (born 1960)

(All photos credits – Wikipedia unless otherwise noted)

Philippe, King of the Belgians was born on April 15, 1960, at the Château du Belvédère in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium. He was the eldest of the three children and the elder of the two sons of Albert II, King of the Belgians and Paola Ruffo di Calabria. His father Albert II was the second of the two sons and the youngest of the three children of Leopold III, King of the Belgians and his first wife Princess Astrid of Sweden. His mother Paola Ruffo di Calabria came from an Italian noble family. She was the seventh and youngest child of World War I Italian flying ace Prince Fulco Ruffo di Calabria and Countess Luisa Gazelli dei Conti de Rossana e di Sebastiano. Philippe married Mathilde d’Udekem d’Acoz and had two daughters and two sons. He became King of the Belgians on July 21, 2013, upon the abdication of his father King Albert II.

Philippe has 25 first cousins. He shares his first cousins with his siblings Princess Astrid of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este and Prince Laurent of Belgium.

• Unofficial Royalty: Philipps, King of the Belgians

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King Philippe’s Paternal Aunts and Uncles: Children of Leopold III, King of the Belgians and his first wife Princess Astrid of Sweden

• Princess Josephine-Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg (1927 – 2005), married Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, had issue
• Baudouin, King of the Belgians (1930-1993), married Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, no issue

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King Philippe’s Paternal Half Aunts and Uncles: Children of King Leopold III of the Belgians and his second wife Lilian Baels

• Prince Alexandre of Belgium (1942 -2009), married Léa Inga Dora Wolman, no children
• Princess Marie-Christine of Belgium (1951), married  (1) Paul Druker, no issue, divorced; (2) Jean-Paul Gourgues, no issue
• Princess Marie-Esméralda of Belgium (1956), married Sir Salvador Moncada, had two children

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King Philippe’s Maternal Aunts and Uncles: Children of Prince Fulco Ruffo di Calabria and Countess Luisa Gazelli dei Conti de Rossana e di Sebastiano

• Maria Cristina Ruffo di Calabria (1920–2003), married (1) Casimiro San Martino d´Aglie dei Marchesi di San Germano, had issue;  (2) Count Ernesto Rossi di Montelera, had issue
• Laura Ruffo di Calabria (1921–1972), married Bettino, Baron Ricasoli Firidolfi, 31th Baron of Brolio, had issue
• Fabrizio, Prince Ruffo di Calabria-Santapau, 13th Prince of Palazzolo, 14th Prince of Scilla, 7th Duke of Guardia Lombarda, 13th Marquis of Scilla and 18th Count of Sinopoli (1922–2005), married Maria Vaciago, had issue
• Augusto Ruffo di Calabria (1925–1943), unmarried, killed in battle at sea during World War II, unmarried
• Giovannella Ruffo di Calabria (1927–1941), unmarried
• Antonello Ruffo di Calabria (1930–2017), married Rosa Maria Mastrogiovanni Tasca, had issue

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PATERNAL FIRST COUSINS

Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium and Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg

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Princess Marie Astrid with her husband

Princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg, Archduchess of Austria (born 1954)

Princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg married Archduke Carl Christian of Austria, a grandson of the last Emperor of Austria-Hungary, Karl I. The couple had two daughters and three daughters. Marie Astrid earned her certification as a registered nurse with a specialized certificate in tropical medicine.

• Unofficial Royalty: Princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg

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Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg (born 1955)

Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg has been the reigning Grand Duke of Luxembourg since the abdication of his father Grand Duke Jean in 2000. Henri married Maria Teresa Mestre y Batista-Falla who was born in Havana, Cuba, and they have four sons and one daughter.

• Unofficial Royalty: Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg

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Prince Jean of Luxembourg (born 1957)

Prince Jean of Luxembourg is the twin brother of Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg. A year after having a child, Prince Jean and Hélène Vestur married. At the time of their child’s birth, Jean gave up his succession rights.  Jean and Hélène had a total of four children. Hélène and her children took the surname ‘de Nassau’ with no royal style or title. They were later raised to Count/Countess de Nassau. Grand Duke Henri elevated the children to Prince/Princess of Nassau, with the style of Royal Highness. However, Jean’s children do not have any succession rights. After seventeen years of marriage, Jean and Hélène divorced. Jean made a second marriage with Diane de Guerre. She holds the title of Countess de Nassau. They have no children.

• Unofficial Royalty: Prince Jean of Luxembourg

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Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg, Princess of Liechtenstein (born 1957)

Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg is the twin sister of Prince Jean of Luxembourg. She married Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein, the third son of Prince Franz Josef II of Liechtenstein and Countess Georgina von Wilczek, and a younger brother of the currently reigning Prince Hans-Adam II. The marriage of Margaretha and Nikolaus would be the last between two reigning royal houses in Europe. The couple had four children.

