Princess Marie-Christine of Belgium

[kcc]

hi this is my first post due to computer problems(virus) several years ago a belgian princess named daphne did an interview on an american t.v. show in which she told a terrible story about being brutaly raped by a relative and how her mother locked her away instead of getting her medical or legal help. does anyone have any info about this .was her attacker ever brought to justice .how is she today,i was realy touched by her story and i would like to learn more about her such as what she does for a living and if she has worked to bring awareness to rape victims perhaps(very needed unfortuneately)

 

[ally_cooper]

The only belgian Princess called Daphne that I find is the second daughter of the King Leopold III and Lilian Baels. Her name is Marie-Christine Daphne Astrid Elisabeth Leopoldine, but people call she Daphné. She born on february 6 th, 1951. I don't found anything abaut a raped.

 

[kcc]

thanks for the reply.after thinking about this a bit more some of the details i remember are that she was friends with princess caroline of monaco and she escaped to canada where she worked as a bar maid(i think)and that she had to learn life skills that most of us learn in childhoodsuch as how to make change as she had never had to handle money.she had also mentioned that she had some sort of private zoo.she also seemed proud to have made a life for herself without help from her family.i just dont understand how this could happen to a member of the belgian royal family.particlarly when you take into consideration that king bauduin(sp)was at the time still alive. everything i have read about him indicates him to have been a very descent man.

 

[Duchess Sophie]

I live in Belgium, but haven't heard about this.....

 

[CathyEarnshaw]

Princess Marie Christine (who is known to her family as Daphne) did an interview some years ago for Belgian tv (not American tv) where she talked about her life - and discussed being raped by an elderly distant relative at her coming out party. She mother, she claimed, was not sympathetic, and had her confined to her room at the family's home in France for three months, where she was isolated, and food was brought to her on a tray. She came to Canada where she met a piano player in a piano bar, Paul Drake (ne Drukker), who was divorced and had nearly grown children. As she was under some surveillance from the Belgians, and this relationship was not what Lilian would want for her daughter, the couple fled to Miami where they married. They returned to Canada -- this was in 1981, I think, but the marriage lasted for only a few weeks, as Marie Christine could not cope with being a house wife -- she was used to servants, fancy clothes etc.

The marriage ended in divorce, and Daphne came to the US to live -- she got bit parts in Hollywood and remarried, a French-born restaurant owner. She had limited contact with her father. If I recall, she was not allowed to attend her father's funeral, but was snuck into the church so she could pay her respects. By the 1990s, she had little money, but, despite her relationship with her mother, she did receive 1/3rd of her mother's estate.

I am not sure if Daphne and Caroline were good friends as Daphne is 6 years older (so they would not have been childhood playmates.) Daphne's younger sister, Maria Esmeralda, is the same age as Caroline.

Last I read, Daphne and husband were living in Nevada. No children.

 

[Fashionista100]

I got this info off the web:
Marie Christine Daphné Astrid Elisabeth Léopoldine. The King's half-sister. Born on the 6 of February 1951. Princess of Belgium. Married 1st in 1981 (divorced the same year) to Paul Druker, born in 1938. Married 2nd in 1989 to Jean Paul Gourgues.

I also read that she was estranged from her mother, but it didn't say why.

 

[Solange]

I live in belgian, and from what they say about is that she received 40 millions old belgian franks (about 1 million euros or dollars) and she spent all, she's now a pennyless woman. Plus she isn't very popular with the royal family, she's kinda the black sheep.

 

[CathyEarnshaw]

That was before her mother's death ... she has since inherited a third of her mother's estate, which is more than 1 million Euros.

 

[Alexandra]

Is it nowadays known, who was the man, who raped her? A relative, they say. I read that story about her beeing raped long ago.

 

[CathyEarnshaw]

No ...Marie Christine claimed it was an elderly distant relative ... no one knows for sure if MC was telling the truth ..

 

[Martine]

yeh she said she was raped a few years ago on tv...

she also said that she couldn't wait for her mother to die so she could get the money

oh yeh.........she also said that she wasn't made to work so the belgian state should support her...

sorry but the woman is very annoying, no wonder no one talks with her anymore although her sister and brother tried numerous times...

 

[martha-louise]

I can't say a word good of Marie-Christine either.
When Princess Lilian, her mother died, M-Ch didn't want anything of her mother, she only wanted money to behave like a snob in America.
To give her the part wich she had the rights of, the royal family had to sell all those beautiful pieces of art, eveningdresses of lilian, books, all sorts of valuable things.
It is such a scadalous thing, it was so sad to see all this family possesions sold....

 

[mybags]

Here is a link with Princess Marie-Christine doing an interview about her life as a promotion for her newly published autobiography. The interview is in English with Dutch subtitles.

http://www.vrtnieuws.net/nieuwsnet_master/default/magazine/overzicht/041012_marie_christine/index.html?video_1

I have to say that I don't agree with the way Princess Liliane handled Princess M-C's situation. That was a cruel and aweful thing to do.

