Prince Alexander of Belgium

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Prince Alexander of Belgium (Alexander Emmanuel Henry Albert Marie Léopold) (b. July 18, 1942), born in Laeken near Brussels, is the eldest child from the second marriage of King Leopold III of Belgium with Lilian Baels. He is the younger half-brother of the late King Baudouin I of Belgium and of King Albert II of Belgium and of the late Grand Duchess of Luxemburg, Joséphine-Charlotte. Alexander has two younger full sisters: Marie-Christine and Maria-Esmeralda. His godmother was his elder sister, the late Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.

Held under house arrest by the Germans until 1944, upon the invasion in Normandy, Léopold, his wife, and his four children were transferred to Germany and Austria where they remained under house arrest first in a fort at Hirschstein a der Elbe in Saxony during the winter of 1944-45, and then at Strobl, near Salzburg. They were freed by the U.S. Army in May of 1945. After the war the Royal family was unable to return to Belgium and was forced to spent some years in Swiss exile before finally being able to return to Belgium in 1950 after a national referendum. Alexander attempted studying medicine and after that a career in trade.

In 1991 Alexander married Léa Inge Dora Wolman. The marriage was kept secret until 1998 because the Prince's mother disapproved. In 1998, Léa Wolman was created a Princess of Belgium in her own right. The Prince has two step-children, Renaud Bichara and Laetitia Spetscinsky, from Léa's first marriage.

There has been some friction between the children of the "first" marriage and the "second" marriage in the past but nowadays Alexander and "Laeken" seem to have made their peace and the Prince and his wife join the rest of the royal Family in public appearances.

It has always been stated that the children of the second marriage were barred from the Belgian throne and thus have no right to the throne. Some constitutional scholars maintain that Prince Alexander is legally in line to the throne (currently 15th) as there is no legal ground for his exclusion. Given the fact that Prince Alexander is childless, this issue is currently moot.