Myths of Infertility and Impotence

I just discovered a touching blog dedicated to King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola.   It is written by a kind reader and supporter of this blog. Here is a post on the malicious rumors swirling around the marriage of Baudouin and Fabiola and their tragic loss of five children.  There are some similarities to the falsehoods surrounding the young King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette. 

This issue impacted the couple in deeply profound ways, as one can imagine. It seems especially grievous that the trauma of their medical challenges were exploited to sell tabloid copy. The inferred image is of an infertile woman and an impotent man. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Infertility is the inability to achieve pregnancy. Being pregnant five times, should have quieted malicious whispers of infertility or any notion of the King lacking virility. 

Covering this information illustrates vividly the sad axiom, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Both Fabiola and Baudouin exhibited inspirational courage of spirit, facing the public always with a smiling face and head held high. Reports are that each time her pregnancy was announced, the palace overflowed with the abundant generosity of the Belgian people, rejoicing at the special news of their King and Queen. Each time, a brief quiet announcement would pierce their joy. 

Unscrupulous authors lazily cling to tired court rumours, one claiming Baudouin’s step-mother, Lilian Baels, received a letter reporting Fabiola never menstruated and was, thus, infertile. While laughable, the depths to which man will go for notoriety is immeasurable and certain writers and journalists have sold such nonsense to readership eager for a juicy detail. Earlier untruths cast Lilian as the apple of Baudouin’s adoring eye, being hopelessly in love with his step-mother. The proof is nowhere to be found in that pudding; Leopold and Lilian were as ignorant to Baudouin and Fabiola’s engagement as were all Belgian citizens. 

The business of outsiders blaming Fabiola for the couple’s childlessness is cruel and unconscionable. I wonder at how it is journalists or palace “insiders” feel confident or even suitably emboldened to testify with authority to the queen’s personal medical details. Fabiola’s affirmation of suffering from miscarriages was widely reported by the Belgian press in 2008. Belgians, nevertheless, were surprised at learning Baudouin and Fabiola suffered the loss of five babies. (Read full post)

What Do You Think of This?

This book is two years old, but I only heard of it today.  La reine Astrid n'est pas morte à Küssnacht ("Queen Astrid Did Not Die At Küssnacht") is a novel of alternate history authored by Belgian aristocrat and politician, Stéphane de Lobkowicz.  As the title indicates, the point of departure is that the iconic fourth Queen of the Belgians survives the fatal car accident on August 29, 1935.  Rather than losing her life, she loses her husband, King Leopold III. Playing on the rumor that Astrid was pregnant at the time of the crash, the author even imagines that she bears Leopold a posthumous fourth child. Otherwise, Astrid disappears into the background of the story.  

The foreground is taken by her mother-in-law, cultured, energetic Queen Elisabeth, who becomes Regent for the little heir to the throne, Prince Baudouin.  It falls to the German-born Elisabeth to face off against Hitler.  The Belgian campaign lasts for 22 days instead of the historical 18.  The beautiful city of Bruges is burned to the ground. Elisabeth barely escapes with her life to England and continues the struggle from abroad, while a defiant Belgium is placed under the ruthless rule of Reinhard Heydrich, engineer of the Holocaust.  (In reality, Belgium benefited from having Alexander von Falkenhausen, a military governor who made efforts to moderate the treatment of the population).  In the post-war period, Belgium is spared the Royal Question, which erupts in the Netherlands instead! Queen Wilhelmina is blamed for her departure to London, rather than King Leopold being traduced for remaining in Belgium during the occupation.

Lobkowicz also manages to weave in characters such as Leopold's brother, Prince Charles, who actually served as Regent of Belgium from 1944-1950, Leopold's second wife, Lilian Baels, and Baudouin's Queen Fabiola.  Charles is given a romantic interlude with a Congolese woman of mixed racial ancestry, whom he later marries.  Lilian never marries Leopold, of course, but becomes his children's governess.  In reality, she never served in this role, despite persistent myths and rumors to the contrary.   While a refugee in Spain, sheltered with Fabiola's family, Baudouin meets his future bride, two years his senior. 

While I am not particularly attracted to reading this book, and something about the whole tone of the story even strikes me as unpleasant, La reine Astrid n'est pas morte à Kussnacht is certainly inventive. It is always interesting to consider alternate historical scenarios, so please feel free to suggest any others in the comments. 

A Day in the Life

Here is a brief clip of a documentary on the daily routine of King Baudouin.  He was quite graceful.

