© Belga – Royal Palace Brussels
Five witnesses have been chosen for the wedding ceremony of Princess Maria Laura and her companion William Isvy, which will take place on Saturday at the Saints-Michel-et-Gudule cathedral. They are Elisabetta of Belgium, Ferdinand Brunet, Astrid and Joseph von Liechtenstein and Olympia Napoleon-Bonaparte.
Elisabetta of Belgium, whose nickname is Lili, is the wife of Prince Amedeo, the older brother of Maria Laura. Princess Astrid and Prince Joseph of Liechtenstein will also be witnesses, as well as Olympia Napoleon Bonaparte. She married Jean-Christophe Napoléon Bonaparte, but she is the daughter of Prince Lorenz’s sister and therefore Maria Laura’s cousin.
Finally, only one unknown name appears on the list of witnesses: Ferdinand Brunet. It is probably a friend of the couple.
Maria Laura marries her fiancé, William Isvy, on September 10 in Brussels. The civil wedding will take place at the Brussels City Hall. The ceremony will last approximately half an hour. Only the couple’s close entourage will be present.
In the afternoon, the ceremony will continue with the religious wedding at the Saints-Michel-et-Gudule cathedral, which will be celebrated by the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, Jozef de Kesel. Some 500 people were invited to attend.
The service will begin at 2:30 p.m. and will last 1 hour and 15 minutes. Catholic and Jewish songs will be sung during the service. Aged 34, Maria Laura is the eldest daughter of Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz. She has lived and worked in London for several years.
Her fiancé, William Isvy (30), was born in Paris and is the son of a British mother and a Franco-Moroccan father. The groom-to-be spent most of his childhood in London and studied finance in Montreal, Canada. Today, he works in wealth management in London. The couple share a passion for travel and tennis.