Friday, July 17, 2009

Accession of Baudouin I

On this day in 1951, Crown Prince Baudouin of Belgium swore his constitutional oath, becoming the fifth King of the Belgians. He was not yet 21 years old.

2 comments:

MadMonarchist said...

Not long ago I watched a video of King Baudouin's swearing in and it seemed the proceedings were interrupted by a raving republican! I may have gotten it wrong (I don't parlez much francaise) but I had never heard that before. Thankfully though, whoever he was, the protestor was shouted down by the others in the chamber who strongly showed their solidarity with their new monarch.

May said...

Yes, indeed, a radical deputy shouted "Vive la Republique" in the middle of the ceremony.

By the way, he was assassinated only days later by unknown gunmen- possible former members of the resistance? The circumstances were unclear.