Birth of a Prince

A tender image of Astrid, Duchess of Brabant, future Queen of the Belgians,with her infant son, Prince Baudouin, future King of the Belgians. Today is Baudouin's birthday. It was said that at the arrival of the little prince, her eldest son, his Swedish mother exclaimed: "Now I feel truly Belgian!"

The Death of King Baudouin

Today is the nineteenth anniversary of King Baudouin's sudden and quite untimely death. He was only 62 when he succumbed to a heart attack at the Villa Astrida in Motril, Spain, his beloved wife's native land, leaving behind a famously sorrow-stricken widow and nation. Less well known is the grief and concern of his long-distanced, aged step-mother, Princess Lilian of Réthy. She is usually described as taking a cold, spiteful, unforgiving and uncaring attitude to Baudouin after his marriage and separation from his parents, but this is far from being the case.

In Le mythe d'Argenteuil, Michel Verwilghen describes Lilian's worries, during the King's last years, that the medical care he was receiving would not be sufficient to stave off cardiac failure for long. (See especially pp. 401-406, for her concerns and her reactions to Baudouin's death). Baudouin's physicians had diagnosed him with Barlow's Syndrome, or mitral valve prolapse, and an open heart operation had been needed. Lilian deeply regretted Baudouin's decision to undergo surgery in a Paris hospital rather than in a university clinic in Belgium. After discussing the matter in depth with various specialists, she had become convinced that the techniques used by Belgian surgeons would have a better chance of providing lasting relief to the sufferer. To visitors at Argenteuil, she would confide her foreboding that Baudouin's repaired mitral valve would hold for a year or two, and then suddenly give way.

Lilian's fears were accurate. Within two years, she was indeed to suffer the brutal loss of her bien cher Baud, whom she had continued to love and admire despite the pall cast over relations between Laeken and Argenteuil for many decades. Out of consideration for his step-mother's feelings, Baudouin's younger brother and successor to the throne, Albert, personally notified her of the sad news on the night of July 31, 1993. As always, the Princess did her best to keep up a brave front in misfortune, but she could not conceal her sadness from her nearest intimates.

Baudouin's death also presented Lilian with a painful dilemma. She realized that any course of action would be held against her, whether or not she attended the King's funeral. If she joined in the sorrowful ceremonies, she would be accused of being hypocritical or wanting to be the center of attention. Her gesture might even be seized upon as confirmation of the scandalous rumors that she had been her own step-son's mistress during his youth. In addition, she might embarrass Queen Fabiola and the rest of the royal family. She would certainly complicate protocol for the officials responsible for the occasion. On the other hand, if she did not go to the funeral, she would be branded hard-hearted, bitter and vengeful.

In the end, after consulting with her children and trusted advisers, she decided not to attend in person. Instead, she sent her son, Alexandre, and her daughter, Esmeralda, to represent Argenteuil on the solemn day. I see no reason to doubt, however, that Lilian mourned her King, whom she had so affectionately helped to raise, no less and probably much more than any other loyal Belgian.

Interview with Princess Marie-Christine

Here is a brief clip of Princess Marie-Christine, the elder daughter of King Leopold III and Princess Lilian, discussing the rift between her parents and her half-brother, King Baudouin, in an English-language interview from 1994.  For once, she sounds sympathetic towards one of her parents, explaining that her father suffered deeply from the estrangement. Unfortunately, the clip is embedded in a Flemish television report from 1998 about historian Karel De Clerck's insinuations, based upon the papers of Leopold's old adversary Achille van Acker, that Lilian had an affair with Baudouin prior to his marriage to Queen Fabiola. Readers of this weblog will know that I find these accusations revolting, although the young Baudouin was undoubtedly devoted to his step-mother, the trés chère Mammi of his letters in this period. Nevertheless, since I have posted interviews with her older brother, Prince Alexandre, and younger sister, Princess Esmeralda, it may be interesting to see a clip of Marie-Christine.

The Life of King Baudouin

The dignified and religious man who had the sad role of watching the decline of his beloved country.

The Family of the Count and Countess of Flanders

In Amours royales et princières, Patrick Weber writes that the Belgian royal family has had a tradition of brothers with diametrically opposed characters. This was certainly true for Leopold II and Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, rivals who seemed to share only a taste for irony and sarcasm. In contrast to Leopold's ambitious overseas ventures and unhappy private life, Philippe and his wife, Princess Marie, a Catholic Hohenzollern, enjoyed a relatively retiring, peaceful and harmonious (if rather monotonous) existence together, in the shadow of the court. Due to Leopold's lack of a surviving male heir, however, they would become the ancestors of all the Belgian kings to come. Here are some of my favorite images of the family of Philippe and Marie. They all look so stoical!

