Another Half Sister for King Albert II? (Feb. 2011)

[stephanievl]

According to the Belgian media, King Leopold has a illegitimate daughter who is now 70 and lives in the USA. The half sister of King Albert is called Ingeborg Verdun. She is the daughter of the late Leopold and his secret mistress Liselotte Country Beck.

Article
Het Nieuwsblad - Koning Albert heeft geheime halfzus

 

[Marengo]

Apparently the lady in question (born in 1940) only knew about it when she became 50.

Liselotte Landbeck (from Austria) was a skating champion according to the article. She had a relation with king Leopold III from 1939-1940. In December Ingeborg was born. Landbeck stayed at Laeken Palace in 1939 to teach Josephine-Charlotte, Boudewijn and Albert how to skate. At the time she was already married and she moved to Stockholm quickly after the relationship ended.

This all was revealed by author Leo Van Audenhaege in his book 'From Küssnacht to Argenteuil'.

Ingeborg comments in HUMO: 'I was 50 when I first heard that my father wasn't my father. Do you know what that means? I was flabbergasted. It ruins your life.'
She lives in the abroad with a different name now. her mother, who is now 95, lives in a house for the elderly in the USA.

The newspaper link of stephanie also shows a video with pictures of Landbeck.

 

[Marengo]

Het Laatste Nieuws drags up an old story: they wrote an article about old rumours that count Michel Didisheim is also a half brother of king Albert II:

Round-up geheime familie van Albert II: twéé halfbroers - Royalty - HLN

Didisheim has been an advisor to king Albert for decades.

And apparently there is a second half-brother, who was born in 1954. According to the article his mother was a french lady-in-waiting. The man now lives in France and his identity is unknown.

 

[Zonk]

Okay...now this is getting a bit ridiculous IMO.

And all this is supposed to have happened after Leopold married Lillian? I wonder if she knew?

 

[Marengo]

Michel Didisheim is born in 1930, so when Astrid was still alive. He once said something about it in La Libre Belgique in 2008:

"…contre des rumeurs on est totalement impuissant mais je voudrais simplement rappeler que je suis le fils de René Didisheim et de Claire Maigret de Priches. Punt, aan de lijn !"

So he is the son of René Didisheim.

The rumours are very old, though they were first written down in 2007 only, by Paul Belien in his book: 'A throne in Brussels':

http://lvb.net/item/827

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The French 'son' was supposed to be born during the marriage to Lilian, in 1954 or 1955.

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I am not sure how credible these illegitemate children are, but it has been documented that Leopold III did not take his marital vows all that seriously, during both of his marriages, even during Astrids pregnancies. According to some, his last mistress was Jackie McKenzie. Apparently he called her the woman of his life. They were not too discreet and they left some photographs in a taxi in London, after which the Belgian ambassador to the UK got the task to find them back.
---

Kathy Pauwels (of 'Place Royale') made the news with the comment that there is a special fund with money for illegitemate offspring of the Saxe-Coburgs. The article mentions that there are also rumours abotu king Albert I's ill. offspring, but nothing concrete:

http://www.ad.nl/ad/nl/1013/Buitenl...ingshuis-zorgt-goed-voor-zijn-bastaards.dhtml
(in Dutch)

 

[auntie]

So how many children did Leopold have out of wedlcok? It makes my blood boil to think of a lovely woman like Astrid being cheated on

 

[Zonk]

So how many children did Leopold have out of wedlcok? It makes my blood boil to think of a lovely woman like Astrid being cheated on

I share the same sentiments about Astrid Lilian has never been a favorite of mine either, but she didn't deserve to be cheated on either. But we have to remember (like Edward VII of the United Kingdom and men of their class)...this is what people did.

 

[Marengo]

Humo spoke to the halfsister of king Albert and show a picture of Liselotte Landbeck on their website:

Humo sprak met de verborgen zus van koning Albert | Humo: The Wild Site

Some info and quotes:

Ingeborg speaks English with a Swedish accent. She remembers very little of the early years of her life. She wasn't raised in a warm family, she says that she lived just about with everybody except her parents. 'It is quite a story' she says, before she stops.

