Princess Marie-Esméralda of Belgium

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Happy Birthday to Princess Marie-Esméralda of Belgium, who turns 63 today! The youngest child of King Leopold III of Belgium and the Princess de Rethy, she is the younger sister of the late King Baudouin of Belgium, King Albert II of Belgium, and the late Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, as well as the aunt of Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg (who is older) and King Philippe of Belgium. After studying law at the Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles, Princess Marie-Esméralda studied journalism at Université catholique de Louvain in Louvain-la-Neuve and then moved to Paris to pursue her career as a journalist and author, writing under the name Esmeralda de Réthy, working as free lance for international magazines. She has written the books: ‘Christian Dior, the Early Years 1947-1957’, ‘Léopold III, mon père’, ‘Léopold III photographe’, ‘Terre, agissons pour la planete, il n’est pas trop tard’, ‘Lilian, une princesse entre ombres et lumière’, ‘Albert and Elisabeth’, and ‘Femmes prix Nobel de la Paix’, and produced three documentaries. She is also an environmental activist and a campaigner for women’s rights and indigenous people’s rights. In 1998, Princess Marie-Esméralda married Sir Salvador Moncada, a Honduran-British pharmacologist, with whom she has two children, Alexandra and Leopoldo Moncada. We wish HRH a very Happy Birthday and Many Happy Returns!

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