The Countess of Flanders with her four children: Baudouin, Henriette, Josephine and Albert (on his mother's knee). I have posted on Princess Marie before; she was a strong, religious and artistic woman. She was a loving wife and mother, but very strict and proper, although later, as a grandmother, she was much more indulgent. Albert always spoke of her with great regard, but seems to have found her extreme conservatism too restricting, especially in his youth. He was attracted to liberal tutors whose opinions were diametrically opposed to hers, and felt he needed to break free of her "pietistic" outlook. He also commented: "My mother is a saint, but a saint of ice!" 

Baudouin and Henriette, the two eldest siblings in the family. They were very close and Henriette, in her diary, portrayed Baudouin as nothing less than a saint. Their mother was more critical of him, complaining of a certain weakness or lack of energy in his character. Nonetheless, most accounts of Baudouin paint a picture of a gifted, conscientious youth, pious and despising worldly vanities. Henriette and her mother were both deeply upset by Baudouin's early death and the subsequent efforts of gossip-mongers to besmirch his reputation. In response, the saddened Countess of Flanders paid tribute to the "pure memory" of her child.

I love this photograph of a little Henriette. The future Duchesse de Vendôme, staunch and opinionated royalist historian of France, already looks so decided! 

Josephine and Albert, the two youngest siblings in the family, also very close to each other, like their older counterparts. Josephine and Albert were the "modern" element in the family, according to Albert's daughter Marie-José. Josephine, who eventually became a nun, would outlive her parents and all her siblings, dying in 1958. In her old age, she fascinated Princess Lilian, the second wife of her nephew, King Leopold III, with her memories of the distant past. 

A postcard of Philippe and Marie, their daughters Henriette (top right) and Josephine (bottom left) and their son Albert, with their respective spouses, Prince Emmanuel d'Orléans, Duc de Vendôme,  Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern and Elisabeth, Duchess in Bavaria. Afflicted by deafness, and, perhaps, harmed by his lack of an active public life, the Count of Flanders became quite a difficult character. It's said that Albert actually had a better relationship with his uncle Leopold than with his own father. Philippe also didn't like Elisabeth, apparently. During the courtship of Albert and Elisabeth, the Count made disparaging remarks about the romance, and about his son's bride, complaining, for instance, that she was too short! This may sound unkind, but, on the whole, I think Philippe and Marie were a good couple; they were not perfect people but they had a solid marriage and home life and raised four very admirable children. 

A Letter By King Baudouin

Here are a few extracts from a touching letter, dated January 31, 1982, addressed by King Baudouin I to his father, former King Leopold III. The affectionate tone marks the renewal of warmth between father and son. During the 1960's, political and personal factors had caused an estrangement between Leopold and Baudouin, but their relations improved in the 1970's and early 1980's. Towards the end of Leopold's life, after years of absence, Baudouin (albeit discreetly and alone) visited him periodically at Argenteuil.

Mon cher Papa,

Ta carte si affectueuse m'a apporté une grande joie. Cela fait du bien d'être parfois encouragé par son père, surtout lorsque celui-ci à été du métier...

Tu peux t'imaginer combien je serais heureux de te revoir et de passer quelques heures avec toi. Je voudrais à cette occasion te parler de notre Pays et de mon rôle...

En attendant un signe de ta part, je t'embrasse avec toute l'affection que tu sais.

Ton fils,

Baudouin 

***

My dear Papa,

Your so affectionate card brought me great joy. It does one good to be encouraged from time to time by one's father, especially when he has been in one's profession...

You can imagine how happy I would be to see you again and spend some time with you. I would like to speak with you, on this occasion, about our Country and my role...

As I wait for a signal on your part, I embrace you with all the affection you know.

Your son,

Baudouin

(quoted by Michel Verwilghen in Le mythe d'Argenteuil, 2006, p. 344) 

Baudouin Takes the Oath

This is not, I believe, actually his accession to the throne in 1951, but an earlier occasion in 1950, while his father was still King. In the wake of the upheavals surrounding Leopold's return from exile, a special law was passed allowing the less controversial Baudouin to assume royal powers. The Prince then swore allegiance to the Belgian constitution.

"La Question Royale"

Royalist demonstrations and news reporting from the period of Belgium's post-war "Royal Question." Includes scenes of King Leopold III and Crown Prince Baudouin in exile in Switzerland.