This wedding veil was designed and made for Princess Stéphanie of Belgium for her wedding to Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria in 1881. The Hapsburg-Lothringen shield dominates the center back of the veil, while the coat-of-arms of Belgium is in the center of the garland of 21 coats-of-arms along the border with Belgian province shields on one side and the Austro-Hungarian on the other. The name "Leon Sacré" and "Bruxelles 1880" are worked in needlepoint by the central border motif of the Belgian Lion. The veil is made in fine Brussels Point de Gaze needle lace embellished with elaborate ferns, lilies, roses and other flowers on a gossamer fine handmade ground powdered with tiny dots. Queen Henriette commissioned Leon Sacré to design the veil for her daughter to be made by the best lace makers in Belgium. It was a wedding gift from the city of Brussels
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