"She was a ray of sunlight for us all; captivity and anxiety brought us very close together, and I have a perfect family life" (1). So the former King Leopold III of Belgium described his second wife, Princess Lilian, whom he married during the dark years of World War II. For her part, Lilian remembered the King, after his death, as "an exceptional man, with whom I had the happiness to live for forty-two years" (2). Letters, diaries, and accounts of close friends confirm this deep mutual attachment (3).Nevertheless, during the "Royal Question," and for decades afterwards, many rumors of conjugal discord and infidelity were launched against Leopold and Lilian. During the royal family's post-war exile, for instance, stories circulated that the couple were on the verge of divorce. One of the King's leading political adversaries, former Prime Minister Achille van Acker, would later foment lurid tales of adultery and debauchery on the part of the royal couple, even suggesting that Lilian had engaged in an incestuous affair with her step-son, Baudouin, during his youth. To varying degrees, these rumors have persisted to this day.
In 1962, (eleven years after the King's abdication), the Belgian satirical journal, Pan, followed by two French tabloids, began a new assault upon the private life of Leopold and Lilian. As no public authority intervened to defend his honor, Leopold was obliged to submit a protest to the press. On December 31, the following text appeared in the papers (the emphases are mine):
Depuis 1951, ma règle de conduite fut toujours de me tenir à l'écart de la vie publique et officielle, sans pour autant négliger les occasions de mettre mon experience de certaines questions scientifiques et mes possibilités de certains contacts humains au service de mon pays, ce pays pour la paix et la prosperité duquel j'ai consenti dans le passé les plus lourds sacrifices.
En contrepartie, je croyais pouvoir légitimement bénéficier de la paix et de la protection que nos usages et nois lois démocratiques assurent à l'homme privé. Comme celui-ci, je croyais en particulier être désormais protégé de certaines campagnes de diffamation.
Cet espoir, vous le savez, a été constamment déçu. Spécialement depuis quelques semaines, prenant prétexte de mon absence, expliquée cependant par un voyage d'étude en Amazonie brésilienne, mon épouse et mes enfants étant restés en notre résidence d'Argenteuil, la presse à scandale, suivie bientôt par certains organes importants de la presse étrangère, déclencha contre moi-même et contre ma famille une campagne d'une violence inouïe, répandant sur ma vie privée des bruits les plus offensants et les plus scandaleux. Jusqu'à présent, je me suis tu. Mais aujourd'hui, en raison du caractère particulièrement odieux de la campagne en cours, et puisque aucune voix autorisée ne s'est spontanément fait entendre publiquement pour dénoncer la perfidie et le caractère intolérable de telles atteintes à l'honneur d'une famille, je me vois impérieusement contraint de sortir de ma réserve. Depuis plus de vingt ans, mon épouse a partagé mes joies et mes peines: elle m'a rendu un foyer, elle m'a aidé à elever les enfants que m'avait donnés la reine Astrid, et s'est consacrée à eux avec un dévouement et une tendresse qui ont fait d'eux ce qu'ils sont aujourd'hui.
Cette tâche accomplie, nous n'avons, mon épouse et moi-même, d'autre désir que de vivre en paix, dans l'intimité de notre foyer à Argenteuil, en nous consacrant aux activités d'ordre scientifique, philanthropique, et social, pour lesquelles nous éprouvons un intérêt très prononcé.
Je ne m'attends pas pour autant à voir cesser brusquement et définitivement ces attaques personnelles et scandaleuses. Mais je devais publier cette déclaration. Je le devais à mon propre honneur et à celui de mon épouse et de mes enfants, à celui de toute ma famille, je le devais aussi à toutes les personnes de coeur qui placent encore le respect de la personne et de la vie privée au-dessus des éventuelles divergences d'opinions.
(Cited by Jean Cleeremans in Léopold III, homme libre, 2001, pp. 17-18)
***Since 1951, my rule of conduct has been to maintain a distance from public and official life, without neglecting opportunities to place my experience, in certain scientific matters, and my ability to maintain certain human contacts, at the service of my country, this country for whose peace and prosperity I have, in the past, accepted the heaviest sacrifices.
In return, I considered I could legitimately enjoy the peace and protection which our customs and our democratic laws assure the private individual. As such, I considered, in particular, that I would be protected, in the future, from certain campaigns of defamation.
This hope, as you know, has been constantly disappointed. Especially in the last few weeks, using the pretext of my absence, (explained, however, by my study trip to the Brazilian Amazon), while my wife and children remained at home, in our residence at Argenteuil, the yellow press, followed by important organs of the foreign press, have unleashed a campaign of unheard-of violence, against myself and my family, spreading the most offensive and scandalous rumors regarding my private life. So far, I have kept silent. But today, due to the particularly odious character of the campaign underway, and as no authorized voice has made itself heard, to denounce the perfidy and the intolerable character of such attacks on the honor of a family, I find myself compelled to abandon my reserve. For more than twenty years, my wife has shared my joys and my sorrows: she has restored a home to me, she has helped me to raise the children Queen Astrid gave me, and she has consecrated herself to them with a devotion and a tenderness that have made them what they are today.
Now that this task is accomplished, my wife and I desire nothing else than to live in peace, in the privacy of our home at Argenteuil, devoting ourselves to scientific, philanthropic, and social work, in which we take a very keen interest.
I do not expect to see these personal and scandalous attacks cease, at once, or for good. But it was my duty to publish this declaration. I owed it to my own honor, to that of my wife and my children, to that of my whole family; I owed it, also, to all people of heart, who place the respect of the person and his private life above possible differences of opinion.
The context was sad, but Leopold's tribute to Lilian, is very touching; it aptly expresses his gratitude to his second wife. Given his tragic past, Lilian's love and care must have been a great consolation to the King.
(1) taken from Leopold's confidences to his childhood friend, Jacques Gautier, quoted in Un couple dans la tempête: le destin malheureux du Roi Léopold III de Belqique et de la Princesse Lilian, (2004) by Claude Désiré and Marcel Jullian
(2) quoted by Désiré and Jullian, ibid.
(3) for more quotes and information on the marriage of Leopold and Lilian, and their life at the country estate of Argenteuil, see especially Le mythe d'Argenteuil: demeure d'un couple royal, (2006) by Michel Verwilghen. The daughter of Leopold and Lilian, Princess Marie-Esmeralda, also cites a very affectionate and touching letter from the King to his wife in her book, Léopold III, photographe (2006).
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