Monday, December 27, 2021

A Belgian Royal engagement

 



An announcement today from the Belgian Royal Palace: "Their Royal Highnesses Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz are delighted to announce the engagement of Her Royal Highness Princess Maria Laura to Mr. William Isvy.

The  33-year-old princess is the second child and eldest daughter of HRH Princess Astrid of Belgium and HRH Prince Lorenz of Belgium, who was born HI & RH Archduke Lorenz of Austria.  Mr. Isvy is the son of Philippe Isvy and Lisa Louise Wilson.  His father has French and Moroccan ancestry and his mother is English.   

 Philippe is the Chief  Investment Officer at Mogador Capital and is based in London.

Mr. Isvy was in Paris on March 9, 1991, but he has spent most of his life in England, where he works as an investment banker.  He is an Analyst at Millennium Capital Partners LLP.   He received his baccalaureate from the Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle in Kensington. He graduated from McGill University in Montreal.

Princess Maria Laura Zita Beatrix Gerhard was born on August 26, 1988, at the Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Brussels.  She is ninth in line to the Belgian throne but does not carry out official engagements.

She studied  Chinese and international relations at the Institute of Oriental Languages ​​in Paris.  The princess worked in China for two years before moving to England, where she earned a master's degree in international affairs and diplomacy at SOAS Universand doing an internship in New York. 

Princess Maria Laura worked for the years at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development before moving to her current job in 2020, where she is an analyst in the climate change sector.  She is the granddaughter of former King Albert II and Queen Paola.   


The couple met in London in 2015.   The wedding is said to take place in the second half of 2022.







both photos @ Andrew Ferraro