A request that this article title be changed to Prince Lorenz of Belgium is under discussion. Please do not move this article until the discussion is closed. |
Prince Lorenz | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Archduke of Austria-Este (more) | |||||
Prince Lorenz at the wedding of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden in 2010 | |||||
Born | Belvedere Clinic , Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France | 16 December 1955||||
Spouse | |||||
Issue | Prince Amedeo Princess Maria Laura Prince Joachim Princess Luisa Maria Princess Laetitia Maria | ||||
| |||||
House | Austria-Este | ||||
Father | Robert, Archduke of Austria-Este | ||||
Mother | Princess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta |
Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este (born 16 December 1955) is a member of the Belgian royal family by his marriage with Princess Astrid of Belgium. Since 1996 he is also head of the House of Austria-Este, a cadet branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.
Prince Lorenz was born in Belvedere Clinic, Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France, as the second child of Robert, Archduke of Austria-Este and his wife, Archduchess Margaret (née Princess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta).
After finishing school, Archduke Lorenz did his military service in the regiment of Gebirgsjäger ("Alpine Hunters") of the Federal Austrian Army, and he was promoted to Reserve Leutnant (Second Lieutenant) in 1980. [1]
Lorenz studied economics at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and the University of Innsbruck in Austria. He then worked at various banks in London, Paris, and Rome. In 1983, he joined the Gutzwiller private bank in Basel, where he eventually became a Managing Partner. In 1993, he spent one year as a consultant to SWIFT, a company which provides services to the financial industry. In 1995, he became Advisor to the Board of Directors of BNP Paribas bank in Paris. He was formerly a director of UCB, Sita (a worldwide waste management company located in France) and Ondeo Nalco (a water management company in the United States).
On 22 September 1984 in Brussels, Lorenz married Princess Astrid of Belgium, the only daughter of the then-Prince and Princess of Liège, later King Albert II and Queen Paola. The couple have five children:
Prince Lorenz is a godfather to Prince Carl-Johan of Nassau, youngest child of Prince Jean of Luxembourg and Count Costantino Secco di Aragona, oldest son of his cousin Archduchess Catharina-Maria of Austria.
Since 2004, Lorenz has been the honorary president of the Council of the Koninklijke Vereniging der Historische Woonsteden van België/Association Royale des Demeures Historiques de Belgique. [2] Since 2005, he has been the Patron of Europae Thesauri , an association of European cathedral and church treasuries. [3]
Lorenz has also served as deputy chairman of the Société des Amis of the Almanach de Gotha. [4]
He is named member of the Royal Crown Council of Romania in 2015. [5]
The title "Prince of Belgium" was granted to him by Royal Decree of 10 November 1995 by his father-in-law, King Albert II of Belgium. [6] He is also referred to as Archduke of Austria-Este by the Belgian monarchy. [7]
Princess Astrid of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este, is the second child and first daughter of King Albert II and Queen Paola, and younger sister to the current Belgian monarch, King Philippe. She is married to Prince Lorenz of Belgium, head of the Austria-Este branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and is fifth in line of succession to the Belgian throne.
Queen Paola of Belgium is the wife of King Albert II and was Queen of the Belgians from 1993 until his abdication in 2013 in favour of their son King Philippe.
There are sixteen persons in the line of succession to the Belgian throne.
The Order of the Crown is a house order of the Dutch Royal House. The order came into being as a result of Queen Juliana's reorganization of the Order of the House of Orange in 1969. The 18 classes of the house order were no longer felt to be appropriate in the ever more egalitarian Dutch society of the 1960s. The Order was divided into five subdivisions. As a house order it is not subject to ministerial responsibility or influence, but is awarded at the discretion of the Dutch monarch alone.
The House of Habsburg-Este, holders of the title of Archduke of Austria-Este, is a cadet branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine and also descends from the House of Este. It was created in 1771 with the marriage between Ferdinand of Habsburg-Lorraine and Maria Beatrice d'Este, only daughter of the Duke of Modena, Ercole III d'Este. After the death of Ercole III in 1803, the Modena ruling branch of the Este family's male line ended, and the Habsburg-Estes inherited his possessions in Italy.
Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania is the eldest daughter of King Michael I and Queen Anne of Romania. She assumed her father's duties in March 2016, upon his retirement, and has claimed the headship of the House of Romania since his death on 5 December 2017. She also heads the Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation.
Princess Elena of Romania is the second daughter of King Michael I and Queen Anne of Romania.
Archduchess Marie Astrid of Austria is the elder daughter and eldest child of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg and Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium, and the wife of Archduke Carl Christian of Austria.
Nicholas Michael de Roumanie Medforth-Mills, formerly Prince Nicholas of Romania, is the eldest child and only son of Princess Elena of Romania and Robin Medforth-Mills. As a grandson of Michael I, the former king of Romania, he was third in line to the defunct throne of Romania according to a new family statute enacted in 2007, that also conferred the title of a "prince of Romania" on him which was abrogated in 2015. The statute and the titles it confers have no standing in present Romanian law.
Irina Walker is the third daughter of King Michael I and Queen Anne of Romania.
Princess Sophie of Romania is the fourth daughter of King Michael I and Queen Anne of Romania.
Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders was the third born and second surviving son of Leopold I, King of the Belgians and his wife Louise d'Orléans (1812–1850).
Eugène François Charles Joseph Lamoral de Ligne d'Amblise et d'Epinoy, 8th Prince of Ligne and of the Holy Roman Empire was a Belgian diplomat and liberal politician.
Archduke Carl Christian of Austria is a Belgian aristocrat and a member of the formerly ruling Austro-Hungarian House of Habsburg-Lorraine. He is the third child of Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria and his wife, Princess Yolande de Ligne.
The Order of Carol I was the highest ranking of the Romanian honours of the Kingdom of Romania until the abolition of the monarchy in 1947. It was instituted on 10 May 1906 by King Carol I to celebrate the Ruby Jubilee of 40 years of his reign.
Archduchess Yolande of Austria is the widow of Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria.
The Decorations of the Romanian Royal House are a reward for conspicuous and special merits of the recipients for the Romanian state and the Romanian Royal House.
Princess Maria of Romania, also formerly a Princess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen is the fifth and youngest daughter of King Michael I and Queen Anne of Romania.
Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este Born: 16 December 1955 | ||
Titles in pretence | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by Archduke Robert | Archduke of Austria-Este 1996 –present | Incumbent Heir: Archduke Amedeo |