Princess Clémentine was born in 1872 at the Royal Castle of Laeken ; she was the third daughter, and last child, of King Leopold II of Belgium and Marie Henriette of Austria. She had two older sisters, Princess Louise, and Princess Stéphanie. Her brother, Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant, had died of pneumonia in 1869, after having fallen into a pond. Leopold neglected Clementine and her older sisters, and had a strained relationship with his wife and children. Clémentine was raised by her mother, who had, reportedly, a difficult temper. Her sisters married when she herself was quite young. Princess Louise had married in 1875 and Stephanie in 1881. However, once Clémentine came of age, she was given independence by her father to travel without her mother's approval. She later wrote, thanking her father, saying, "Thanks to you, dear father, I have been able to find happiness." However, the happy opportunity to travel ended when Clémentine's mother died in 1902, and Clémentine was obliged to assume the functions of the first lady at the Court of Brussels.
Love interests
Throughout Clémentine's life she had three known romantic interests. The first was her cousin Prince Baudouin, eldest son of her uncle Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and heir to her own father after the death of her brother Leopold. Baudouin did not return Clémentine's affections and died in his early 20s. The second was Baron Auguste Goffinet, a member of the Belgian court. However the baron did not have 'royal' blood. The last love, which she never relinquished, was Prince Napoléon Victor Bonaparte, who had become heir to the Napoleonic empire after the death of his cousin Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial, son of the former Empress Eugénie.
Prince Victor Napoleon
Princess Clémentine first met the Bonaparte prince in 1888 when he visited the palace; she later confided in one of her sisters that she was attracted to him. King Leopold opposed this match, because they are descendants of the house of Bourbon-Orleans, who claim the French throne. The princess, who is a great-granddaughter of the last French King Louis-Philippe would become a part of the dispute between the House of Orleans and the House of Bonaparte. The choice of the princess resulted in arguments between father and daughter. In 1903, when she was 31 years old, Clémentine again asked her father for permission to marry the prince, and he again refused. Clementine persisted but was threatened by the king with disinheritance.
Father's death and Clementine's marriage
Leopold died in 1909, enabling Clémentine to request permission to marry from the new monarch, King Albert I, her cousin and Prince Baudouin's younger brother. The wedding of Princess Clementine and Prince Napoleon Victor Bonaparte took place in Castle of Moncalieri, Kingdom of Italy, on 10 November/14 November 1910. She later wrote to her sister Stephanie, now married to the Hungarian Count Elemer Lonyay, saying, "My good husband, gentle, adoring, tender, loving, intelligent, connoisseur of people and things. He is beautiful, this Prince. Napoleon is a love, I adore him." Napoleon and Clémentine had two children: Princess Marie-Clotilde, born in 1912, and Louis Jérôme Bonaparte, born in 1914. Through this marriage all the current members of the imperial family of France descend from king Louis Philippe of France.
Death
She died in Nice in 1955. She had been predeceased by her husband in 1926. She was the last surviving legitimate child of Leopold II.
