Princess Léa of Belgium

Princess Léa
Princess Léa in Charleroi on 13 June 2015
BornLéa Inga Dora Wolman
(1951-12-02) 2 December 1951 (age 73)
Brussels, Belgium
Spouses
Serge Victorovich Spetschinsky
(m. 1975; div. 1980)
Paul Robert Bichara
(m. 1983; div. 1987)
(m. 1991; died 2009)
Issue
  • Laetitia Sergeevna Spetschinskaya
  • Renaud Bichara
FatherSigismund Wolman
MotherLisa Bornstein
Styles of
Princess Léa of Belgium
Reference styleHer Royal Highness
Spoken styleYour Royal Highness

Princess Léa of Belgium (born Léa Inga Dora Wolman; 2 December 1951) is the widow of Prince Alexandre of Belgium. She is an aunt by marriage of King Philippe of Belgium.

Early life

She was born on 2 December 1951 as the daughter of Sigismund Wolman (born in Warsaw on 12 July 1906),[1] a merchant in Brussels,[1] and Lisa Bornstein (born in Germany).

Marriages and issue

She married Russian aristocrat Serge Victorovich Spetschinsky on 27 May 1975 in Brussels (son of Victor Sergeyevich Spetschinsky, President of the Russian Nobility Association in Belgium, and Elena Dmitrievna Guebel), from whom she was divorced on 28 March 1980. They had a daughter, Laetitia Spetschinsky (born in 1976), who is now married to HE Didier Nagant de Deuxchaisnes, Ambassador of Belgium to Ethiopia, and mother of three children.

On 23 July 1983, she married Paul Robert Bichara in Uccle, and they had a son, Renaud Bichara (born on 1 September 1983).[2]

After her second divorce on 25 August 1987, she wed Prince Alexander in Debenham, Suffolk, on 14 March 1991. They had been introduced in 1986 by former defence minister Léon Mundeleer. Alexander asked her to accompany him to the cinema. She vacillated initially, but they began to enjoy dining out together, Alexander being a gourmand, according to his future wife.[3]

The couple had no children together, and the marriage was kept secret until 1998, as reportedly the prince feared his mother would disapprove.[3]

Published work

In 2008, she published a book of photographs from the life of her husband and his family, titled Le Prince Alexandre de Belgique, because she felt that he was too little known in Belgium.[3]

Notes

  1. ^ a b (in French and Dutch) Commission Des Naturalisations - Chambre des Représentants - Session 1959·1960 (23 Février 1960) / Commissie Voor De Naturalisaties - Kamer der Volksvertegenwoordigers - Zitting 1959.1960 (23 Februari 1960).
  2. ^ "Gala de la charte de Paris contre le cancer : le combat du Pr David Khayat". Paris Match (in French). 26 February 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Séguy, Philippe (29 April 2008). "Léa de Belgique: Il faut en finir avec le malheur". Point de Vue (in French): 18–21.

Sources

Media related to Princess Léa of Belgium at Wikimedia Commons