 

[mybags]

Some recent pictures of the Princess from the above website.

 

[Angela - Natalia]

If something that bad hapened to her and her family then treated her badly afterwards she would hate them.

I have seen this story as a plot synposis in a book I read years ago. I had no idea it had happened to a real girl at her deb, I'm horrified. There is one name that springs to mind.

 

[charlottestreasures]

Does anyone have any more info on Princess Marie-Christine .
An update and any info on her first marriage to a Canadian?

 

[charlottestreasures]

Princess Marie-Christine's first husband

Found this ad for events in Toronto, Canada. Her first husband, "Paul Drake" is still playing piano.

Tuesday night through to Saturday night....on any of these evenings you may find me and others at the legendary Club 22 at the Windsor Arms. From 6 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, the man who in many ways is a fixture at the 22, none other than that great pianist Paul Drake will be appearing. At 10 p.m. Paul is followed up by a different Jazz Group each week and yes you can even dance. The original Club 22 and Courtyard Cafe were sold and torn down only to arise like Phoenix in this new format as part of the Windsor Arms. You'll find this elegant bar and setting at 15 St. Thomas Street, 1 block west of Bloor and Bay running south.

 

[Marengo]

As posted by EricvdV on the Benelux Royals MB:

[FONT=verdana, arial]in weekly Flemish magazine Humo, not the most reliable magazine.
Pictures used from a previous interview in Flemish weekly magazine 'Dag Allemaal' in October 2004 at the time of the release of her autobiography "De Breuk" in Dutch / "La Brisure" in French.
Not much new information on her, apart that she claims she was staying in coma last year (no origins mentioned) and she didn't hear from her family. Princess Marie-Christine also states she didn't receive any money of the auctions the year after the death of her mother Princess Lilian, nor didn't she claim that she was up for cash. The money all went to beneficial organisations, according to Marie-Christine.
In my opion, the princess talks troubled and contradictory on her family and Belgium: on one hand she doesn't want to do anything with them and on the other hand she seems disappointed that her family/Belgium aren't interested in her anymore. I am reluctant on the author of the interview: Mario Danneels, who wrote the famous biography on Queen Paola. At the end of the week a new book by Mario Danneels will be released: "Het trauma van de troon. Het verdriet van de Van Belgiës", edited by Halewyck. (translation: "The trauma of the throne. The sorrow of the Of Belgium-s."
[/FONT]

Link: Humo: part of the interview in Dutch​

​

 

[HMTLove23]

according to netty royalty page Princess Marie-christine 1st husband paul druker died april 1st 2008. he was 70.

(I accidently posted this information on her sister's Princess marie esmeralda's thread, I forgot which sister is which. Sorry)

 

[Marengo]

Is it known from what he died?
I believe that he and the princess were only married for a few months, right?

 

[grandlordbenji16]

personally i have never like the princess.yes her mother was not a great mom but she never try to understand her mother private conflict after she marry leopold while her sibling try to reconstruct the damage that was caused their mother's name she's adding more to it with her innapropriate writting and have the audacity to say a republi belgium is a benefits to the country thats a see as an insult to her brother

 

[LadyLeana]

Sorry, but that's rather harsh. MC is definitely not a likeable person, the way she portrays herself and sells out her family. But she probably had a few difficult issues with her family, and if even half of what she says is true, I can'tblame her for not making up with her mother.

 

[rebbevb]

Wow.... i never thought i would say this because I try really hard not judge anyone and not dislike anyone for any reason but WOW ..... just wow I for the life of me do not understand this woman (Im sorry but I will not call her a Princess or a Lady because she does not act like one even though she was born a Princess ) .

Brent R. von Behrens II

 

[maria-olivia]

Princess Marie-Christine decided (or has to) never to come to Belgium anymore.
She did not attend her Father , Mother and Brother’s Funerals.
Although for Prince Alexander Funerals they were flowers from Daphne (her second surname). She has no Children.

 

[kalnel]

Has there been any news of Marie-Christine? It's been years since I've read anything about her.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

During Marie-Christine's childhood, magazines reported that she was musically talented and that her grandmother, Queen Elisabeth, encouraged her in this interest.
​

 

[Count langley]

Princess Marie Christine

Is there any information on a Princess Marie Christine?

 

[maria-olivia]

No . When her Mother passed away, she did not come to Belgium.
She wanted only money and money nothing else.

 

[rominet09]

I bought and read her book years ago…. of course we have only her version of the facts.
I really Wonder what has become of her and her husband.

 

[Marengo]

Newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws traced down Princess Marie-Christine. She lives 'isolated' in 'the American wilderness' in a village called Sequim in Washington State. In 2007 she paid 325.000 dollars for a house in this village with her partner Jean-Paul Gourgues.

Her sister Princess Esmeralda said four years ago that MC did not want to be in touch with family and friends from Belgium. Esmeralda said that she was saddened by that decision but that she respects it.


https://www.hln.be/showbizz/royalty...oorgoed-alle-banden-met-belgie-door~a58db220/