• Unofficial Royalty: Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg

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Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg (born 1963)

Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg married Sibilla Weiller y Torlonia, a distant cousin. Sibilla, a descendant of Queen Victoria through her daughter Princess Beatrice, is a granddaughter of Infanta Beatriz of Spain and a second cousin to King Felipe VI of Spain. Guillaume and Sibilla had four children.

• Unofficial Royalty: Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg

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Paternal Half First Cousins: Children of Princess Marie-Esmerelda of Belgium and Salvador Moncada)

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Princess Esmeralda of Belgium with her husband Salvador Moncada with their children Leopoldo and Alexandra

• Alexandra Léopoldine Moncada (born 1998)
• Leopoldo Daniel Moncada (born 2001)

Alexandra and Leopoldo’s mother Princess Marie-Esmerelda of Belgium was the daughter of Leopold III, King of the Belgians and his second wife Lilian Baels. Lilian and Leopold married in a religious ceremony held in the chapel at the Palace of Laeken in 1941. The couple planned to hold a civil ceremony after the war, but instead held it in December of the same year, after discovering that they were expecting a child. There were several issues with the marriage which further damaged Leopold’s reputation with the Belgian people. First, the order of the ceremonies went against Belgian law, which states that a civil ceremony must take place before a religious one. Secondly, many Belgians felt that the marriage sullied the memory of Leopold’s first wife, their beloved Queen Astrid who had died in a car accident at the age of 29. Following the marriage, Lilian was given the title Princess de Réthy and was not styled as Queen. It was also decided that any children would be Prince/Princess of Belgium, but without any rights of succession. Leopold and Lilian had three children.

Alexandra and Leopoldo are not in the Belgian line of succession and are not considered members of the Belgian Royal Family. They are private citizens and do not perform any royal functions. Their father Sir Salvador Moncada is a Honduran-British pharmacologist and they have lived in Belgian, Honduras and the United Kingdom.

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MATERNAL FIRST COUSINS

Maternal First Cousins: Children of Maria Cristina Ruffo di Calabria and Casimiro San Martino d´Aglie dei Marchesi di San Germano

• Emanuela San Martino d’Agliè married Count Ernesto Rossi di Montelera, had four daughters
• Antonella San Martino d’Agliè married Count Ippolito Calvi di Bergolo Rocca Saporiti, had one son
• Giovanna San Martino d’Aglie (born 1945) married Alvaro de Orléans-Borbón y Parodi Delfino (son of Infante Alvaro de Orléans-Borbón, Duke of Galliera and Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, granddaughter of Queen Victoria), divorced, had one daughter and two sons
• Nicolo San Martino d’Aglie (born 1948) married (1) Princess Catherine Napoléon (daughter of Louis, Prince Napoléon), divorced, no children (2) Nobile Anna Maria Gazzana Priaroggia, had three sons and one daughter
• Filippo San Martino d’Agile di San Germano (born 1953) married Cristina Maria Margherita Flesia. had two sons

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Maternal First Cousins: Children of Laura Ruffo di Calabria and Bettino, Baron Ricasoli Firidolfi, 31th Baron of Brolio

• Andrea Ricasoli Firidolfi Zanchini Marsuppini Acciaiuoli Salviati (1948 – 1982)
• Luisa Ricasoli Firidolfi Zanchini Marsuppini Acciaiuoli Salviati (born 1950) married Carlo Lodovico Bicocchi, had three daughters
• Maria Teresa Ricasoli Firidolfi Zanchini Marsuppini Acciaiuoli Salviati (born 1954) married Roberto Giunta, had two daughters
• Giovanni Francesco Ricasoli Firidolfi Zanchini, (born 1956) married Eva Holmstrom, had one daughter

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Maternal First Cousins: Children of Fabrizio, Prince Ruffo di Calabria-Santapau and Maria Vaciago

• Fulco IX, Prince Ruffo di Calabria (1954), Head of the House of Ruffo di Calabria, married and divorced Melba Vincens Bello and then married for a second time to Luisa Tricarico.
• Augusto Ruffo di Calabria (born 1955) married Princess Christiana zu Windisch-Graetz and had two daughters and one son.
• Imara Ruffo di Calabria (born 1958) married (1) Uberto Imar Gashe, had one daughter, divorced (2) Baron Marco Tonci Ottieri della Ciaia, had one son
• Umberto Ruffo di Calabria (born 1960) married Leontina, Marchesa Pallavicini and had one son and one daughter
• Alessandro Ruffo di Calabria (born 1964) married (1) Princess Mafalda of Savoy-Aosta, divorced (2) Marzia Palau

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Maternal First Cousins: Children of Antonello Ruffo di Calabria and Rosa Maria Mastrogiovanni Tasca

• Covella Ruffo di Calabria (born 1962)
• Lucio Ruffo di Calabria (born 1964)
• Domitilla Ruffo di Calabria (born 1965) married Don Giovanni dei Baroni Porcari Li Destri and had one son and one daughter.
• Claudia Ruffo di Calabria (born 1969) married Marcello Salom.

