Misterele Prinţesei Lia

by aristocle

Prinţesa Lia, soţia prinţului Paul, a născut astăzi un băieţel. Prinţul Paul, l-aţi văzut cred la tv, un domn grizonat, cu părul lins dat peste cap, este fiul lui Carol Mircea, fratele mai mare al regelui Mihai I de România. Carol Mircea a fost copilul pe care regele Carol al II-lea l-a avut cu Zizi Lambrino, dintr-o căsătorie (Odessa 1918) nerecunoscută de casa regală a României şi anulată de Curtea Supremă a României în 1919. În 1995, Paul se căsătoreşte cu Lia Georgia Triff, o americancă de origine română.

Misterul este următorul. Toate materialele web în care este prezentată ştirea naşterii precizează că prinţesa Lia are fie 56, fie 57, fie 58 de ani. Cam ciudat, pentru o prinţesă… Căutând puţin pe net, am aflat că de fapt prinţesa are 61 de ani. Ea s-a născut pe data de 23 februarie 1949, în Great Lakes, Illinois, SUA. Este această confuzie una întâmplătoare, cu origini în lenea jurnaliştilor, sau este ea întreţinută de chiar Lia Georgia Triff?

Istoria personajului Lia este una complicată. Pentru a vă lămuri, dau mai jos un fragment destul de incitant, cred eu.
“When Belli married Lia, she was a 23-year-old student at the University of Maryland and he a 65-year-old lawyer who had long been famous. Lia Belli took easily to San Francisco society. She was a director of protocol for the city government and a minor player in state Democratic politics. Lia ran unsuccessfully for the state Senate, but was twice head of the California Democratic Caucus. Former President Jimmy Carter appointed her a special affairs assistant. Lia was also an A-list socialite and party hostess extraordinaire. The couple’s Broadway mansion saw such guests as South African Bishop Desmond Tutu and distant parts of various royal families.

The Bellis’ divorce is probably more famous than anything they did while married. The event played out in the press for months. Lia accused her husband of violence. He accused her of affairs with everyone from Tutu to the house staff. (Only a few years before, Belli had been involved in a lawsuit over fees in which he admitted having a sexual relationship with the heiress to the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical fortune, who was a client.)

The couple fought over everything, including a heavily contested custody battle for one of the dogs, an Italian Greyhound named Whelldone Rumproast IV.

It seemed that no one would say “uncle,” and the fight was pricey. In the end, a judge sealed the Belli divorce file, owing to concerns about their young daughter, Melia, and the media circus that surrounded her battling parents. But Belli later said that the split had cost him $15 million. Lia was awarded support payments of nearly $20,000 a month, and got custody of the couple’s mansion on Broadway, in which they remained joint owners.

The split was so acrimonious that one of the contested Belli wills includes the following statement: “I charge my executors to see that nothing, but absolutely nothing, goes to Lia Triff, and I charge them to contest ultimately any claim by this miserable, deceitful person.”

Post-Belli, Lia divided her time between San Francisco and London, where she studied business at Oxford University. In 1996, she married Prince Paul, heir to the throne of Romania, taking the title “Princess Paul” (as opposed to “Princess Lia,” which was perhaps too reminiscent of the Star Wars character for her taste). She now lives in Bucharest.

Nonetheless, Lia remains the largest creditor in Melvin Belli’s bankruptcy estate, with a claim of more than $400,000, relating to their divorce settlement. Because of that settlement, a percentage of every dime collected by the estate goes to the princess. Of course, like everyone else who’s worn the name Belli, a goodly portion of her take goes to legal fees, including nearly $300,000 stemming from their divorce.

But that’s not all.”

Tot articolul îl puteţi citi aici.

În prima fotografie (cel mai probabil 1986, şi nu 1996, cum afirmă autoarea articolului din San Francisco Weekly, dacă este să urmărim cu atenţie biografia personajelor şi fizionomia lor), Lia apare alături de fostul soţ, avocatul de mare succes şi milionar, prin urmare, Melvin Mouron Belli, şi fiica lor, Melia (un pic emo, cred eu… ).