Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este

Prince Amedeo
Prince of Belgium,
Archduke of Austria-Este (more)
Born (1986-02-21) 21 February 1986
Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium
Spouse Elisabetta Maria Rosboch von Wolkenstein (m. 2014)
Full name
Amedeo Marie Joseph Carl Pierre Philippe Paola Marcus d'Aviano
House Austria-Este
Father Lorenz, Archduke of Austria-Este
Mother Princess Astrid of Belgium
Styles of
Prince Amedeo of Belgium
Reference style His Imperial and Royal Highness
Spoken style Your Imperial and Royal Highness
Alternative style Monseigneur

Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este (Amedeo Marie Joseph Carl Pierre Philippe Paola Marcus d'Aviano; born 21 February 1986) is a member of the Belgian Royal Family. He is the heir to the headship of the House of Austria-Este,[1] a cadet branch of the Habsburg-Lorraine, and is sixth in line to the throne of Belgium.

Birth and family

Amedeo was born at the University Clinic St. Luc, Woluwe-St-Lambert, Belgium, the first child of Lorenz, Archduke of Austria-Este and Princess Astrid of Belgium.[1] He bears the same given name as his paternal great-grandfather Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta. His godparents are his uncle, King Philippe of Belgium and maternal grandmother, Queen Paola of Belgium. Amedeo himself is godfather to his cousin, the Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant. Amedeo has one younger brother Joachim (b. 1991) and three younger sisters: Maria Laura (b. 1988), Luisa Maria (b. 1995) and Laetitia Maria (b. 2003).

Education and career

He undertook primary school and the greater part of his secondary education at the Jesuit school Sint-Jan Berchmanscollege (founded 1604) in Brussels, popular with Belgian aristocracy and royalty. He finished his secondary education at Sevenoaks School in Kent, England between 2001 and 2004. Having finished his studies in Sevenoaks, the prince spent a year in Belgium's Royal Military Academy. In September 2005 he began studies at the London School of Economics, where he graduated in 2008 with a "Bachelor of Science (BSc), Management",[2][3] and took a sabbatical before entering professional life.

Prince Amedeo completed military service and is a reserve officer in the Belgian Army.

From July 2009 to June 2012, he worked for Deloitte in New York City as a business analyst from July 2009 to June 2011 and as a management consultant in strategy and operations from July 2011 to June 2012.[3]

He worked as a research analyst intern at Accumulus Capital Management, LLC from August through December 2012.[3]

During 2013 and 2014 he resumed his studies, obtaining a Master of Business Administration (MBA) at the Columbia Business School of Columbia University. Thereafter he started to work as a management consultant for McKinsey & Company in Brussels.[3]

Personal life

On 15 February 2014, the Belgian Royal Court announced the engagement of Prince Amedeo to Italian journalist Elisabetta "Lili" Maria Rosboch von Wolkenstein.[4]

Elisabetta was born in Rome on 9 September 1987, the only child of Italian film producer Ettore Rosboch von Wolkenstein (born in 1945), heir to a pharmaceutical fortune from his Austrian mother,[5] and his wife Countess Lilia de Smecchia, also a film producer.[6] Elisabetta's godfather and uncle was the so-called "editor prince" Don Carlo Caracciolo, 9th Prince di Castagneto and 4th Duke di Melito, who, with Donna Marella Caracciolo di Castagneto, wife of Fiat tycoon Gianni Agnelli, are Ettore's half-siblings, all children of Don Filippo Caracciolo, 8th Prince di Castagneto, Elisabetta's grandfather.[7] Elisabetta's paternal grandmother, née Elisabeth von Jaworski von Wolkenstein, was the one-year-widow of Italian Finance Undersecretary[8] Nob. Ettore Bernardo Rosboch when her son Ettore was born to Don Filippo (Carlo and Marella Caracciolo were born of his only marriage to American heiress Margaret Clarke),[9] this extramarital status excluding Elisabetta's father from inheriting the Caracciolo surname and titles.[10] In 2008 Don Carlo left Elisabetta and her father US$1 million in his will.[7] Through the Italian princely families of Caracciolo and Ruffo (to the latter of which Amedeo's maternal grandmother, Queen Paola, belongs by birth),[1][9] Amedeo and Elisabetta both descend from Giuseppe Tiberio Ruffo, Count of Sinopoli (1627-1683), while through German princely dynasties their most recent common ancestor is Franz Albrecht I, Prince of Oettingen-Spielberg (1663-1737).[10] Since 2009, Elisabetta has worked for Bloomberg News' cultural section.[11]

In April 2016, it was announced that the couple were expecting their first child, due to be born in May of that year.[12]

Wedding

The couple's wedding was celebrated on 5 July 2014 in Rome's Basilica Santa Maria in Trastevere,[13][14] in the presence of the Royal Family of Belgium (with the exception of his great-aunt Queen Fabiola), as well as members of the cadet branches of the House of Habsburg, including the bridegroom's grandmother, Margherita of Savoy, Dowager Archduchess of Austria-Este, and members of other dynasties, including Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg and her husband Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein, Princess Beatrice of York and Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon.[15] The couple were planning to relocate in Belgium after the wedding.

