Who is Princess Astrid of Belgium?

On 5 June 1962 Princess Astrid of Belgium was born on the day before her
father's 28th birthday at the Château de Belvédère, near Laeken, and
was named after her late paternal grandmother, Astrid of Sweden, the
popular first wife of King Leopold III. 

Godparents

Her godparents were her uncle Fabrizio, Prince Ruffo di Calabria-Santapau,
7th Duke di Guardia Lombarda, and her aunt
Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg.

Love and Marriage

Princess Astrid married Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este, subsequently head
of the Archducal House of Austria-Este, on 22 September 1984 at Brussels.

Lorenz is the eldest son of Robert, Archduke of Austria-Este (1915–1996), and
his wife Princess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta (1930–2022).

Her husband was also created Prince of Belgium by Royal Decree on
27 November 1995.

Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz have five children:

Prince Amedeo, born on 21 February 1986 

Princess Maria Laura, born on 26 August 1988 

Prince Joachim, born on 9 December 1991 

Princess Luisa Maria, born 11 October 1995 

Princess Laetitia Maria, born on 23 April 2003 

Duty

Astrid was formerly President of the Belgian Red Cross, a position which
ended on 31 December 2007. She declined to stand again for election to the
role in light of internal struggles in the organisation in reconciling its
French-speaking and Flemish branches, each of which seeks greater autonomy.
The princess is also a colonel in the Medical Component of the
Belgian Armed Forces. Her official residence is the Royal Castle of Laeken
on the edge of Brussels.

She is a member of the Honorary Board of the International Paralympic Committee.

In April 2015 the Princess took over the reins of the Prince Albert Fund from
her father His Royal Highness King Albert.

Princess Astrid has been for many years a fierce advocate for landmine
survivors rights, participating actively in the work of the Anti-Personnel
Mine Ban Convention, also known as the Ottawa Treaty, since Belgium
joined in 1998.

In 2013, the Princess was named Special Envoy of the convention, and has
promoted the acceptance of a global ban on landmines and promoted the
rights of survivors in various UN meetings.

In 2014, she met with Minister of Foreign Affairs Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah,
to encourage Oman to join the treaty, which occurred a few months later.

In 2019, she carried out a mission to Lebanon to promote the convention.
In Beirut she met with President Michel Aoun, and Minister of
National Defense Elias Bou Saab.

In 2022, she travelled to the United Kingdom during an economic mission.
There she visited London and Oxford. 

 In 2022 (from 4th June till 12 june), Princess Astrid of Belgium
travelled to the USA for an economic mission.
She visited  Atlanta, New York and Boston. 

More about the history of the Belgian royal family on this link. 

Note of the author

When King Baudouin abolished the Salic Law in Belgium in 1991, many
Belgians hoped that Astrid would become a Queen instead of her brother
King Philippe. 

She still is very popular in Belgium, although, the royalists here do
like King Philippe and especially his wife Queen Mathilde. 

This is a wonderful older book in Dutch about the Princesses of Laeken,
Among them you see a picture of princess Astrid of Belgium. 

Source pictures: Wikipedia