Princess Marie-Christine of Belgium Royalty
Princess Marie-Christine of Belgium (Marie-Christine Daphné Astrid Elisabeth Léopoldine; born 6 February 1951) is a member of the Belgian Royal Family and a half-sister of King Albert II of the Belgians. Her father was King Leopold III of the Belgians, and her mother was his second wife, the former Lilian Baels. Although the former Miss Baels was not given the style of Her Majesty with the prefix of Queen of Belgium, she and her children, including Marie-Christine, received the style of Royal Highness and Prince/Princess of Belgium. Marie-Christine was born in Laeken, Belgium. Her godparents were King Baudouin I of Belgium and Infanta Maria Cristina of Spain. On 9 May 1962, she received her First Holy Communion and Confirmation, officiated by Bishop Fulton Sheen. Her first marriage, to Paul Drake(Toronto, Ontario, 1 November 1937 – 1 April 2008) in Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County, Florida, on 23 May 1981, lasted 40 days (though they weren't formally divorced till 1985); she subsequently married Jean-Paul Gourges in Westwood, Lassen County, California, on 28 September 1989. American actor James Coburn was best man in her wedding to Jean-Paul Gourges. Princess Marie-Christine worked as an actress in Los Angeles using her third name "Daphné". Marie-Christine and her husband live in San Diego, San Diego County, California. 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 brother Baudouin saying "He is not my King". In 1993, when her brother Baudouin I 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 Alexander in December 2009.
