Queen Mathilde: Wedding: Laura of Belgium & William Isvy

10 September 2022

King Philippe's eldest niece, Princess Maria Laura of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria Este (34) married her British-French fiancé William Isvy in Brussels.

The couple lives and works in London. Laura is a climate analyst with the Children's Investment Fund Foundation. William is an investment banker at Millenium Capital. They met in 2015 and gradually moved from being friends to becoming a couple.

At 10:00 the civil ceremony took place at the Brussels city hall. In Belgium a religious ceremony is not legally binding, so it always has to be preceded by a civil union. It was a private ceremony in the presence of 35 guests. Laura chose her sisters Luisa (26) and Laetitia (19) as her witnesses. In turn William chose his brother and sister.

Prince Laurent & Princess Claire with Prince Louise, Prince Nicolas (far left) and Prince Aymeric.

Former King Albert II, who had great trouble walking, and former Queen Paola with grandson Prince Joachim.

Mother of the bride, Princess Astrid greets Brussels mayor Philippe Close.

Archduchess Lili of Austria Este and her sister-in-law, Princess Laetitia of Belgium greeting the mayor of Brussels.

Princess Luisa, Princess Astrid, Prince Amedeo, Prince Joachim, Archduchess Lili and Princess Laetitia.

The present and former Royal Couple.

The groom with his parents.

Princess Laura was wearing a dress and pumps by Gucci.

Married!

The religious wedding took place at 14:30 at the Saints-Michel-et-Gudule cathedral in Brussels in front of 500 guests.

The booklet featured Our Lady of Laeken.

Arrival of King Philippe & Queen Mathilde with Crown Princess Elisabeth, Prince Emmanuel, Prince Gabriel and Princess Eléonore.

🇧🇪 Arrival of King Philippe and his family - including Crown Princess Elisabeth - at the royal wedding in Belgium.

👰 Belgian Princess Maria Laura, 34, is marrying French/British William Isvy @ Brussels cathedral.

🎥 @Sien_D pic.twitter.com/CXhTbWUSP1
— [Wim Dehandschutter] (@WDehandschutter) September 10, 2022

Arrival of Laura's family.

Prince Laurent, Princess Claire and their children.

Princess Delphine de Saxe-Cobourg & Jim O'Hare with their children Josephine and Oscar O'Hare.

Princess Léa, widow of Prince Alexandre of Belgium, and Princess Esmé of Belgium.

Baron Paul Buysse & his wife.

Prince Guillaume & Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg.
Prince Felix & Princess Claire of Luxembourg.

Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg & Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein followed by their daughter Princess Anunciata of Liechtenstein & Emanuele Musini.

PM Alexander De Croo and his wife, Annik Penders.

Laura's cousins: (pregnant) Princess Olympia & Prince Jean-Christophe Napoléon, Countess Margherita von und zu Arco-Zinneberg & Charles Green, Countess Georgiana von und zu Arco-Zinneberg with crutches, Countess Marie Gabrielle von und zu Arco-Zinneberg.

Count Christian & Countess Colienne de Limburg-Stirum with their daughter Marie.

Count & Countess Albert de Limburg Stirum.

Countess Marie-Christine d’Ursel - ter Harck.
Cédric Frère, grandson of late Albert Frère and chairman of the Association de la Noblesse du Royaume de Belgique & his wife, Charlotte Friling.

Princess Anne-Hélène d'Arenberg & fiancé Xavier Rehman-Fawcett.
Jan Hessel de Jong & Princess Maria Teresa d'Orléans-Bragança with Mme Jean-Marie Laurent-Josi.

The Prince & Princess de Croÿ-Roeulx.
Archduchess Anna Gabriele of Austria and daughter, Archduchess Catharina of Austria.

Prince Amaury de Merode and his wife, Nathalie Gillion-Crowet.

The Prince & Princess de Ligne.
Their daughter Princess Alix de Ligne & Count Gui de Dampierre.

The Prince & Princess de Chimay.

The Royal Couple and their four children.

Crown Princess Elisabeth (20) was wearing a dress by Carolina Herrera and a hat and clutch by Fabienne Delvigne.

One of the guests was wearing (nearly) the same dress as Elisabeth, in a different colour.

The groom and his mother.

Princess Laura's gown was created by Vivienne Westwood, with a 4 meter long train. She was wearing the Savoy-Aosta tiara which belongs to her mother. Her veil was Queen Paola's 19th century heirloom.

The service started with the hymn "Amazing Grace" and a prayer for Queen Elizabeth II who died two days ago.

video: https://www.hln.be/royalty/het-jawoord-is-gegeven-prinses-maria-laura-en-william-stappen-in-het-huwelijksbootje~ab350d89/

Mainly in the music choice there were references to the groom's Jewish background.

The witnesses were Archduchess Lili of Austria-Este, Prince Josef and Princess Astrid of Liechtenstein, Princess Olympia Napoléon and Ferdinand Brunet.

Prince Joachim and William's brother were ushers, while Princess Luisa was Laura's bridesmaid.

The flower girls and page boys were Laura's niece & nephew Archduchess Anna Astrid and Archduke Maximilian of Austria Este, Maria-Thereza Droste zu Vischering von Nesselrode, Alvaro de Orleans-Borbon, Aurora and Eulalia Peters.