Countess Hélène d’Udekem d’Acoz Engaged

  October 25, 2010 at 8:45 am by

The sister of Princess Mathilde, Countess Hélène d’Udekem d’Acoz, is engaged. The information was made public on the death notice of Baroness Geneviève Bracht, née de Hemptinne, where among the grandchildren were listed: Baron Nicolas Janssen and his fiancée, Countess Hélène d’Udekem d’Acoz. Is is not yet known when and where the wedding will take place.

View image at hln.be

View image at hln.be

The groom’s parents are Baron Daniel Janssen and Baroness Therese Bracht. Nicholas’ maternal grandfather, Baron Charles Bracht, was kidnapped in 1978 from a parking garage in Antwerp. The kidnapper, Marcel van Tongeren, demanded $1.6 million, but the Baron (who was a rich Antwerp Industrial) had been killed during the first day already. Van Tongeren was trialed in 1980 and convicted to death, but this never happened and he was released in 1991. The widow (Geneviève de Hemptinne) never had any contact afterwards with her husbands killer or with the press. This was said by her son Baron Theo Bracht in various Flemish newspapers last week.

Countess Marianne Bracht (maternal aunt of Baron Nicolas) is married to Count Albert of Limburg-Stirum. Count Albert is a brother of the late Count Evard of Limburg-Stirum (married to Princess Helene of France), and an uncle of Count Rudolphe of Limburg-Stirum (who is married to Archduchess Marie-Christine of Austria).

From his father’s side of the family (which has many ennobled Industrialists), Baron Nicolas Janssen is related to the Barons Boël. His grandmother is Marie-Anne (Maya) Boël. She is the sister of the grandfather of Delphine Boël, illegitemate daughter of King Albert II of the Belgians.

Baron Daniel Janssen, the father of the groom, is a well known Belgian business man. Wikipedia described his carreer as:

From 1962 to 1984 he worked at the Union Chimique Belge as an engineer, then Director of R&D, and then President of the Executive Committee from 1975 to 1984. Since then, he was Vice-President of the Board of Directors. From 1986 onwards, he was successively CEO and Chairman of Solvay. During his career, he was Chairman of the Federation des Entreprises de Belgique and of CEFIC. He served on various Advisory Boards (including Fortis). He offered a Chair for Corporate Social Responsibility to the Solvay Business School. In May 2006 he retired. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Trilateral Commission and a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT).

The Janssen, Boël and Solvay families are all listed in the book: ‘The Barons of European Industry’, edited by Anthony Rowley (London, 1974). There is a chapter about these three families in this book, and a family genealogy to show how the families (and their companies) are related (in the chapter ‘Grand Family Alliance’, pp. 117-120.) . Click here to read the article.
Visit the thread about the engagement in the Belgian forum here. Courtesy: Marie-Caroline and Jorge at the Benelux Royals MB.
Filed under Belgium
Tagged , , , .

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.