Princess Clémentine of Belgium

Clémentine Albertine Marie Léopoldine of Belgium ( born July 30, 1872 in Laeken, † March 8, 1955 in Nice ) was Princess of Belgium and by marriage princesse Napoléon.

Life

Clémentine was the youngest child of Belgian King Leopold II (1835-1909) from his marriage to Marie Henriette (1836-1902), daughter of Archduke Joseph of Austria. She had with Louise and Stephanie two older sisters. Her brother Leopold died in 1869 and his parents had hoped Clémentine would be the hoped-for heir to the throne. After her parents had given up hope and the succession passed to Philip of Flanders.

Clem, as Clémentine was called in the family circle, won her father's heart as only one of the three sisters. Unlike her sisters, she had a fairly good childhood and did not suffer from the harsh methods of education of their parents. As her mother treated the children with cold, Clémentine developed a particularly close relationship with her sister Stephanie. After her mother's death, she was the First Lady of the country. Clémentine was the only person who still tolerated King Leopold II concluded in its vicinity. At times, there was speculation about a marriage between Clémentine and her cousin Baudouin, the idea to connect the two branches of the family also found the consent of their parents, but rejected Baudouin and his mother from this request.

On November 14, 1910, a year after the death of her father, who did not want to agree to a marriage of his youngest in his lifetime, she married in Moncalieri Victor Bonaparte, prince Napoléon ( 1862-1926 ), the Bonapartist pretender to the French throne and head the Bonaparte family .. the marriage she described her sister Stephanie in a letter to be very happy. With her ​​family, she often stayed in Farnborough in the ex - Empress Eugénie and found refuge here when Belgium was invaded in 1914 during World War I by the Germans. At Farnborough, the couple had also given his engagement known.

At the age of 82 years Clémentine died in her villa Clairvallou in Nice. Their burial place is in the Chapelle Imperiale of the imperial family of Ajaccio.

Progeny

From their marriage Clémentine had two children:

  • Clotilde (1912-1996), princesse Napoléon
  • Louis (1914-1997), prince Napoléon
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