Laetitia d'Arenberg

Laetitia Marie Madeleine Susanne Valentine de Belzunce d'Arenberg, known as Laetitia d'Arenberg, is a French-Uruguayan businesswoman, socialite and philanthropist. Head of the Grupo d'Arenberg, she runs Lapataia, a Uruguayan brand of dairy products, chocolate, and dulce de leche.

Personal life

She was born on 2 September 1941 in Brummana, Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon. She is a daughter of Henri de Belzunce, Marquis de Belzunce, and Marie-Thérèse de la Poëze d'Harambure, members of the historical French nobility by birth. Her father was an officer in the Moroccan Tirailleurs and died fighting for France at the Battle of Monte Cassino on 13 May 1944. He belonged to a family of ancient nobility in France, originally from Lower Navarre, who held the seigneurie of Belzunce near Bayonne and had received the Honneurs de la Cour at Paris in 1739.
On 20 August 1949 her mother was remarried to Prince Erik Engelbert, 11th Duke of Arenberg. In 1951, she moved with her family to Uruguay because her family feared the expansion of the Korean War to Europe. On 15 February 1956 Laetitia and her brother were adopted by their stepfather, the Duke of Arenberg. Her legal surname became "de Belzunce d'Arenberg", and she became one of the heirs to his personal fortune.
On 19 June 1965 she was married civilly to HIRH Archduke Leopold Franz of Austria-Tuscany at St. Gilgen, Austria. The religious nuptials followed on 28 July at Menetou-Salon, France.
They have two children:

Archduke Sigismund Otto of Austria, Prince of Tuscany, married on 11 September 1999 in Kensington, Elyssa Juliet Edmonstone, daughter of Sir Archibald Bruce Charles Edmonstone, 7th Baronet, and Juliet Elizabeth Deakin. They have three children. They divorced on 25 June 2013, with annulment in 2016. He is now head of the Tuscan Grand Ducal branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.
Archduke Guntram Maria of Austria, Prince of Tuscany, married on 13 April 1996 in Cuernavaca, Debora de Sola, daughter of Orlando de Sola and Marion Liebes. They have two children.

Laetitia and her husband divorced on 21 May 1981 in Salzburg, Austria. Archduke Leopold Franz moved to Europe and remarried a commoner in June 1993. He renounced his headship of the House of Tuscany in favor of his and Laetitia's elder son on 12 April 1994, while Laetitia remained in Uruguay. Some years later she was remarried, to John Anson.

Honours

By decree of the President of the French Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, on 10 April 2009, Laetitia d'Arenberg was accorded the medal of the Legion of Honor in the grade of Knight. This distinction was awarded in recognition of her thirty years of professional success that encompassed commitment to numerous social projects in Uruguay, particularly to benefit disadvantaged children and young people addicted to drugs. The official award ceremony occurred on September 24, sponsored by a French Senate delegation during an official visit to Uruguay, led by Senator Jean-Marc Pastor and accompanied by Senators Rémy Pointereau, François Fortassin, Gérard Miquel and Annie Jarraud-Vergnolle.