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This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

• Lundy, D. (2019). Main Page. [online] Thepeerage.com. Available at: http://www.thepeerage.com/. (for genealogy information)
• Unofficial Royalty. (2019). Unofficial Royalty. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com. (for biographical and genealogy information)
• Wikipedia. (2019). Main Page. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/.  (for biographical and genealogy information)

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

Albert II, King of the Belgians (born 1934)

(All photos credits – Wikipedia unless otherwise noted)

Albert II, King of the Belgians was born at Stuyvenberg Castle in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium on June 6, 1934, the second of the two sons and the youngest of the three children of Leopold III, King of the Belgians and Princess Astrid of Sweden. His elder brother was Baudouin, King of the Belgians and his sister Joséphine-Charlotte was the wife of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg.

Albert’s father Leopold III was the eldest of the two sons and the eldest of the three children of Albert I, King of the Belgians and Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria. Princess Astrid of Sweden, his mother, was the third of the four children and the youngest of the three daughters of Prince Carl of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland, and Princess Ingeborg of Denmark. Princess Astrid’s paternal grandparents were King Oscar II of Sweden and Sofia of Nassau. Her maternal grandparents were King Frederick VIII of Denmark and Louise of Sweden.  Albert married Paola Ruffo di Calabria and had two sons and one daughter. In 2013, Albert II, King of the Belgians abdicated in favor of his son Philippe.

King Albert II has ten first cousins. He shares his first cousins with his siblings Princess Josephine-Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and Baudouin, King of the Belgians and his paternal first cousins with his half-siblings from his father’s second marriage to Lilian Baels, Prince Alexandre, Princess Marie-Christine, and Princess Marie-Esméralda.

• Unofficial Royalty: Albert II, King of the Belgians

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King Albert II’s Paternal Aunts and Uncles: Children of Albert I, King of the Belgians and Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria

• Prince Charles, Count of Flanders, Prince Regent (1903-1983), unmarried, illegitimate daughter with Jacqueline Wehrli
• Princess Marie-José, Queen of Italy (1906-2001), married King Umberto II of Italy, had issue

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King Albert II’s Maternal Aunts and Uncles: Children of Prince Carl of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland, and Princess Ingeborg of Denmark

• Princess Margaretha of Sweden, Princess of Denmark (1899 -1977); married Prince Axel of Denmark, had issue
• Princess Märtha of Sweden, Crown Princess of Norway (1901-1954); married Crown Prince Olav of Norway (died before he became King of Norway), had issue
• Prince Carl of Sweden, Duke of Östergötland (1911- 2003); married (1) Countess Elsa von Rosen, lost his royal status upon marriage, became Prince Carl Bernadotte, had issue, divorced;  (2) Ann Margareta Larsson, no issue, divorced;  (3)  Kristine Rivelsrud, no issue

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PATERNAL FIRST COUSINS

Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Marie José of Belgium and King Umberto II of Italy

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Princess Maria Pia of Savoy (born 1934)

Princess Maria Pia of Savoy met her husband Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia, son of Prince Paul of Yugoslavia and Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark, on the famous royal cruise on the yacht Agamemnon, hosted by the Greek royal family. The couple had twin sons, another son and a daughter before they divorced. Maria Pia married a second time to Prince Michel of Bourbon-Parma, son of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma and Princess Margaret of Denmark.

• Wikipedia: Princess Maria Pia of Savoy

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Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, Prince of Naples (born 1938)

Prince Vittorio Emanuele uses the title Duke of Savoy and claims the headship of the House of Savoy although this claim is disputed by the Dukes of Aosta. He married Marina Ricolfi-Doria,  Swiss biscuit heiress and a former world-ranked water skier. They had one son.

