Princess Liliane of Belgium (2nd wife of King Leopold III)

[Valentine]

Why is she supposed to be a golddigger?
And isn't it normal that a wife always is a bit influencing her husband, whether he's King or not? Léopold seemed quite capable of taking his own decisions.

[Hannelore]

She really was a golddigger. Before Leopold, she was engaged to a Hungarian aristocrat. His family didn't want him to marry Lilian, they moved heaven and earth to get what they wanted. His family ended by agreeing, if he was to give up his title. Lilian wasn't intrested anymore and immediately broke of the engagement.


With Leopold III, Lilian behaved in a similar way, she never really was happy with her title of princess, she wanted to be a queen.At the 60th birthday of queen Elisabeth, she wanted to be the center of attention and parade herself around. The governement had to stop her.

She hated Fabiola because she was the queen she never was.

Lilian didn't just influence her husband a bit (I agree with you that all couples influence each other). When they were in exile in Swiss, important members of the Belgian government had come to debate with Leopold about a solution in the royal question. Each time there was a break through at night, but when he returned from lilian in the morning, he said the whole idea of the night before was impossible. This led to his abdication. Leopold III was a weak person and Lilian very dominating.

She also made Leopold write a 'political testament' that gave exorbitant freedom the Flemish political power Lilian's father was part of. Luckily this was discovered in time and prevented, else Belgium woudn't exist anymore today...


If you want to know more about, there's a very good (reliable, with excellent sources and starting from objectf points of view) book, written by Evrard Raskin.

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

Photos from ANP

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

Leopold and Lilian

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

paris match

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

le soir illustré

[Hans]

Originally Posted by Cathérine Bergeyck

Very glamourous, wearing queen Astrid's jewelry.

What brooch is Lilian wearing ??

[Valentine]

Originally Posted by Hannelore

If you want to know more about, there's a very good (reliable, with excellent sources and starting from objectf points of view) book, written by Evrard Raskin.

I have this book in my collection but totally disagree that it is objectif.
Don't forget that Lilian was really a good mother for Leopold's children with Astrid, they were very fond of her.....

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

I have to agree with Hannelore that it is a very reliable and objectif book. It's true she seems to have been a good stepmother, even though Astrid's children lateron totally broke contact with her. She certainly had a number of qualities.

[Warren]

Originally Posted by Cathérine Bergeyck

It's true she seems to have been a good stepmother, even though Astrid's children lateron totally broke contact with her. She certainly had a number of qualities.

Perhaps another measure of Liliane is that she sold off the Royal heirloom jewels she had in her possession. So much 'Royal provenance' jewellery has been lost.

[altagrace]

Personally I think history and society have treated Leopold and Lilian rather badly. Fact is they were handed a set of very difficult circumstances by life: he was a widower at a young age; what was he to do: take a mistress, have discreet affairs. WOuld that have been more acceptable than to get married? [remember this was the 40's people did not just "shack-up together", they got married esp in catholic Belgium]

As for the question of the timing of their marriage: there was a war going on - no one knew how long it would last. What were they to do? wait for ever? I am sure they were not the only couple to get married during the war. They married quietly with no fanfare; its not like they threw a big party.
The aristocracy did not like her simply because she was not "one of them"; the people kept in mind the almost saintly image of Astrid. (her image got magnified by the fact that she died young). With this in mind no second wife, no matter how good or beautiful or generous or educated could have come out on top. Now that said, Lilian & Leopold made mistakes I am sure: she did not understand she would have a big struggle ahead of her to gain acceptance.

I believe they were a true love match otherwise they would not have lasted that long under the difficult circumstances they had, abdication et al.

[crisiñaki]

How was the relationship between Leopold's children?
did they accept their step-siblings? or did they rejected them?

[MoonlightRhapsody]

Originally Posted by crisiñaki

How was the relationship between Leopold's children?
did they accept their step-siblings? or did they rejected them?

Liliane's children were also Leopold's children, making them the half-siblings of the late King, the current king, and the late Grand Duchess. I'm curious how they got along too, though. I can't recall if two out of three of them were at Josephine-Charlotte's funeral.

[GreenLily]

I know this is an odd question, but do you think Astrid would have approved of Liliane?

[Valentine]

As she has been a good stepmother for them I would say yes.

[Hannelore]

When they were small yes, as adults they didn't want anything to do with her anymore.

[foiegrass]

what's this i hear about princess liliane selling off family tiaras, jewels. that now the belgium royal family lacks tiaras, jewellry and stuff.

did josephine-charlotte detest her?

[flcty]

Originally Posted by foiegrass

what's this i hear about princess liliane selling off family tiaras, jewels. that now the belgium royal family lacks tiaras, jewellry and stuff.

did josephine-charlotte detest her?

I heard about it to (the selling of family items) had something to do with one of her daughters getting raped by a senior memeber of the saxe-coburg family at her coming out party and when the daughter told Liliane she didn't believe her (i can imagine and understand why her step-kids [albert,baudoin.j-c] might hate her) and locked her up. Can someone tell me, clear it up for me, (foiegrass question) did josephine-charlotte/baudoin/albert detest her? did anyone actually like her?
thanks :)

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

De Post (thanks to Chris)

Wedding of Leopold and Lilian in 1942.





in exile

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

De Post (thanks to Chris)

with queen Victoria of Spain, the duchess of Vendôme and queen Marie-José of Italy





Leopold, Marie Christine, Lilian and princess Clémentine