Amedeogate

After his religious wedding Belgian politicians opposed the royal decree of the King on constitutional grounds. This was called 'Amedeogate'[16] Although the engagement had been published on the Royal Family's website, no dynastic authorisation for Prince Amedeo's marriage was published prior to his wedding, as foreseen in Article 85 of the Belgian Constitution. Speculation in the media included a commentator on the military parade for La Une who, on 21 July 2014 (Belgian National Day), alleged that no royal authorisation was announced because the prince intentionally chose not to request permission to marry, and therefore Amedeo was no longer deemed in the line of succession.[17] On 28 July 2015 Le Soir,[18] along with other news media [19] confirmed that Prince Amedeo had renounced his place in the order of succession because he wished to live an independent life, free of any official role. On 12 November 2015, however, more than a year after the wedding, a royal decree expressing King Philip's retroactive permission for the marriage was gazetted in the Moniteur Belge.[20]

Due to a royal decree issued by his uncle King Philippe to limit the number of family members bearing royal titles, their children would not be styled Prince/Princess of Belgium.[21]

Succession to the Belgian throne

In 1991 Amedeo obtained, along with his mother and younger siblings, succession rights to the Belgian throne.[22] In 1993 his maternal grandfather acceded to the throne as King Albert II and he became third in Belgium's line of succession, following his uncle Philippe, Duke of Brabant, and his mother. Upon Philippe's marriage in 1999 the prospect of Amedeo inheriting the throne substantially diminished, and the birth of a daughter and dynastic heir to Philippe in 2001 dropped his place in the order of succession down to fourth and, eventually to seventh, following the birth of Princess Eleonore, the youngest of Philippe's children.

The abdication on 21 July 2013 of his grandfather King Albert II of the Belgians promoted him to sixth in line to the throne.

Titles and styles

All the children of Princess Astrid and Archduke Lorenz, bear the title "Prince(ss) of Belgium" by Belgian Royal Decree of 2 December 1991, distinct from their traditional Austro-Hungarian titles,[1] i.e. "Archduke/Archduchess of Austria-Este, Prince(ss) Imperial of Austria, Prince(ss) Royal of Hungary". Internationally his abbreviated style is HI&RH Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este.

Military ranks

[23]

Ancestry[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Haus Österreich". Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels: Furstliche Hauser Band XVI. Limburg an der Lahn: C. A. Starke Verlag. 2001. pp. 87, 90–91, 524, 529. ISBN 3-7980-0824-8.
  2. ↑ Regine N. "La rentrée scolaire des petits-enfants du Roi Albert II" 29 August 2008. Retrieved 2 July 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Prince Amedeo's LinkedIn profile
  4. ↑ Announcement of the engagement.
  5. ↑ Imdb
  6. ↑ Imdb
  7. 1 2 Colacello, Bob. Vanity Fair. Inheritance Italian Style. December 2009. Accessed 31 July 2014.
  8. ↑ "Ettore Bernardo Rosboch (19 Apr 1893 - 18 Aug 1944)". Chamber of Deputies, The Historic Portal (in Italian)
  9. 1 2 "Caracciolo". Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels: Furstliche Hauser Band III. Glücksburg/Ostsee: C. A. Starke Verlag. 1955. pp. 297, 302–303.
  10. 1 2 vtm. Royalty. Vriendin prins Amedeo is verre nicht. 20 January 2014. Accessed 24 March 2015. (Flemish).
  11. ↑ "Why European Royalty and Aristocrats are flocking to New York".
  12. ↑ http://www.cinetelerevue.be/fr/le-prince-amedeo-bientot-papa.html?cmp_id=7&news_id=36857
  13. ↑ Broadcast "Place Royale", RTL-TVI, Facebook info
  14. ↑ Prins Amedeo en Lili trouwen in de zon
  15. ↑ Villa, Elisabetta. Getty Images. Wedding of Prince Amedeo of Belgium and Elisabetta Maria Rosboch von Wolkenstein. Getty Images Entertainment. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  16. ↑ http://www.knack.be/nieuws/belgie/amedeogate-koning-filip-treedt-buiten-de-grondwet/article-opinion-665243.html
  17. ↑ RTBF, La Une, Belgian National Day military parade, 21 July 2014 afternoon
  18. ↑ Le prince Amedeo n’a plus droit au trône: il était 6e dans l’ordre de succession
  19. ↑ HLN.BE. 28 July 2015. Prins Amedeo niet meer troongerechtigd. (Dutch). retrieved 21 December 2015.
  20. ↑ http://fr.metrotime.be/2015/11/24/news/le-prince-amedeo-reintegre-lordre-de-succession-au-trone
  21. ↑ Prins Amedeo maakt opnieuw kans op de Belgische troon|url=http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/binnenland/1.2505838.
  22. ↑ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels: Furstliche Hauser Band XIX. Limburg an der Lahn: C. A. Starke Verlag. 2011. pp. 6–8. ISBN 978-3-7980-0849-6.
  23. ↑ Belgian Defense Website, Prince Amedeo's officer swear on 27 september 2007, Photos 1, 2, 3

External links

Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
Cadet branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine
Born: 21 February 1986
Lines of succession
Preceded by
Princess Astrid of Belgium		 Line of succession to the Belgian throne
6th position 		Succeeded by
Princess Maria Laura of Belgium
Preceded by
The Archduke of Austria-Este		 Line of succession to the Austro-Hungarian throne
5th position 		Succeeded by
Archduke Joachim
First in line Line of succession to Austria-Este
1st position
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