HGD Stéphanie's Family - The de Lannoys
 

I hope it's okay that I've taken the liberty of starting a thread on Stephanie's family. Her sister-in-law Beatrice Spates - wife of her eldest brother Jehan - has a varied lineage. She was born in 1968 in Washington DC to Alfred Waters Spates of Maryland USA and Belgian aristocrat Marie Renée Kneppelhout van Sterkenberg.

She was raised, it seems, in her father's country. Here is an article on a house her father inherited in Germantown, Maryland, though I don't believe this was her childhood home. Her father and grandfather were evidently lawyers.

Her mother was her father's third wife, and she had half-siblings who were decades older. It seems she has some very modest relatives. When her half-brother Robert died following a car crash in Wisconsin in 2009 at age 76, his obituary described him as a "lifelong dairy farmer, an avid coon hunter, and outdoorsman".

Another of Stephanie's sisters-in-law, Alice van Havre (wife of her brother Olivier), has been given the title of jonkvrouw by at least one source. I think that the Moreno-Isla de Porras-Fdez family of her sister-in-law Luisa (her brother Christian's wife) and the de le Court family of her sister Isabelle's husband are also aristocratic. The family of Stephanie's brother-in-law John Hamilton is a mystery to me.

Perhaps Stephanie will have family close to her in Luxembourg. Her brother-in-law, Jean-Charles de le Court, is, according to a website, managing director of Della Lux consulting services with a business address in Luxembourg. I guess Isabelle de le Court has already been living in her sister's new adopted country?

As a history buff, I find the information on the House of Lannoy fascinating. Just the information on Charles de Lannoy, Viceroy of Italy and his defeat of Francis Ier at Pavia in 1525 has made me want to learn more.

Very historically significant new in-laws HGD Guillaume has acquired! :smile:

Since following the wedding of Guilliam & Stephanie, I've become interested in all things "de Lannoy". It appears the "Delano" in US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's name is derived from FDR's mother's family, a Delano. The Delano's are associated with the Mayflower landing in the US. Would anyone know how closely FDR's French Delano lineage is to the de Lannoy's of Belgium?

One of the pictures posted on another thread showed Nathalie Hamilton entering the gala.
Very nice black dress (probably for mourning) very pretty black hair, nice simple necklace. Slim, as most of the Lannoys are. Oh, she's Stephanie's oldest sister, seated next to GD Henri at the Gala.

FDR is descended from the de Lannoys from the Dutch side from what I read on Wiki and Point de Vue...not the French.

Thank you Moonmaiden23 for the clarification. I find the Delano, de Lannoy connection a fascinating one.

Count Jehan was at her sister's weeding without his wife Beatrice?

Guillaume and Stephanie are related through Duke Charles of Arenberg
 

:smile:Guillaume and Stephanie are related through :whistling:Duke Charles Marie Raymond of Arenberg also Charles of Arenberg is ancestor to several Royals

This family's history is definitely rich and illustrious. I read somewhere that this noble family's lineage and historical significance is greater than the Belgian King's family's, for example. Certainly fascinating!
Fortunately, there are many sites about the de Lannoy family's background:
De Lannoy Family Name: Origin, Crest, & Meaning

This one is more general:
Belgian nobility (Noblesse belge / Belgische Adel) - Belgium Travel Guide - Eupedia

I hadn't noticed it, but I see now that Beatrice does indeed seem to be missing from the guest list. Perhaps they're not together anymore?

I believe there were some problems in the marriage indeed. But it seems that the couple is trying to work it out.

----
Funny to see that the Lannoy estate ended up with the house of Orange-Nassau. Though it is not one of the titles of the Queen.

I was wondering whether Stephanie's family consider themselves Belgian or Flemish. Does anyone know?

Definitively not Flemish, as their family home is situated in the French-speaking Walloonian province of Hainaut, not in a Flemish-speaking province.

I understood Stephanie's sister Gaelle is a religioner. I was wondering what kind od religious order she's in, since I saw few pics of her not wearing any habit, and even if she wasn't wearing a hat at the church wedding, she was wearing heels...

I think Gaelle is part of a Foyer, not Order as such. Foyers are communities of the baptised, men and women, headed by a priest.
If I'm not mistaken, she has joined Foyer de Charite.

I make the assumption because Gaelle teaches Bible in Une annee pour Dieu collage as representative of Foyer de Charite.

http://www.foyerofcharity.com/about.htm

http://www.foyer-chateauneuf.com/

The above sites give more information about these religious groups.

Here are some pictures of the de Lannoy family at the wedding: Luxembourg: The Lannoy's at the Wedding

While reading about the Lannoy family I found this picture of the castle where Stephanie grew up. It so beautiful.

File:Anvaing JPG01.jpg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia