Interview with Princess Esmeralda

Here is an interview with Princess Esmeralda, broadcast on C'est du Belge on February 25, 2011, prior to the screening of the RTBF documentary, Léopold III, mon père, narrated by the Princess. The clip also includes a virtual visit to one of the few monuments to the much-maligned fourth King of the Belgians, the memorial to the heroes of the Battle of the Lys (May 23-28, 1940), featuring an equestrian statue of Leopold III, in Kortrijk.

As always, I was impressed by Princess Esmeralda's gentle, irenic spirit. She emphasizes that she is glad to have been born during the most serene period of her father's life, after his abdication, when he finally had the time to concentrate on his family. She notes that her father forgave his political opponents, admitted errors on his own part and found peace after the tragic and tempestuous years of his reign. She also displays no bitterness over the treatment of her mother, Princess Lilian, viewing the Belgians' resentment of their King's second wife as an inevitable, if unfortunate, human reaction.