Fascinating life of Belgian aristocrat Princess Marie de Ligne la Trémoïlle, as she dies aged 100

One of the oldest Belgian noble families, the House of Ligne, is in mourning after its matriarch, the French-raised aristocrat Princess Marie de Ligne la Trémoïlle, passed away late last week at the age of 100. 

The family posted the news of Princess Marie’s death on the official Castle of De Ligne La Trémoïlle Facook account on 19 March, with the caption: ‘Our dear Yayo flies to heaven… an angel with the angels’.  

Born in 1922, Princess Marie was the daughter of a French aristocrat and grew up at the Château de Gerbéviller, in Lorraine, France, reports the Royal Watcher. In 1942, she married Prince Jean Charles Lamoral de Ligne la Trémoïlle, founder of a cadet branch of the historic House of Ligne. 

Princes of noble blood, the House of Ligne is one of the highest ranking families in Belgium. It has been associated with the Belgian royal family since the 11th century, and, in 1923, its members were granted the style of ‘His or Her Highness’. Current descendants are known as ‘prince’ or ‘princess’. 

Princess Marie’s husband was born Jean Charles Lamoral de Ligne, son of the French Princess Charlotte de La Trémoille and her Belgian husband, Prince Henri-Florent Lamoral de Ligne. On the death of his childless maternal uncle, Prince Louis Jean Marie de La Trémoille in the 1930s, Jean Charles inherited his titles and officially added his maternal surname to his own, becoming Prince Jean Charles Lamoral de Ligne la Trémoïlle. When they married, Marie became Princess Marie de Ligne la Trémoïlle. The two were a socialite couple of the 1950s, and Princess Marie, known as ‘Princess Yayo’, was considered a great beauty. 

They had three children: Hedwige Marie (born in 1943), also known as the Princess de Mérode; Charles-Antoine Lamoral (born in 1946), also known as the Prince de Ligne de La Trémoïlle; and Nathalie Marie (born in 1948), also known as Princess Alain de Polignac, who died in 1992. Prince Edouard de Ligne de la Trémoïlle, Charles-Antoine’s eldest son, married Italian actress Isabella Orsini in 2009 at their family home of Château d’Antoing in West Belgium, a 1700s Neo-Gothic castle with fairytale turrets and ivy growing up the walls.

Though the main seat of the Ligne family is the Château de Beloeil, a 15th century castle in western Belgium, Princess Yayo was often seen visiting her grandson, Edouard Lamoral Rodolphe, his wife Princess Isabella De Ligne, and their children at Château d’Antoing. 

Princess Isabella shared photos of her children, Princess Althea, 12, Princess Athénaïs, six, and Prince Antoine, four, with their great-grandmother on a number of occasions, including her 100th birthday in October 2022.