Taking a look at Princess Luisa Maria of Belgium as she celebrates her 30th birthday

Princess Luisa Maria of Belgium is one of the more unknown current royals.

The princess is the fourth child and second daughter of Princess Astrid of Belgium and Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este¹. Her mother is the daughter of King Albert II of Belgium, while her father is the grandson of the last Austrian Emperor, Charles I. She was born on 11 October 1995 at the Clinique St Jean in Woluwé-Saint-Lambert. Her younger sister, Princess Laetitia Maria, was born in 2003. Belgium introduced the practice of absolute primogeniture in 1991, and Luisa Maria is currently 13th in the line of succession. When she was born, she was 6th in the line of succession. Before the introduction of absolute primogeniture, she would not have been in the line of succession at all. Her elder siblings are Amedeo (born 1986), Maria Laura (born 1988) and Joachim (born 1991).

The family seems to have divided their time between their home in Brussels and London, and they keep their lives largely private. While Luisa Maria’s parents are active in the Belgian monarchy, their children are not. Luisa Maria and her siblings are building a life outside of being royal.

Her mother, Astrid, once said, “We have also prepared them for the realities of our times, helping them to approach things with confidence – we are convinced that self-confidence is the greatest strength we can give them. Our children want to be independent, they have chosen banking, law, renewable energy, or to work for a large international organisation. They know how demanding and difficult the professional world is, and they are aware that they have to find their place in it.” As a teenager, she was called “exceptionally intelligent and eager to learn.”²

Luisa Maria hardly ever appears at public functions, except during family events. She attended school at the Sint-Jan Berchmanscollege in Brussels and later went to the Seven Oaks School in Kent. She then enrolled at McGill University in Montreal, where she studied political science, history and Russian for three years. She graduated in 2018 and also has a law degree from BPP University. She started her professional career as a translator and assistant to the production team at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

She dated Prince Karl-Ilias von Auersperg-Breunner for a few years, but it appears that this relationship is now over.

Luisa Maria currently lives in London and works with Innesto Partners. She was admitted as a solicitor in 2022.

1. As there is no longer an Austrian empire, any Austrian titles are titular
2. HLN