Profound grief is expressed on the face of Belgium’s Princess Léa as she attends the funeral of her husband Prince Alexander, who passed away unexpectedly November 29, aged 67.
Prince Alexander was a son of King Leopold III, and half brother to two of Belgium’s King’s: Baudouin and Albert II, and to Luxembourg’s Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte. The prince married Léa Wolman in 1991. They had no children, but Princess Léa has two children out of two previous marriages.
Relations between Leopold’s children from his first marriage, to Swedish Princess Astrid (who died in a car accident in 1935) and those from his second marriage, to Belgian governor’s daughter Lilian Baels, have often been troubled. The second of the second brood, Princess Marie Christine, has cut off all contact with her family.
King Albert and Queen Paola along with Queen Fabiola and Luxembourg’s Grand Duke Henri took front row seats at the Church of Our Lady in Laeken, on the outskirts of Brussels, Friday for the sober and solemn funeral mass.
Prince Philip and Princess Mathilde, who marked their tenth wedding anniversary Friday, were present as well, with Prince Laurent and Princess Claire, and Archduke Carl Christian of Austria and with his wife Marie-Astrid, Princess of Luxembourg, and Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein/Luxembourg.
Princess Léa was accompanied by her two children Renaud Bichara and Laetitia Spetscinsky. Princess Esmeralda, 53, the youngest child out of Leopold’s second marriage, made a rare appearance as well.
She came with her Hondurese husband Salvador Moncada and their children Alexandra and Leopoldo. The Princess and her family reside in London.
At the conclusion of the Mass the remains of Prince Alexander were placed in a chapel near the royal crypt in the Laeken Church, which serves as burial place for members of Belgium’s royal family. © GPD; Photos by © Dutch Photo Press, Patrick van Katwijk
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