Hi, got your invite, cn i meet u ?

Hello you how are you doing?

Hey Lil!

Hi

Thanks for being my friend
take care

I put iu up in double pacing for you...I know how your vision is, Lil

Lilian, Princess of Réthy
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Mary Lilian Baels
Princess of Rethy

Spouse Leopold III of Belgium
Issue
Prince Alexander
Princess Marie-Christine
Princess Maria-Esmeralda
Full name
Mary Lilian
House House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Father Henri Baels
Mother Anne Marie de Visscher
Born 28 November 1916(1916-11-28)
London, England, United Kingdom
Died 7 June 2002 (aged 85)

Princess Lilian of Belgium (born Mary Lilian Baels, 28 November 1916(1916-11-28) – 7 June 2002) was best known as Princess of Réthy, the second wife of King Leopold III of the Belgians.

Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 Education
3 Friendship with the Belgian royal family
4 Beginnings of World War II in Belgium
5 Marriage
6 Public reactions to the marriage
7 Deportation to Nazi Germany
8 The "Royal Question" and the aftermath
9 Argenteuil
10 Character
11 Children
12 Titles
13 Death
14 References


[edit] Background
Mary Lilian Baels was born in London, England, where her parents were living at the time. She was one of the nine children of Henri Baels and his wife, Anne Marie de Visscher.

[edit] Education
Lilian was initially educated in English, but, upon her parents' return to Belgium, she attended a school in Ostend, where she learned Dutch. She continued her studies in French in Brussels. She completed her education by attending a finishing school in London, the Holy Child. In addition to academic work, Lilian participated extensively in sports, such as skiing, swimming, golfing, and hunting. Above all, however, she enjoyed, as did her father, literature and the arts. At the age of 20, Mary Lilian Baels, who had grown up into a young woman of great beauty, intelligence, and accomplishment, was presented to King George V and Queen Mary of the United Kingdom at Buckingham Palace. (cf. Jean Cleeremans, Léopold III, sa famille, son peuple sous l'occupation)

[edit] Friendship with the Belgian royal family
In 1933, Lilian saw her future husband, King Leopold III of the Belgians, then still Crown Prince of Belgium. The students at the Institute of the Sacred Heart in Brussels, where Lilian was enrolled at the time, had been allowed to attend a military review conducted by King Albert, not far from the school. During the review, Prince Leopold, on horseback, paraded at the head of his battalion, saluting his father, the king. Following the ceremony, when the students in her class were given as homework the task of writing an essay on a topic of their choice, Lilian chose as her topic Prince Leopold. A few years later, when Governor Baels took his daughter to a public ceremony, she had the occasion to meet King Leopold, who presided at the event, for the second time. In 1937, Lilian and her mother met the King, now a widower, again on another ceremonial occasion. Soon afterwards, Leopold contacted Governor Baels to invite him and his daughter to join him in a golfing party the next day. Lilian also saw the King in 1939 at a garden-party organized in honor of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and later at the golf course at Laeken, where she was invited to lunch by Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, King Leopold's mother. A final golf party near the Belgian coast occurred in May, 1940, shortly before the Nazi invasion of Belgium. (cf. Jean Cleeremans, Léopold III, sa famille, son peuple, sous l'occupation, Roger Keyes, Echec au Roi: Léopold III, 1940-1951)

[edit] Beginnings of World War II in Belgium
Following the Nazi invasion of Belgium, Lilian's mother put herself at the service of the Red Cross during the Belgian and Allied military campaign against the invaders. Lilian helped her mother actively in her new role, transporting Belgian and French wounded by car to the hospital of St. John in Bruges, where there were also many refugees to care for. Lilian was called upon to help evacuate the elderly from the hospice of Alost, which was inside the combat zone, exposed to enemy fire. Meanwhile, her father, Governor Baels, circulated constantly to alleviate the plight of his invaded province. On 18 May, Henri Baels went in search of the Minister of the Interior, thinking he had left for France, in order to obtain his signature for an important relief measure. On his journey, however, Governor Baels had a car accident and injured his legs. He was admitted to a hospital in Le Havre. As the military situation in Belgium headed towards disaster, his wife decided to bring her daughters to safety in France, and Lilian drove the family car on the trip. Governor Baels' wife and daughters managed to meet up with him again, by pure chance, in a hospital in Poitiers. Baels was subsequently, and unfairly, accused of having abandoned his post as Governor without justification by fleeing to France. He succeeded, however, in obtaining an audience with the King, following the capitulation of the Belgian army on 28 May 1940, and the King's own imprisonment by the Germans at Laeken Castle. Baels and his daughter Lilian, who drove him to the audience, explained the real circumstances of his departure from Belgium, and the Governor was thus vindicated. Subsequently, Lilian and her father returned to France and occupied themselves with the care of Belgian refugees in the region of Anglet. Henri Baels was accused, after Belgium's liberation, of collaborating with the Nazis during the war, but this is clearly false, since he did not act as governor during the occupation and lived in France throughout the entire period. (cf Jean Cleeremans, Léopold III, sa famille, son peuple sous l'occupation)

