Princess Lilian of Belgium died on June 7, 2002, aged 85. She was the second wife of King Leopold III of Belgium and stepmother of the present King, Albert II. She married Leopold on September 11, 1941, and bore him three children. She was later created Princess de Rethy, but never became Queen herself. Public controversy over the marriage was one of the reasons why Leopold was forced to abdicate in 1950.

She was born Mary Lilian Baels in Highbury, North London, on November 28, 1916, and was one of eight children of Hendrik Baels, a prosperous attorney and fish merchant from Ostend, and his wife Anna-Maria Devisscher, who were living in England during the First World War. In 1926, Hendrik Baels became Belgian Minister of Agriculture and was subsequently appointed Governor (royal representative) of the province of West Flanders. Mary Lilian Baels was educated at the College of the Sacred Heart at Ostend, but returned to London to attend a finishing school in Cavendish Square, where she was presented at court to King George V and Queen Mary. She was an excellent pupil and was fluent in English, French, German and Dutch (the language of her native Flanders) as well as excelling in sport – particularly swimming, golf and country pursuits.

She was a regular visitor to the Knokke-le-Zoute golf course and in 1938 the young and beautiful Lilian attracted the attention of King Leopold and they became frequent golf partners. His first wife, Queen Astrid, died in a car accident in 1935 and he was left to raise their three children: Joséphine Charlotte (who became Grand Duchess of Luxembourg), Baudouin (who in 1951 became King of Belgium) and Albert (the present King).

Leopold was immediately attracted to Lilian who was described by the author Charles d'Ydewalle as being "as beautiful as a Greek night". Leopold and Lilian married in secret in September 1941 and it was not until the following December that the marriage became public knowledge. Shortly before the liberation of Belgium by the Allies in September 1944, the Germans deported Leopold, his wife and four children (Alexander – son to Leopold and Lilian - was born in 1942) to Germany. They were liberated after the German surrender in May 1945.

With the war over, Leopold and his family moved to Switzerland, spending summer holidays in the South of France, where they are said to have played golf with the Duke of Windsor. Meanwhile Belgium was left in the care of King Leopold’s brother, Prince Charles, who served as Regent. Political problems prevented King Leopold from returning to Belgium until July 1950 and, though he was endorsed by a referendum, left-wing inspired rioting persuaded him to abdicate as soon as his son Baudouin came of age in July 1951. Princess Lilian gave birth to her two daughters in the 1950s - Marie-Christine was born in 1951, and her sister Maria-Esmeralda was born five years later.

When King Baudouin married Dona Fabiola Mora y Aragon, the present Queen Fabiola in 1960, Leopold, Lilian and their three children moved out of Laeken to Argenteuil, near the forest of Soignes at Waterloo.