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. 

Four Generations of the Belgian Royal Family

A dynastic portrait showing young, intense Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, the future Nurse-Queen of the Great War, with her sons, Prince Leopold, future Leopold III, and Prince Charles, the future Regent. Behind Elisabeth, from left to right, are her in-laws and patriarchs of the Belgian royal family, Leopold I, Leopold II, and her own husband, Prince Albert, future Albert I. The portrait commemorates the 75th anniversary of Belgian independence in 1905, and suggests that the new kingdom is entering the new century with confidence, pride and high hopes for the future. 

Of course, not all the figures appearing in the picture actually met in real life. Leopold I, the founder of the Belgian branch of the Saxe-Coburgs, died in 1865, ten years before Albert's birth and eleven years before Elisabeth's. Leopold II only overlapped briefly with his great-nephews, Leopold and Charles. In L'éducation d'un prince (1984), a collection of interviews with Leopold III, he describes only a few childhood memories of meeting the very controversial Leopold II, on holiday at the seaside in Ostende. The sensitive, rather fragile-looking little boy had a recollection of his stern, bearded great-uncle pinching him on the cheeks and telling him to eat heartily and get strong! Leopold III also remembered that his parents never spoke of the scandals in their uncle's personal life that gave rise to so much gossip in Belgium and beyond. 

October 10, 1903: The Birth of Prince Charles

Today is the birthday of Prince Charles Theodore Henri Antoine Meinrad, the second son of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth, and the younger brother of King Leopold III, in whose stead he reigned from 1944-1950. The spare heir was named after his philanthropic maternal grandfather, Duke Karl-Theodor in Bavaria. Unfortunately, however, as I have mentioned before, I find Charles of Belgium to have been a far less admirable character. Nonetheless, the birth of the future Regent deserves to be commemorated.

A Tale of Two Brothers

Elena Maria Vidal has an article about the Comte de Provence, a treacherous younger brother of King Louis XVI of France. Unfortunately, it reminds me of Prince Charles of Belgium, who also harbored envy and hatred of his older brother and sovereign, King Leopold III. During the King's exile in Austria, after World War II, Prince Charles, then Regent of Belgium, and the Prime Minister, Achille van Acker, even tried to persuade Princess Lilian to desert Leopold, promising her lavish sums and luxurious privileges if she abandoned her husband and returned to Belgium with her step-son, the heir to the throne, young Prince Baudouin. (Needless to say, Lilian indignantly rejected the offer, once again giving the lie to the black legend that she was a gold-digger).

The attempt to suborn the Princess was the sordid culmination of life-long tensions between the two surviving sons of King Albert I. The episode, mentioned by Leopold in Pour l'Histoire: sur quelques épisodes de mon règne (2001) and by Lilian in Un couple dans la tempête: le destin malheureux de Léopold III de Belgique et de la princesse Lilian (2004), had also been discussed, even earlier, by Jacqueline de Peyrebrune, a mistress of Prince Charles, who claimed to have secretly married him, in her Carnets intimes: le jardin secret du prince Charles de Belgique (1993). Nevertheless, upon the publication of Pour l'Histoire, the historian Jean Stengers, an old opponent of Leopold III, accused him of fabricating the scandalous story. Further evidence, however, subsequently emerged from the King's private notes and correspondence with his brother, vindicating his veracity in this sad affair.

Throughout the Royal Question, Charles collaborated with Leopold's opponents. His regency lent the trappings of legitimacy to their revolutionary efforts to prolong the King's incapacity to reign after his liberation from German captivity. During this period, Charles made little effort to defend Leopold from the false accusations of cowardice and treason on the part of British, French and Belgian authorities. Many try to justify Charles' behavior, arguing that his compliance with the government and the Allies protected the peace of the country and enabled the monarchy to survive. Perhaps he did act, at times, out of patriotism, but why connive at such a base proposition as attempting to suborn Princess Lilian? Such an action reflects malice. As a result, I suspect that the Prince's motives throughout his regency were far from pure.

The Mystery of Leopold III

Here are some important articles from La Libre Belgique on the fourth King of the Belgians, surrounded, to this day, by a fog of misunderstanding and mystery:

~"L'extraordinaire piété filiale du prince Léopold"

~"Albert 1er à Léopold: 'ton père et ami'"

~"Léopold III, l'inépuisable sujet"

~"En lisant Léopold III..."

~"Vers une monarchie autoritaire?"
~"'Retraité', Léopold III a trouvé le bonheur"
~"Charles le sauveur du brol était mal vu des siens"
~"L'argent de la rancoeur"
~"Baudouin et Albert, enfants déportés"

Prince Charles in the Congo

I never realized before that Prince Charles (younger brother of King Leopold III) made a visit to the Congo, in 1947, while serving as Regent of Belgium. Here are some interesting videos (courtesy of British Pathe) of this trip:

The Prince in Léopoldville

The Prince in Stanleyville

An enthusiastic welcome with tribal dancing

A meeting with a local chieftain

Children of Albert & Elisabeth

I think this is a beautiful photograph of Leopold, Charles, and Marie-José, the fruits of the first love-match in Belgian royal history. There was, in fact, a fourth child, stillborn during World War I. In her memoirs, Marie-José recalls: "(Towards the end of 1917), my mother had to take to her bed; the poor state of the roads of Flanders deprived us of the little brother we were expecting. They only told me my mother was ill, for, despite my eleven years, I still thought babies sprang up among the cabbages."