[edit] Marriage
This section's factual accuracy is disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page. (June 2009)

In 1941, according to Jean Cleeremans, Queen Mother Elisabeth of Belgium sent a letter to Lilian, inviting her to come visit her at Laeken. Here Lilian met King Leopold, now a prisoner of war, yet again. This meeting was followed by several other visits to Laeken, with the result that Leopold and Lilian fell in love. Leopold proposed marriage to Lilian in July, 1941. Lilian agreed to marry the King, but declined the title of Queen. Instead, the King gave her the unofficial title "Princess of Réthy." It was agreed that any descendants of the King's new marriage would be excluded from succession to the throne. Leopold and Lilian initially planned to hold their official marriage after the end of the war and the liberation of Belgium, but in the meantime, the religious and moral convictions of the couple required that they be husband and wife "before God." Thus, a secret religious marriage ceremony took place on 11 September 1941, in the chapel of Laeken Castle, in the presence of Queen Elisabeth, Henri Baels, and Cardinal van Roey, Archbishop of Mechelen and primate of Belgium. Although Lilian and Leopold had originally planned to postpone their civil marriage until the end of the war, Lilian was soon expecting her first child, necessitating a civil marriage, which took place on 6 December 1941. The civil marriage automatically made Lilian a Princess of Belgium. Lilian proved a devoted wife to the King and an affectionate and vivacious mother to his children by Queen Astrid. The royal children were extremely fond of her. (cf Jean Cleeremans, Léopold III, sa famille, son peuple sous l'occupation, Roger Keyes, Echec au Roi, Léopold III, 1940-1951)

[edit] Public reactions to the marriage
The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (June 2009)

When the civil marriage of Leopold and Lilian was made public by Cardinal van Roey, in a pastoral letter read throughout Belgian churches in December, 1941, there was a mixed reaction in Belgium. Although the opposite is often asserted, there was actually a good deal of sympathy for the new couple among the Belgian population. The palace at Laeken received numerous messages of congratulations and flowers from the populace (cf. Jean Cleeremans, Léopold III, sa famille, son peuple sous l'occupation) In addition, however, in newspaper articles, pamphlets, and graffiti, others presented the marriage as incompatible with the King's status as a prisoner-of-war and his stated desire to share the hard fate of his conquered people and captive army, and as a betrayal of Queen Astrid's memory. They also branded Lilian as an intriguing social-climber. These attacks would continue for many years, even after the war.

[edit] Deportation to Nazi Germany
In 1944, the Belgian royal family was deported to Nazi Germany, where they were strictly guarded by 70 members of the SS, under harsh conditions. The family suffered from a deficient diet and lived with the constant fear that they would be massacred by their jailers, as an act of revenge on the part of the Nazis, angered at their defeat (by now becoming increasingly certain) by the Allies, or that they would be caught in the cross-fire between Allied forces and their captors, who might try to make a desperate last stand at the site of the royal family's internment. The family's fears were not unfounded. At one point, a Nazi official tried to give them cyanide, pretending it was a mixture of vitamins to compensate for the captives' poor diet during their imprisonment. Lilian and Leopold, however, were rightly suspicious and did not take the pills or give them to their children. During their period of captivity in Germany, (and later Austria), Leopold and Lilian jointly homeschooled the royal children. The King taught scientific subjects; his wife, arts and literature. In 1945, the Belgian royal family was liberated by American troops under the command of Lieutenant General Alexander Patch, who thereafter became a close friend of King Leopold and Princess Lilian. (cf. Jean Cleeremans, in Léopold III, sa famille, son peuple sous l'occupation, and Léopold III by Vincent Dujardin, Mark van den Wijngaert, et. al.)

[edit] The "Royal Question" and the aftermath
Following his liberation, King Leopold was unable to return to Belgium ( by now liberated as well ) due to a political controversy surrounding his actions during the conflict. A group of Belgian ministers and other politicians were accusing him of having betrayed the Allies by a supposedly premature surrender in 1940, and of collaborating with the Nazis during the occupation of Belgium. There were also many personal attacks on the King and his second wife, Princess Lilian. In 1946, a juridical commission was constituted, to investigate the King's conduct during the war and occupation. During this period, the Belgian royal family lived in Prégny, Switzerland, in exile, and King Leopold's younger brother, Prince Charles of Belgium, was made Regent of the country. Leopold was eventually completely exonerated of all charges, and was able, in 1950, to return to Belgium and resume his reign. Political agitation against the King continued, however, leading to civil disturbances. As a result, in 1951, in order to avoid tearing the country apart, and to save the embattled monarchy, King Leopold III of the Belgians abdicated in favor of his 21-year-old son, Prince Baudouin. The ex-King Leopold and Princess Lilian continued to live in the royal palace at Laeken until the marriage of Baudouin to Dona Fabiola de Mora y Aragon in 1960. During this period, Lilian presided over court life with firmness and refinement.

