Princess Clementine of Belgium
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Princess Clementine of Belgium (Clémentine Albertine Marie Léopoldine (French) or Clementina Albertina Maria Leopoldina (Dutch) (30 July 1872 - 8 March 1955) was a member of the Belgian Royal Family and the wife of Napoléon Victor Bonaparte, Bonapartist pretender to the throne of France.
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[edit] Early life
Princess Clementine was born at the Royal Castle of Laeken the third daughter, and last child, of King Leopold II of Belgium and Marie Henriette of Austria. After the arrival of the young princess, her parents lost any hope having a son. So far they had two daughters Princess Louise-Marie of Belgium and Princess Stephanie of Belgium. The couple's only son, Leopold, Duke of Brabant had died in 1869 after falling in a pond.
Clementine was raised by her mother who had a terrible and difficult temper so Clementine sought friendship from her older sister, Stéphanie, later Crown Princess of Austria-Hungary. After Princess Stephanie went to Austria to marry the Crown Prince of Austria, Clementine was left alone. Her eldest sister, Louise, was already married by the time Stephanie reached six so she never really saw Louise much. However, once Clementine came of age, she was given independence by her father to travel without her mother's approval. She later wrote, thanking her father, saying, "Thanks to you, dear father, I have been able to find happiness". However this happiness was short lived as Clementine's mother (Marie Henriette of Austria) died in 1902 and Clementine became the country's first lady next to her elderly father, Leopold II of Belgium.
[edit] Love Interests
Throughout Clementine's life she had three loves. The first was her cousin, Prince Baudouin, eldest son of her uncle Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and heir to her father as he had no sons. The second was Baron Auguste Goffinet, a member of the Belgian court and the last was Prince Napoléon Victor Bonaparte, heir to the Napoleon empire after the death of his cousin Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial son of the former Empress Eugenie. Unfortunately Clementine's cousin, Prince Baudouin, did not return her affections and died in his early twenties. A marriage with the Baron would have been impossible as he was not of royal blood. Her love for the Bonaparte Prince was something she never gave up.
[edit] Prince Victor Napoleon
Princess Clémentine first met the Bonaparte Prince in 1888 when he visited the palace. She then became attracted to the Prince and began to tell her sister how she felt about him. However King Leopold did not want his daughter to marry the Bonaparte Prince and so this caused arguments between father and daughter, this and the constant presence of Clementine's father's prostitute mistress meant that the two did not often talk. By the time Clementine turned 31 in 1903, she realised that she loved Prince Napoleon and asked her father yet again if she could marry him. He said no. She asked again saying it was her last chance of happiness but the king continued to say no and threatened her with disinheritance. With no other possible options Napoleon and Clementine realised that they could only marry when her father died so they decided to wait.
[edit] Father's death and Clementine's Marriage
Clementine's father died in 1909, enabling Clementine and Prince Napoleon to marry. Clementine asked the new monarch, King Albert, her cousin and Prince Baudouin's youngest brother, for permission to marry Victor and King Albert agreed. The wedding took place in Italy on 10 November 1910. Clementine's marriage changed her from her father's consort to the wife of the Head of the Bonaparte Family. She later wrote to her sister, Stephanie, now married to the Hungarian Count Elemer Lonyay saying, "my good husband, gentle, adoring, tender, loving, intelligent, connoisseur of people and things. He is beautiful, this Prince. Napoleon is a love, I adore him". Napoleon and Clementine later had two children: Princess Marie-Clotilde born in 1912 and Louis Jerome Bonaparte born in 1914.
