Princess Marie-Christine of Belgium

Princess Marie-Christine
Born	(1951-02-06) 6 February 1951 Stuyvenberg Castle, Laeken, Brussels, Belgium
Spouse	Paul Druker ​ ​ (m. 1981; div. 1985)​ Jean-Paul Gourgues ​ ​ (m. 1989)​
Names French: Marie-Christine Daphné Astrid Elisabeth Léopoldine
House	Belgium
Father	Leopold III of Belgium
Mother	Mary Lilian Baels

Styles of Princess Marie-Christine of Belgium
Reference style	Her Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Royal Highness

Princess Marie-Christine of Belgium (Marie-Christine Daphné Astrid Elisabeth Léopoldine; born 6 February 1951) is a half-sister of Belgian kings Baudouin and Albert II and an aunt of King Philippe of Belgium.

Family and childhood

Princess Marie-Christine's father was King Leopold III, and her mother was his second wife, Lilian Baels. Lilian was never recognized as queen, but she and her children, including Marie-Christine, received the style of Royal Highness and Prince(ss) of Belgium. Marie-Christine was born in Laeken, Belgium. Her godparents were her half-brother King Baudouin and Infanta María Cristina of Spain. Marie-Christine was named after her godmother, her father's popular first wife, her paternal grandmother, and her father.

Her full siblings are the late Prince Alexandre of Belgium and Princess Marie-Esméralda of Belgium. Her half-siblings include the Belgian kings Baudouin and Albert II, and Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg. During Princess Marie-Christine's childhood, magazines reported that she was musically talented and that her grandmother Queen Elisabeth encouraged her in this interest.

Personal life

Marie-Christine's first marriage, to Paul Drucker (1 November 1937 – 1 April 2008) in Coral Gables, Florida, on 23 May 1981, lasted 40 days. They were not formally divorced till 1985. She subsequently married Jean-Paul Gourgues, a French restaurateur, in Westwood, California, on 28 September 1989. American actor James Coburn was best man in her wedding to Jean-Paul Gourgues.

Princess Marie-Christine worked as an actress in Los Angeles using her third name "Daphné". Marie-Christine and her husband live in Washington. Over the years, Marie-Christine has moved to different places, such Toronto, Las Vegas and San Diego.

She is a controversial person in Belgium. The Princess in the past claimed to have been raped as a teenager and beaten by her mother. She has lived a jet-set life but in recent years has said she spent away her entire inheritance. When she was a guest in a Belgian Embassy abroad, Marie-Christine refused to drink to her half-brother Baudouin saying "He is not my king". In 1993, when Baudouin died, she did not attend the funeral. On 17 April 2007, in a rare interview, she said "abolishing the monarchy might prove to be of benefit to Belgium". The princess did not attend the funeral of her brother Alexandre in December 2009.