Princess Louise of Belgium - Later Life

Later Life

Estranged from her father, her husband, and her children, Louise's extravagant expenses brought her deeper and deeper in debt. Despite being daughter of arguably the wealthiest King of the age, she was forced to claim bankruptcy after it became known that Mattachich had forged the signature of Louise's sister, Princess Stéphanie, on promissory notes for jewelry worth approximately $2,500,000. As a result of this episode she was institutionalized in May 1898 for six years. Mattachich was sentenced to four years in prison for forgery. Once his sentence was over, he helped Louise escape from the asylum in which she was interned in 1904; they were together until his death in Paris. After Mattachich's death she was given a home by Elisabeth, the wife of her cousin, Albert I, king of the Belgians.

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