by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019
Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg (born 1955)
(All photos credits – Wikipedia unless otherwise noted)
Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg was born on April 16, 1955, in Betzdorf Castle in Luxembourg. He is the eldest son and second child of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium. Henri’s paternal grandparents were Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg and Prince Félix of Bourbon-Parma. His maternal grandparents were King Leopold III of the Belgians and his first wife Princess Astrid of Sweden. Henri married María Teresa Mestre y Batista-Falla, who was born in Cuba and raised in New Jersey and New York City. The couple has four sons and one daughter. Henri has been Grand Duke of Luxembourg since his father abdicated in 2000.
Henri has 27 first cousins. He shares his first cousins with his siblings Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg, Archduchess of Austria; Prince Jean of Luxembourg; Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg, Princess of Liechtenstein; and Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg.
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Grand Duke Henri’s Paternal Aunts and Uncles: Children of Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg and Prince Félix of Bourbon-Parma
- Princess Elizabeth of Luxembourg, Duchess of Hohenberg (1922-2011), married Franz, Duke of Hohenberg, two children
- Princess Marie-Adélaide of Luxembourg, Countess Henckel von Donnersmarck(1924-2007), married Count Karl Josef Henckel von Donnersmarck, four children
- Princess Marie Gabrielle of Luxembourg, Countess of Holstein-Ledreborg (1925- ), married Knud Johan, Count of Holstein-Ledreborg, seven children
- Prince Charles of Luxembourg (1927-1977), married Joan Douglas Dillon, two children
- Princess Alix of Luxembourg, Princess de Ligne (1929-2019), married Antoine, 13th Prince de Ligne, had seven children
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Grand Duke Henri’s Maternal Aunts and Uncles: Children of King Leopold III of the Belgians and his first wife Princess Astrid of Sweden
- Baudouin, King of the Belgians (1930 – 1993), married Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, no children
- Albert II, King of the Belgians (born 1934), married Paola Ruffo di Calabria, had three children
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Grand Duke Henri’s Maternal 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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PATERNAL FIRST COUSINS
Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Elizabeth of Luxembourg and Franz, Duke von Hohenberg
- Princess Anita of Hohenberg (born 1958), married (1) Romee de La Poeze, Count d’Harambure, had three sons and one daughter, divorced (2) Count Andreas von Bardeau, no children
- Princess Sophie of Hohenberg (born 1960), married Jean-Louis de Potesta, had two daughters and one son
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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Marie Adelaide of Luxembourg and Karl Josef Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck
- Andreas Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck (1959), married Princess Johanna von Hohenberg, great-granddaughter of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria whose assassination sparked World War I, had two daughters and two sons
- Félix Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck (1960 – 2007), married Nina Stölzl, no children
- Heinrich Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck (born 1961), married Anna-Maria Merckens, had one son
- Charlotte Grafin Henckel von Donnersmarck (born 1965), married Christoph Johannes Graf von Meran, had one son and two daughters
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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Marie Gabriele of Luxembourg and Knud, 7th Count of Holstein-Ledreborg
- Countess Monica Holstein til Ledreborg (born 1952), married Henri de Dompierre de Jonquières, no children
- Countess Lydia Holstein til Ledreborg (born 1955), married (1) her second cousin Prince Eric of Bourbon-Parma, had three daughters and two sons, divorced (2) Martin Bergsøe, no children
- Countess Veronica Holstein til Ledreborg (born 1956), married François Bruno de Pottère, had three sons
- Countess Silvia Holstein til Ledreborg (born 1958), married John Munro of Foulis, had three daughters and one son
- Countess Camilla Holstein til Ledreborg (1959 – 2010), married Eric Rudolf Baron Bertouch-Lehn til Højbygaard-Lungholm, had two sons, divorced
- Countess Tatiana Holstein til Ledreborg (born 1961), married Mark von Riedemann, had one daughter
- Countess Antonia Holstein til Ledreborg (born 1962), a nun
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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Prince Charles of Luxembourg and Joan Douglas Dillon, daughter of United States Secretary of the Treasury C. Douglas Dillon
- Princess Charlotte of Luxembourg (born 1967), married Lord Marc-Victor Cunningham, had three sons
- Prince Robert of Luxembourg (born 1968), married Julie Elizabeth Houston Ongaro, had one daughter and two sons
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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Alix of Luxembourg and Antoine, 13th Prince de Ligne
- Michel, 14th Prince de Ligne (born 1951) married Princess Eleanora of Orléans-Braganza, had one daughter and one son
- Prince Wauthier de Ligne (1952 – 2022), married Countess Regine de Renesse, had one son and two daughters
- Princess Anne de Ligne (born 1954), married Olivier Mortgat, had two daughters
Princess Christine de Ligne (born 1955) married Prince Antonio of Orléans-Braganza, had two sons and two daughters - Princess Sophie de Ligne (born 1957), married Count Philippe de Nicolay, had two sons
- Prince Antoine Lamoral de Ligne (born 1959) married Countess Jacqueline de Lannoy, had one son and two daughters
- Princess Yolande de Ligne (born 1964) married Hugo Townsend, son of Group Captain Peter Townsend (Equerry to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II, had a romance with Princess Margaret), had three sons and one daughter
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MATERNAL FIRST COUSINS
Maternal First Cousins: Children of King Albert II of Belgium and Paola Ruffo di Calabria
Philippe, King of the Belgians (born 1960)
Philippe has been King of the Belgians since the abdication of his father Albert II in 2013. He was educated at Trinity College at the University of Oxford and then attended graduate school at Stanford University in the United States earning his Masters degree in political science. Philippe married Mathilde d’Udekem d’Acoz and the couple has two daughters and two sons.
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Princess Astrid of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este (born 1962)
Princess Astrid is named after her paternal grandmother Astrid of Sweden, wife of King Leopold III of the Belgians, who tragically died in a car accident at the age of 29. Astrid married Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este, the eldest son of Archduke Robert of Austria-Este, the second son of Karl I, the last Emperor of Austria. The couple has two sons and three daughters.
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Prince Laurent of Belgium (born 1963)
Prince Laurent married British-born, but Belgian-raised Claire Coombs. The couple has one daughter and twin sons.
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Maternal Half First Cousins: Children of Princess Marie-Esmeralda of Belgium and Salvador Moncada
Embed from Getty Images
Princess Marie-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 States.
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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/