About Lilian Baels
Lilian, Princess of Réthy (born Mary Lilian Henriette Lucie Josephine Ghislaine Baels; (1916-11-28)28 November 1916 – (2002-06-07)7 June 2002) was the second wife of King Leopold III of Belgium. Born in the United Kingdom and raised in Belgium, she became a volunteer as a car driver who transported wounded Belgians and French to the hospital in Bruges during World War II. Lilian married King Leopold III in 1941 and became consort of the Belgian monarch. The couple had three children. She was also a stepmother to Leopold III's children from Queen Astrid and became the "first lady" of Belgium during the first nine years of her stepson King Baudouin's reign. Her charity work revolved around medicine and cardiology. == Early life and education == Mary Lilian Lucy Josepha Monique Baels was born in Highbury, London, England, where her parents had fled during World War I. She was one of the nine children of Henri Baels from Ostend and his wife, Anne Marie de Visscher, from Dentergem. Her mother, Anne Marie, was born into a prominent bourgeois family, the daughter of a mayor and the granddaughter of a minister. Through her, among her ancestors was Félix Amandus, Count de Muelenaere, a member of the Belgian nobility, who served in the National Congress that established the Kingdom of Belgium and was Prime Minister of Belgium as well as Foreign Minister on three occasions between 1831 and 1841. Lilian was initially educated in English, but, upon her parents' return to Belgium, she attended the College of the Sacred Heart in Ostend, where she learned Dutch. Lilian continued her studies in French at the Institute of the Sacred Heart in Brussels.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.