Archduchess Marie Christine of Austria was born in Brussels on 31 July 1983, as the daughter of archduke Carl Christian of Austria and princess Marie-Astrid of Luxemburg, sister of grandduke Henri.
Her paternal grandparents are archduke Charles and archduchess Yolande of Austria, née princesse de Ligne. Marie Christine's grandfather died on 11 December 2007. His funeral took place at the cathedral of Vienna. (He's buried in the Crypte des Capucins, near to his mother empress Zita. Emperor Karl, beatified by pope John Paul I, is buried on the isle of Madeira).
Her maternal grandparents are grandduke Jean (87 years old) and grandduchess Joséphine Charlotte, sister of king Baudouin and king Albert. She died in 2005.
Archduchess Marie Christine is the eldest of five children. She has 3 brothers (Imre, Christoph and Alexander) and a sister (Gabriella).
She did her primary and secundary studies in Switzerland, in Geneva where her family has been living for 20 years, and in England.
Afterwards she spent several months in the south of Chili, helping the poor populations, as part of a humanitarian program.
She then went on to study psychology (specializing in psychomotricity) at the Institut Marie Haps in Brussels. For her study she worked 5 months with children suffering from serious physical problems.
In 2007 she worked several months in Beirut (Lebanon), in an institute for handicapped children.
She likes sports, nature and travelling. She's fluent in English, French, German and Spanish.
The mariage will take place on 6 December in Mechelen, Belgium.
Note: the institut libre Marie Haps is a catholic school where princess Mathilde and her sister Elisabeth graduated as speech therapists.
Count Rodolphe de Limburg Stirum was born 20 March 1979 in Brussels. His parents are count Christian and countess Colienne de Limburg Stirum, née countess d'Oultremont. One of their sisters in law is princess Hélène of France. They live in the family property of Huldenberg, near Brussels.
His paternal grandparents are count Thierry de Limburg Stirum (knight of the golden leece) and countess Marie, née princess Marie Immaculée de Croÿ.
His maternal grandparents are count Eugène d'Oultremont and countess Madeleine, née countess de Liedekerke.
Count Rodolphe is the eldest of four. He has a sister, Marie, and two brothers, Philippe and François-Guillaume.
He did his primary and secondary studies in Huldenberg and close to Bruges, in Dutch.
In the summer of 1996 he organizes and takes part in a humanitarian trip to Bosnia Herzegovina to rebuild houses that were destroyed in the war.
In the summer of 1998 he leads a group of 15 young Belgians to Mexico, to help a local charity organisation build medical posts.
In 2004 he gets his degree at the Vesalius College of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (bachelor degree in international affairs and economics).
He starts to work as a marketing asistant for a large Belgian company in Leuven, moves on to consulting company Deloitte and finally Dexia bank in Paris. He's now working for a big international bank in Brussels.
He likes skiing, tennis and swimming. He's fluent in Dutch, French, English and German.
Count Rodolphe de Limburg Stirum is the founder of "Super day", organisation that offers moments of joy and magic to poor children. The organisation works together with "toiles enchantées", an asociation that builds little cinemas in hospitals.
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