The Belgian royal court yesterday announced the engagement of Prince Amedeo to his longtime girlfriend Elisabetta Maria Rosboch von Wolkenstein, known as Lili.
Prince Amedeo, a businessman who is also Archduke of Austria-Este, was born on 21 February 1986 and is the eldest son of Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz of Belgium. He is thus a nephew of King Philippe and the eldest grandchild of former King Albert II. He is currently sixth in line of succession to the Belgian throne.
Elisabetta Rosboch von Wolkenstein was born in Rome on 9 September 1987 and is the only child of Ettore Rosboch von Wolkenstein and Countess Lilia de Smecchia. The Princess-to-be holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature and film from Queen Mary University in London and works as a journalist covering the arts for the American news organisation Bloomberg, using the name Lili Rosboch.
Her father is apparently an illegitimate son of an Italian aristocrat, Filippo Caracciolo, 9th Prince of Castagneto and 3rd Duke of Melito. The name Rosboch von Wolkenstein seems to be a combination of the surname of his mother’s husband and his maternal grandmother, Countess Maria von Wolkenstein.
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Ettore was acknowledged by his father, and is close to his Caracciolo half siblings. His mother's husband died a year before he was born. By the way, I (sort of) broke the story of their romance having spotted that they attended a function together in NYC last fall. Several Belgian newspapers picked up my Royal Musings postings, A few weeks ago, I was interviewed on RTL - and mentioned that I believed her name was Elisabetta (not known before) due to a directory listing in NYC. A few years ago, Vanity Fair did a piece on Carlo Caracciolo, Ettore's half brother (Ettore was interviewed for the piece.) Carlo was Lili's godfather.
ReplyDeleteI suppose they are descended from, or at least related to, Giovanni Caracciolo, who was Queen Giovanna II of Naples's first minister and favourite, but whom she eventually had assassinated when he became too powerful. There is a beautiful Caracciolo Chapel, in which he is buried, in the Church of San Giovannia a Carbonara in Naples, Queen Giovanna being buried in the same church.
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