Lee-Z
Heir Apparent
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Those are some boots....
Those are some boots....
Princess Stéphanie of Windisch-Graetz born 17 July 1939 (died age 79) at St. Pierre Hospital, Brussels on 12 July 2019 due to complications after a heart operation.
Her funeral will be on 22 July 2019 at 12 o'clock in the Saint-Jacques church on Coudenberg in Brussels.
The Princess is also the great-granddaughter of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria son of Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria and also the great-granddaughter of Princess Stéphanie of Belgium daughter of King Leopold II of Belgium.
Funérailles de la princesse Stéphanie de Windisch-Graetz : 22 juillet 2019 – Noblesse & Royautés
Royal Musings: Princess Stephanie of Windisch Graetz (1939-2019)
According to Belgian media the Princess died in poverty.
She lives as she wanted , she was an Artist.
The Funerals will be at the Church of St jacques sur Coudenberg where her Aunt Princess Stephanie married her first husband le Comte d' Alcantara.
According to Belgian media the Princess died in poverty. She ended in a small appartment with a minimum income.
Together with her two sons Princess Stéphanie lived in the Château de Bierbais, which looked impressive from the outside but was very worn out inside. For an example: for years there simply was no heating anymore. In 1995 the Princess sold the castle for 25,6 million Belgian Franc (3,6 million Euro), which was way less from the sale price of 45 million Belgian Franc (11,2 million Euro). The sale was a deception for the Princess as she not only lost her ancestral estate but still left her with a mortgage debt of 10 million Belgian Franc (250.000 Euro) to Anhyp Bank while she had to find another accomodation.
Château de Bierbais, close to Brussels: https://mapio.net/images-p/44965809.jpg
That is open for discussion. Still in 2014 Princess Stéphanie went after "the lost billions of Léopold II" and did demand the State to get access to Léopold II's original testament with her own eyes, as she believed the State of Belgium did "hide his fortune". In an interview she was convinced that Léopold buried masses of gold in the Ardennes...
So maybe the Princess painted herself as "une artiste" but probably that was just her mask to hide her poverty and keep up appearances. Her efforts to go after Léopold's billions show that she most likely did care about money and would have preferred not to live in poverty indeed.
RIP
Thank you for the very interesting information regarding her life, Duc. It is an unhappy thing for anybody to die in poverty and it illustrates the vagaries of inheritance that a great-granddaughter of a man who was born to ascend to an imperial throne ended with a minimum income and small apartment. Hopefully she continued to derive enjoyment from her artistic career, travels, and charitable work.
As the Nieuwsblad headline in the royalfly's post alludes to, she would, quite hypothetically, have become Queen of the Belgians if Belgium's change to absolute primogeniture had been done retroactively, so it seems fitting that this branch of the family returned to Belgium (due to their family origins?).
As the Nieuwsblad headline in the royalfly's post alludes to, she would, quite hypothetically, have become Queen of the Belgians if Belgium's change to absolute primogeniture had been done retroactively, so it seems fitting that this branch of the family returned to Belgium (due to their family origins?).
It seems that her younger son Alexander changed his & his three children's last name to Windisch-Graetz in August 2011. At the time he was living in Etterbeek, Brussels.
Apart from her descendance to King Léopold II of the Belgians, the late Princess Stéphanie of course was born in Belgium, from a Belgian mother, and died in Belgium.
Hypothetically, yes. It might be. As to the question, no. Apparently, the Princess was born and lived in Belgium to a Belgian mother, Countess Ghislaine d'Arschot Schoonhoven (died 1997, Belgium.)
True, but Princess Stéphanie of Belgium naturally relocated to Austria when she married the crown prince of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and her daughter Elisabeth Marie was an Austrian archduchess, so I still wonder if their descent contributed to two of Stéphanie's four grandchildren, including the father of Stéphanie de Windisch-Graetz, apparently settling in Belgium.
(Apologies for misspelling your name, theroyalfly.)
The Funeral of Princess Stéphanie of Windisch-Graetz take place today in Brussels . From the Belgian Royal family attend Prince Laurent
https://www.belgaimage.be/#/gallery/6653315
I attended this morning the Funerals of HSH Princess Stephanie de Windisch Graetz because she is a Descendent of a Habsbourg and a Coburg what our actual King is not.
High Nobility from Belgium Austria and other countries from the Ex Austria Empire, the Ambassador of Slovaquia etc..
I was welcomed by her two Sons , wife and Children
Delphine Boel , elegantly dressed in black sat at the second row.
The mass was a one hour an a half traditional in french and in Latin. Everybody was looking if Delphine will receive the holy communion and she did receive.
At the very end a man was singing the Kaiser Hymn, I heard for the last time since Archuke Otto 's Funerals in Vienna.
I left before the end but was stopped by a lady singing the extroadinary "Amazing Grace " and i realised Prince Laurent was next to me. Black suit , black tie and great Emotion. I said to him : Merci Monseigneur d'être venu and he bowed to me.
Unforgettable Funerals.
King Philippe is a descendant of the Count of Flandres ( Leopold II 's Brother) and his wife born Princess of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen. Their Son Albert I married Duchess Elisabeth of Baviera
That means Cobourg of course Baviera.