'I was fifty when I first heard that my father was not my father. Fifty, do you know what that means? My life was ruined: I've had a mess of a life.'

She says that she didn t suffer from it, but that she knew that something was not right, that something was going on. But she could never put her finger on it.

I asked my mother several times if there was something that I needed to know. But she always evaded it and pretended that i invented things. I still remember how it went, the first time we spoke about it. My parents were visiting us in the States. We sat outside the house, mum and me - my father was taking a nap upstairs. I said; Mum, I can't help it but I have the feeling that my father is not my father. She reacted surprised, denied and asked how I got that idea. I said I just felt it,a fter which she spoke out. Shortly- my father never slept longer than 15 minutes during the day and she was afraid that he would overhear us while we were talking about that. She promissed him not to say a word about it and my father was strict: a promise is a promise. He is dead now, I am not going to say anything bad about him, but she didn't want to get into a fight with him at any cost.'

About Leopold III:

'I never met the guy, I don't have an image of it. My mother only rarely met him after my birth, as far as I know. I am not aware of any meetings at a later age. It was over.'

----------------

Apparently the interview has been published in yesterday's edition, i will see if I can find a copy.

The cover : http://www.humo.be/cps/rde/xchg/humo/main.xsl/21823.htm

 

[auntie]

A sad story about a sad woman!

 

[Mumper]

Okay...now this is getting a bit ridiculous IMO.

And all this is supposed to have happened after Leopold married Lillian? I wonder if she knew?

I agree.

It's a shame that Leopold III's reputation always seems to be dragged into the mud. Rumours taken as the truth.

 

[Mumper]

I share the same sentiments about Astrid Lilian has never been a favorite of mine either, but she didn't deserve to be cheated on either. But we have to remember (like Edward VII of the United Kingdom and men of their class)...this is what people did.

No, it's what SOME people did.

Actually, why all the disdain for Lilian (not you personally). Astrid was held up to be some kind of saint, yet Lilian quietly was quite a different person from what her detractors thought she was.

 

[Mumper]

So how many children did Leopold have out of wedlcok? It makes my blood boil to think of a lovely woman like Astrid being cheated on

I'm sure they'll be another dozen coming out the woodwork by next week. the man was insatiable!

Sorry, but I find the whole matter to be a tad ridiculous. Anyone can claim anything to sell a book. The more sensational, the better.

 

[Marengo]

Well, I suppose that if you write a bioghraphy of somebody, these personal matters are also part of the deal. Of course it is usually juicy information like this that makes the news and that is in a way used to promote the book in the press, but well...

 

[Biri]

DNA tests would solve everything. If these persons have clear conscience, they shouldn't recoil from doing them.
Albert II also contradicts that Delphine Boel is his daughter; uhh...womanizing also can run in the blood, there were many such examples in history.

I don't understant ill-will towards Lilian; Leopold II was a widower when they met, he had right to marry again. She had also close bond with her step-children.

 

[Marengo]

certainly in the Saxe-Coburg blood. For a while the RF was sometimes called the von Sexe-Coburgs .
The ill will towards Lilian in the beginning had to do with her being Flemish, a commoner and her being there ruining the image of the lonely suffering King. Later on she was just disliked for her personality I suppose.

 

[Duchess Sophie]

I agree.

It's a shame that Leopold III's reputation always seems to be dragged into the mud. Rumours taken as the truth.

I wouldn't want to qualify it as rumours. The Belgian press don't do rumours on the royal family (except the yellow press, but they aren't big), you can be fairly sure these stories are true.
Remember Delphine's existance also was revealed in a book.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Count Michel Didisheim bears a striking resemblance to Albert II and to the late Baudouin from the photos I have seen of him, particularly his profile.

I remember reading that Queen Astrid was pregnant with Baudouin at the same time as one of Leopold III's mistresses..who happened to be one of her own ladies-in-waiting.

BTW...For Albert II to deny that Delphine Boel is his natural daughter is just laughable at this point...she looks so much like his late mother Astrid that it's almost eerie.

The book "A Throne in Brussels" asserts that ALL of the Saxe-Coburg males with the exception of the late King Baudouin fooled around and had extra marital children!