Princess Marie Esméralda of Belgium

Family

She is the youngest child of the late Leopold III of Belgium and his second wife, Lilian Baels (known as Princess of Réthy). Her full siblings are the late Prince Alexander of Belgium and Princess Marie-Christine of Belgium. Her half-siblings include the late King Baudouin of Belgium, Belgium's former monarch King Albert II, who is also Marie-Esméralda's godfather, and the late Princess Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium (Grand Duchess of Luxembourg).

Personal life

Princess Marie-Esméralda is a journalist and author, writing under the name Esméralda de Réthy. After studying law at the Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis in Brussels, she graduated in journalism at Université catholique de Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve and moved to Paris to pursue her career, working as free lance for international magazines.

She married Sir Salvador Moncada, a Honduran-British pharmacologist, in London on 5 April 1998. They have a daughter, Alexandra Leopoldine (born in London on 4 August 1998), and a son, Leopoldo Daniel (born in London on 21 May 2001).

Charity

Princess Maria-Esmeralda is very active in the field of environment and women's rights. She is the President of King Leopold III Fund for Nature Exploration and Conservation since the death of her father in 1983. She is also Honorary President of Delphus, an association offering every year to autistic children a week of assisted therapy with dolphins. The princess is very active like her father in research of nature and wildlife. She supports amongst other Prince de Merode.

She is also patron of The Princess Lilian Foundation which was established in 1958 by her late mother with the initial objective of sending Belgian children with heart condition to be operated in the United States. In the seventies, the foundation focused on organizing high level scientific meetings. Since the death of Princess Lilian, the foundation has created a visiting Professorship.

Author

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