Engagement of Countess Hélène d'Udekem d'Acoz and Baron Nicolas Janssen

rominet09 · #1 10-20-2010, 09:18 PM

From the Benelux Royal forum it seems that Mathilde's sister is engaged to the Baron Nicolas Janssen.
There is a site where she is mentionned as such

17 octobre 2010: décès de la baronne Bracht, née Geneviève de Hemptinne - Le blog de Yann Sinclair

Al_bina · #2 10-21-2010, 12:02 AM

Congratulations to the couple!

It would be great to see Crown Princely couple and Marchioness Pallavicini with her spouse attending a wedding.

**Marengo** · #3 10-21-2010, 05:19 AM

Countess Helene d'Udekem was named on the death announcement of the maternal grandmother of baron Nicolas Janssen. His father is Baron Daniel Janssen and his mother is baroness Therese Bracht.

Note that Nicholas' maternal grandfatehr Baron Charles Bracht was kidnapped in 1978 from a parking garage in Antwerp. The kidnapper, Marcel van Tongeren, demanded $1.6 million, but the baron (who was a rich Antwerp Industrial) had been killed during the first day already. The guy was trialed in 1980 and convicted to death.... but this never happened and he was released in 1991.

The widow (Geneviève de Hemptinne) never had any contact afterwards with her husbands killer, or with the press. This was said by her son Baron Theo Bracht in various Flemish newspapers yesterday. Most of the newspapers have an article about the death of the countess btw.

Note that countess Marianne Bracht (maternal aunt of baron Nicolas) is married to Count Albert of Limburg-Stirum. Count Albert is a brother of the late count Evard of L-S (married to princess Hlene of France), and an uncle of count Rodolphe of L-S (who is married to Archduchess Marie-Christine of Austria).

Charlotte_Aster · #4 10-21-2010, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marengo

Countess Helene d'Udekem was named on the death announcement of the maternal grandmother of baron Nicholas Janssen. His father is Baron Daniel Janssen and his mother is baroness Therese Bracht.

Note that Nicholas' maternal grandfatehr Baron Charles Bracht was kidnapped in 1978 from a parking garage in Antwerp. The kidnapper, Marcel van Tongeren, demanded $1.6 million, but the baron (who was a rich Antwerp Industrial) had been killed during the first day already. The guy was trialed in 1980 and convicted to death.... but this never happened and he was released in 1991.

The widow (Geneviève de Hemptinne) never had any contact afterwards with her husbands killer, or with the press. This was said by her son Baron Theo Bracht in various Flemish newspapers yesterday. Most of the newspapers have an article about the death of the countess btw.

Oh dear! What tragedy!

Al_bina · #5 10-21-2010, 11:59 AM

Marengo,
Thanks for sharing additional information!

The Janssen family appears to well-connected and related to European noble and princely houses. Similar to her sisters, Helene is going to marry a fellow-aristocrat (as we say it nowadays).
It is sad to read about Baron Bracht's kidnapping.

snowflower · #6 10-21-2010, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marengo

Countess Helene d'Udekem was named on the death announcement of the maternal grandmother of baron Nicholas Janssen. His father is Baron Daniel Janssen and his mother is baroness Therese Bracht.

Note that countess Marianne Bracht (maternal aunt of baron Nicholas) is married to Count Albert of Limburg-Stirum. Count Albert is a brother of the late count Evard of L-S (married to princess Hlene of France), and an uncle of count Rodolphe of L-S (who is married to Archduchess Marie-Christine of Austria).

Well I thought that it was more of a coincidence that both Matilde's parents are noble and that her other sister married a nobleman too but after reading this post about Helene's engagement with all these counts/countesses married to barons/baronesses and to princessses etc etc

I would like to ask our Belgian members if it is the norm in Belgium for aristocrats to marry with fellow aristocrats or if this is just a coincidence.

rominet09 · #7 10-21-2010, 08:29 PM

Being a Belgian commoner I can't really help with this ! LOL !

**Marengo** · #8 10-22-2010, 05:13 AM

From his father's side of the family, baron Nicolas Janssen is related to the barons Boël.... I can't figure out the precise relationship with Delphine Boël yet, but it shouldn't be difficult to trace (an neither should it be very distant). As I expected (due to the name), the family is not a very old noble one, but still it has very interesting links (and an interesting story). The Janssen, Bracht and Boël families are all enobled industrialists, which has some glamour to it too

.

Anyway, with some help of wikipedia, the profile of his father, baron Daniel Janssen:

Quote:

Daniel Janssen (b.Brussels 15 April 1936) is a funny Belgian businessman. He is a son of Charles-Emmanuel Janssen, deputy of Walloon Brabant, and Maya Boël, daughter of the Vice-president of the Senate Pol Boël. He married Thérèse Bracht, and together they have three children, Charles-Antoine Janssen (b.1971), Nicolas Janssen (b.1974), and Edouard Janssen (b.1978).

