Marie-Henriette: A Woman in the Shadow of a Giant, Leopold II

'Leopold, heir to the throne of Leopold I, marries Archduchess Marie-Henriette, niece of the Austrian emperor, in 1853. He is eighteen years old. She is a year younger.
The youngsters have no feelings for each other. They also have nothing in common. Leo is a moody, lanky lad. Marie-Henriette is fresh, playful and rather naughty. They have four children, Louise, Leopold, Stephanie and Clementine, but never fully recover from the death of the nine-year-old heir to the throne in 1869. From then on, their paths diverge more and more. The king puts all his energy into the grand Congo project. The queen seeks distraction in music and in her passion for horses and dogs.
However, much suffering awaits in the future. Louise's life becomes a turbulent novel, which causes Marie-Henriette endless grief. When Stephanie marries Archduke Rudolf in 1881, she is destined to become an empress in the Austrian empire. But in Mayerling in 1889 he is found dead after having shot his very young girlfriend Marie Vetsera.
After the fire at Mayerling Castle in 1890, things in Laeken were never the same again for Marie-Henriette.
In 1895 she bought a hotel in Spa which became Villa Marie-Henriette and her real home. For a few more years she was able to enjoy Spa and the surrounding nature in complete freedom. But her health deteriorated rapidly. When she died quite unexpectedly in 1902, Leopold was in Luchon with Caroline Delacroix and none of her children were in the area...''