[edit] Argenteuil
In 1960, following the marriage of King Baudouin, Leopold and Lilian moved out of the royal palace to a government property, the estate of Argenteuil, Belgium. Lilian employed excellent designers to transform the dilapidated mansion on the property into a distinguished and elegant residence for the ex-King. Argenteuil became a cultural centre under the auspices of Leopold and Lilian, who cultivated the friendship of numerous prominent writers, philosophers, scientists, mathematicians, and doctors. Leopold and Lilian also traveled extensively all over the world. Following her son Alexandre's heart surgery in the United States during his childhood, Princess Lilian became very interested in medicine, and, in particular, in cardiology, and founded a Cardiological Foundation which, through its work, has saved the lives of several thousand people. Both before and after her husband's death in 1983, Lilian pursued her interests in intellectual and scientific spheres with great energy and passion.

[edit] Character
Lilian was known as a woman who was terribly strict and demanding towards herself, and, a result, as one who could, on occasion, be excessively severe with others as well. She was also, however, known and loved by her circle of close friends as a woman of great beauty, charm, intelligence, strength of character, kindness, generosity, humor and culture. She was admired for the steadfast courage and dignity with which she faced many personal attacks and revilement, both during the Royal Question and for decades afterwards. In response to a series of personal attacks on Lilian, Leopold publicly paid tribute to her tenderness and devotion as a wife and as a mother to his children by Queen Astrid. Lilian was famous for her glamorous style of dressing. (cf. Michel Verwilghen, Le mythe d'Argenteuil: demeure d'un couple royal, 2006, also see "Souvenirs de la Princesse Lilian", an article by Jacques Franck published in La Libre Belgique, 29 October 2003)

[edit] Children
The three children of King Leopold III and his second wife, Princess Lilian of Belgium, are:

Alexandre Emmanuel Henry Albert Marie Leopold, Prince of Belgium, born in Brussels on 18 July 1942. Married, in 1991, Léa Inge Dora Wolman (the marriage became public knowledge in 1998).
Marie-Christine Daphné Astrid Elisabeth Leopoldine, Princess of Belgium, born in Brussels on 6 February 1951. Married for the first time in 1981 (separated 1981, divorced 1985) Paul Drucker, divorced; married for the second time, in 1989, Jean Paul Gourges. Resides in Las Vegas.
Marie-Esméralda Adélaïde Lilian Anne Leopoldine, Princess of Belgium, born in Brussels on 30 September 1956. Married, in 1998, Salvador Enrique Moncada. They have two children: Alexandra and Leopoldo. A journalist, she writes under the professional name of Esmeralda de Réthy.
[edit] Titles
Miss Mary Lilian Baels (1916-1941)
Her Royal Highness Princess Lilian of Belgium, Princess of Réthy (1941-1951)
Her Royal Highness Princess Lilian of Belgium, Duchess of Brabant, Princess of Réthy (1951-1983)
Her Royal Highness Princess Lilian of Belgium, Dowager Duchess of Brabant, Princess of Réthy (1983-death)
[edit] Death
Princess Lilian died at the Domaine d'Argenteuil in Waterloo, Belgium and was buried, contrary to her wish, in the royal crypt of the Cathedral of Our Lady, Laeken, Belgium. Before her death, she had expressed the desire to be buried in the chapel of Argenteuil. Her wish was denied, however, and she was buried in the royal crypt alongside King Leopold and his first wife, Queen Astrid. Queen Fabiola and Lilian's stepchildren attended the funeral, as did Lilian's son Alexandre and her daughter Marie-Esmeralda. Lilian's long estranged daughter Marie-Christine, however, did not attend. Following Princess Lilian's death, a cardiological conference was organized and prominent doctors and surgeons such as DeBakey and many others rendered a fervent homage to Lilian, her extraordinary personality, and her contributions to cardiology (cf. Jacques Franck, "Souvenirs de la Princesse Lilian," published 29 October 2003 in La Libre Belgique).

[edit] References
Jean Cleeremans. Léopold III, sa famille, son peuple sous l'occupation. (French)
Jean Cleeremans. Un royaume pour un amour: Léopold III, de l'éxil a l'abdication. (French)
Vincent Dujardin, Mark van de Wijngaert, et al. Léopold III
Jacques Franck. "Souvenirs de la Princesse Lilian," published in La Libre Belgique, 29 October 2003
Roger Keyes. Echec au Roi: Léopold III, 1940-1951.
Claude Désiré and Marcel Jullian. Un couple dans la tempête. (French)
Michel Verwilghen. Le mythe d'Argenteuil: demeure d'un couple royal.
[show]v • d • eBelgian princesses by marriage

1st Generation Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria · Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

2nd Generation Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria

3rd Generation Princess Astrid of Sweden · Lilian Baels*

4th Generation Fabiola de Mora* · Princess Paola Ruffo di Calabria · Léa Wolman*

5th Generation Countess Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz* · Claire Coombs*

*did not have a royal or noble title by birth


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Categories: Belgian royal consorts | House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha | Belgian princesses | People from London
Hidden categories: Articles lacking sources from June 2009 | All articles lacking sources | Accuracy disputes from June 2009 | All accuracy disputes | NPOV disputes from June 2009 | All NPOV disputes
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