Princess Claire of Belgium, (born Claire Louise Coombs, in Bath, England, on 18 January 1974) is the wife of Prince Laurent of Belgium and is a property surveyor.
She is a daughter of Nicholas Coombs, a British-born businessman, and his Belgian wife, née Nicole Mertens. Her family relocated to Dion-le-Val, near to Brussels in francophone Wallonia in 1977. She has therefore lived in Belgium since age 3.
On 12 April 2003, she married Prince Laurent of Belgium, the second son of Albert II of Belgium. The civil ceremony was held at Brussels Town Hall, and the religious ceremony at the Cathedral of Saints Michael and Gudula. She was created a Princess of Belgium in her own right shortly before the ceremony, on 1 April 2003 and upon her marriage, she became Her Royal Highness Princess Claire.
The royal couple has a daughter, Her Royal Highness Princess Louise of Belgium, who was born on 6 February 2004. On 28 June 2005, they announced that Princess Claire was pregnant with twins. She was expected to give birth in January 2006 but, following complications, she gave birth to Prince Nicolas and Prince Aymeric of Belgium on 13 December 2005.
Unlike her two sisters-in-law, Mathilde and Astrid, Claire has no officially-defined official role, though she occasionally appears in public accompanying her husband, generally in support of environmental causes or animal charities. Princess Claire has been awarded the Order of Leopold. She is also a leading patron of the Brussels Choral Society, which sang at the religious part of her marriage ceremony.
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