• Wikipedia: Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, Prince of Naples

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Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy (born 1940)

After Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran divorced his second wife, he expressed interest in marrying Princess Maria Gabriella. However, Pope John XXIII strongly disapproved and forbade the marriage. The princess married Romanian entrepreneur Robert Zellinger de Balkany with whom she had one daughter. The couple divorced after fourteen years of marriage. After the death of her father, the former King Umberto II of Italy, Princess Maria Gabriella launched the King Umberto II Foundation, dedicated to preserving the history and legacy of the House of Savoy. She is a watercolor artist, and a writer, and has published several books on her family.

• Wikipedia: Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy

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Princess Maria Beatrice of Savoy (born 1943)

Princess Maria Beatrice of Savoy wanted to marry Italian actor Maurizio Arena but was prevented by her family. Instead, she married Argentinian Luis Rafael Reyna-Corvalán y Dillon. The couple had one daughter and two sons, one of whom died shortly after birth and the other died at the age of 24 after falling from the terrace of his home. Maria Beatrice and her husband divorced after 27 years of marriage and a year later her former husband was murdered.

• Wikipedia: Princess Maria Beatrice of Savoy 

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MATERNAL FIRST COUSINS

Maternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Margaretha of Sweden and Prince Axel of Denmark

Prince George Valdemar of Denmark (1920 – 1986)

Prince George Valdemar was the second husband of Anne Bowes-Lyon, a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. The couple had no children. Because the prince received permission from King Frederik IX of Denmark to marry, he remained in the line of succession. However, he lost his place in the line of succession three years later because the Danish Act of Succession of 1953 restricted the throne to those descended from King Christian X of Denmark.

• Wikipedia: Prince George Valdemar of Denmark

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Count Flemming Valdemar of Rosenborg (1922 – 2002)

Born His Highness Prince Flemming Valdemar of Denmark, he lost his place in the succession when he married Ruth Nielsen without the permission of King Frederik IX of Denmark. The couple had three sons and one daughter.

• • Wikipedia: Count Flemming Valdemar of Rosenborg

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Maternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Märtha of Sweden, Crown Princess of Norway and the future King Olav V of Norway

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Princess Ragnhild of Norway, Mrs. Lorentzen (1930 – 2012)

Princess Ragnhild was the first native Norwegian princess born in Norway in over 600 years. She married Erling Lorentzen, a commoner and her former bodyguard. Reportedly, her grandfather King Haakon VII consented to the marriage only after the intervention of Ragnhild’s mother Crown Princess Märtha. Upon her marriage, Ragnhild lost her style of Royal Highness, becoming known instead as Her Highness Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen. Ragnhild and her husband had one son and two daughters.

• Unofficial Royalty: Princess Ragnhild, Mrs. Lorentzen

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Princess Astrid, Mrs. Ferner (born 1932)

Princess Astrid married Johan Martin Ferner, a Norwegian sailor and Olympic medalist. Ferner’s father was a master tailor and established a department store in Oslo, Norway which his son inherited. Because of her marriage to a commoner, Astrid lost her style of Her Royal Highness, becoming just Her Highness. The couple had three daughters and two sons.

• Unofficial Royalty: Princess Astrid, Mrs. Ferner

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King Harald V of Norway (born 1937)

In 1959, Harald met Sonja Haraldsen, a friend of a friend, at a party. The relationship between the Crown Prince and Sonja was controversial as many people including politicians and journalists felt the Crown Prince should marry a princess and not a Norwegian commoner. The controversy continued for years as did the relationship and Harald made it clear he would not marry if he could not marry Sonja. Finally, in 1968, when King Olav V felt the position of the Norwegian people had changed to favor Sonja, he consulted with parliamentary leaders and other government leaders and gave his consent for the Crown Prince to marry a commoner. The couple had two children.

• Unofficial Royalty: King Harald V of Norway

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Maternal First Cousins: Children of Prince Carl Bernadotte, born Prince Carl of Sweden, Duke of Östergötland, and Countess Elsa von Rosen

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Countess Madeleine Bernadotte. Mrs. Kogevinas and Bernhard Mach

Countess Madeleine Bernadotte, Mrs. Kogevinas (born 1938)

Madeleine first married Charles Ullens, Count de Schooten-Whetnall. The couple had three daughters and one son before they divorced after 18 years of marriage. Madeleine married again to Nicos Eletherios Kogevinas and they had one daughter.

The Peerage: Madeleine Ingeborg Ella Astra Elsa Bernadotte, Countess Bernadotte

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Works Cited

• Lundy, D. (2019). Main Page. [online] Thepeerage.com. Available at: http://www.thepeerage.com/. (for genealogy information)
• Unofficial Royalty. (2019). Unofficial Royalty. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com. (for biographical and genealogy information)
• Wikipedia. (2019). Main Page. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/.  (for biographical and genealogy information)

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