Prince Lorenz of Belgium


Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este is a member of the Belgian royal family by his marriage with Princess Astrid of Belgium. Since 1996 he is also head of the House of Austria-Este, a cadet branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.

Early life

Prince Lorenz was born in Belvedere Clinic, Boulogne-Billancourt, Hauts-de-Seine, France, as the second child of Robert, Archduke of Austria-Este and his wife, Archduchess Margaret.

Education and career

After finishing school, Archduke Lorenz did his military service in the regiment of Gebirgsjäger of the Federal Austrian Army, and he was promoted to Reserve Leutnant in 1980.
Lorenz studied economics at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and the University of Innsbruck in Austria. He then worked at various banks in London, Paris, and Rome. In 1983, he joined the Gutzwiller private bank in Basel, where he eventually became a Managing Partner. In 1993, he spent one year as a consultant to SWIFT, a company which provides services to the financial industry. In 1995, he became Advisor to the Board of Directors of BNP Paribas bank in Paris. He was formerly a director of UCB, Sita and Ondeo Nalco.

Marriage

On 22 September 1984 in Brussels, Lorenz married Princess Astrid of Belgium, the only daughter of the then-Prince and Princess of Liège, later King Albert II and Queen Paola. The couple have five children:
Prince Lorenz is a godfather to Prince Carl-Johan of Nassau, youngest child of Prince Jean of Luxembourg and Count Costantino Secco di Aragona, oldest son of his cousin Archduchess Catharina-Maria of Austria.

Patronages

Since 2004, Lorenz has been the honorary president of the Council of the Koninklijke Vereniging der Historische Woonsteden van België/Association Royale des Demeures Historiques de Belgique. Since 2005, he has been the Patron of Europae Thesauri, an association of European cathedral and church treasuries.
Lorenz has also served as deputy chairman of the Société des Amis of the Almanach de Gotha.
He is named member of the Royal Crown Council of Romania in 2015.

Title

The title "Prince of Belgium" was granted to him by Royal Decree of 10 November 1995 by his father-in-law, King Albert II of Belgium. He is also referred to as Archduke of Austria-Este by the Belgian monarchy.

Honours

National