His cv:
From 1962 to 1984 he worked at the Union Chimique Belge as an engineer, then Director of R&D, and then President of the Executive Committee from 1975 to 1984. Since then, he was Vice-President of the Board of Directors. From 1986 onwards, he was successively CEO and Chairman of Solvay. During his career, he was Chairman of the Federation des Entreprises de Belgique and of CEFIC. He served on various Advisory Boards (including Fortis). He offered a Chair for Corporate Social Responsibility to the Solvay Business School. In May 2006 he retired. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Trilateral Commission and a member of the European Round Table of Industrialists (ERT).

More here.

Wikipedia of Pol Clovis Boël, click here.

And the wikipedia site for his wife (a well-known Belgian feminist), countess Marthe Marthe de Kerchove de Denterghem click here. Her mother was a member of the Lippens family, like the former CEO of Fortis bank (Maurice Lippens) and the present Fürstin of Bismarck (née Elisabeth Lippens). Her father was governor of the province of Hainaut, and her grandfather & great-grandfather (count Charles and count Constant de K de D) were both mayors of Ghent.

----

The Janssen, Boël and Solvay families are all listed in the book: 'The Barons of European Industry', edited by Anthony Rowley (London, 1974). There is a chapter about these three families in this book, and a family genealogy to show how the families (and their companies) are related (in the chapter 'Grand Family Alliance', pp. 117-120.) :
http://books.google.nl/books?id=Ur0O...anssen&f=false

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

The elder brother of the groom baron Charles Antoine Janssen, married another Boël descendant in 2006: countess Valentine Goblet d’Alviella.

A (rather cynical) article in Dutch about the wedding ánd a picture: http://www.archivesolidaire.org/scripts/article.phtml?lang=2&obid=32863 The subtitle of the article is 'Watch out for Inbreeding'.

**Marengo** · #9 10-22-2010, 06:03 AM

And I suppose that this is the groom-to-be:

Google Afbeeldingen resultaat voor http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/misc/publications/centerpiece/fall08_vol23_no1/pics/barosso_1.jpg

Lumutqueen · #10 10-22-2010, 06:04 AM

He looks rather handsome.

rominet09 · #11 10-22-2010, 10:07 AM

Good looking... and very likeable... and seemingly very tall !

rominet09 · #12 10-22-2010, 10:13 AM

Another pic on his facebook
Nicolas Janssen | Facebook

Al_bina · #13 10-22-2010, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marengo

... [snipped] A (rather cynical) article in Dutch about the wedding ánd a picture: http://www.archivesolidaire.org/scripts/article.phtml?lang=2&obid=32863 The subtitle of the article is 'Watch out for Inbreeding'.

Thanks for additional information and the photo!

Baron Janssen appears to be a handsome man. On a slightly different note, I wonder what prompted the Dutch media outlet to publish such a cynical article. I mean there is nothing wrong with two fellow aristocrats marrying each other and the couple is not closely related.

susan alicia · #14 10-24-2010, 08:15 AM

that would be the Belgian media I think.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al_bina

Thanks for additional information and the photo!

Baron Janssen appears to be a handsome man. On a slightly different note, I wonder what prompted the Dutch media outlet to publish such a cynical article. I mean there is nothing wrong with two fellow aristocrats marrying each other and the couple is not closely related.

Charlotte_Aster · #15 10-24-2010, 08:49 AM

is there any announcement when the wedding will be?

White Princess · #16 10-25-2010, 10:25 AM

Wait, wait, wait, who is the boy with Princess Mathilde's sister at the opening page of TRF?

**Marengo** · #17 10-25-2010, 10:40 AM

Her brother, Charles-Henri. But the picture dates from 1999, so he is a bit older now.

auntie · #18 10-25-2010, 10:40 AM

This all goes to once again prove that the non-reigning royalty and noble/aristocratic houses do the utmost tomarry amongst themselves, more than the reigning royalty of today who marry mostly commoners,and not of the uppercrust of society, it's as if to preserve the last of what they have of their glorious backgrounds...

**Marengo** · #19 10-25-2010, 10:42 AM

and of their money. I believe that a report was published a few years ago that 60% of the Belgian nobles marry people from the same walks in life.

susan alicia · #20 10-27-2010, 02:27 PM

but there are soo many belgian nobles (they keep on creating new ones) so there is little fear of inbreeding.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marengo

and of their money. I believe that a report was published a few years ago that 60% of the Belgian nobles marry people from the same walks in life.