Very sad. I can only imagine the joy everyone (especially in those dark days) would have felt at the birth of a third prince. King Leopold III, in particular, might have greatly benefited from another brother- his relationship with Charles was marked by conflict and tragedy. The story of Elisabeth's wartime miscarriage reminds me of the fourth (unborn) child of Leopold and Astrid, reported by some to have perished along with the Queen at Küssnacht. Again, I wonder what this prince or princess (if he or she really existed) would have been like. Mysteries of Providence!

May this whole family rest in peace.

Portrait of Prince Charles

A portrait of Prince Charles of Belgium (1903-1983), younger brother of King Leopold III.

Raversijde

A painting of Raversijde by Prince Charles

HERE is some information on the Provincial Domain of Raversijde, an important Belgian historic site, near Ostend on the North Sea. Raversijde has long been associated with the royal family; a former estate of King Leopold II forms the heart of the domain, and Prince Charles of Belgium, the bohemian younger brother of King Leopold III, spent the last few decades of his life here. A museum dedicated to the Prince keeps his memory alive. I am not particularly favorable to Prince Charles, due mainly to his disloyalty to his brother, Leopold III, during the post-war Royal Question, but he was, undeniably, an important member of the royal family. He was also, like his grandmother, the Countess of Flanders, a gifted artist.

"Un Sogno"

In his biography of Marie-José, Luciano Regolo, who had many interesting conversations with the Queen during her last years, tells a touching story of a dream she related to him one day:

La regina mi disse che aveva fatto un sogno. "Era bellissimo, un astronauta veniva a prendermi e mi portava sulla luna. Vedevo i crateri, le distese desertiche dagli strani riflessi...Tutto sembrava così vero, comprese le mie cadute. Non riuscivo a stare in piedi per l'assenza di gravità. E inciampavo di continuo...Poi di ritorno da quel viaggio, incontravo mio fratello Charles e gli raccontavo tutto. Allora lui mi diceva: "Perché ti meravigli? Tu hai sempre vissuto sulla luna!" Poi, però, mi chiedeva il numero di telefono dell'astronauta: "Quasi, quasi ci vado anch'io lassù."

The Queen told me she had had a dream. "It was so beautiful, an astronaut came to take me and brought me to the moon. I saw the craters, the desert wastes, through strange reflections...Everything seemed so real, including my falls. I could not stand on my feet, because of the absence of gravity. And I tripped constantly... Then, on my return from this trip, I met my brother Charles and told him everything. And he said to me: "Why are you amazed? You have always lived on the moon!" But then, he asked me for the astronaut's telephone number. "It just may be that I, too, will go there."

Marie-José's dream is especially poignant given the tragic story of Prince Charles (1903-1983), second son of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. As a child, Charles troubled Albert and Elisabeth with his disobedience, unwillingness to work, tantrums, and rages. As a young man, his caustic ways and irregular private life would be a continual source of anxiety for his parents, and, later, for his older brother, Leopold.

Charles harbored bitter resentment against his family, and, in particular, against Leopold. Charles' close friend, the Belgian painter Alfred Bastien, described him as "constantly in rebellion against his father, his mother, his whole family..." He also portrayed Charles' feelings of rivalry with Leopold as "beyond all imagination." This enmity would have grave consequences during the "Royal Question," when Charles served as Regent of Belgium.

Many Belgians credit Charles with "saving the monarchy" by assuming the Regency and complying with Leopold's opponents. Charles is portrayed, in consequence, as a great benefactor of Belgium. Referring to the monarchy, Charles reportedly claimed: "C'est moi qui ai sauvé le brol." ("It was I who saved the lumber"). Such a contemptuous way of referring to his country's leading civic institution would hardly seem to be the mark of a laudable public servant. Furthermore, it might have been better to refuse to exercise the Regency once Leopold was liberated from German captivity. This would have sent a clear message to the Belgians that the actions of Leopold's enemies, aimed at artificially prolonging the King's "incapacity to reign," and preventing his return to Belgium, were unlawful. As it was, Charles' regency provided these revolutionary measures with a screen of legitimacy. The regency, thus, served to seriously undermine the monarchy.

Charles evinced a disloyal attitude towards Leopold during the Royal Question. He behaved coldly towards the King, on the occasion of their official meetings, in Austria and Switzerland, after Leopold's liberation. Charles did not defend Leopold from the many calumnies launched against him during his regency. He even tried to suborn the King's wife, Princess Lilian, by offering her (in concert with one of Leopold's leading opponents, Prime Minister Achille van Acker) a lavish civil list, and other sumptuous advantages, if she left Leopold in exile and returned to Belgium with Prince Baudouin. Scandalized by this insulting proposal (doubtless intended to make her appear selfish and mercenary), Lilian indignantly rejected it. In 1950, after a plebiscite called for Leopold's return from exile and resumption of his royal function, Charles reacted with rage and grief. According to Bastien, soon after hearing the results of the plebiscite, the Prince came to visit him and collapsed, sobbing, upon his shoulder. Such was his hatred of his older brother!

What was the origin of this bitterness? Leopold, who maintained a surprisingly charitable attitude towards Charles, provided some sensitive insights, shortly before his abdication, in a conversation with Jacques Gautier, a close friend. According to Leopold, Charles suffered, from childhood, from a severe inferiority complex, which, Leopold believed, had been fostered by Marie-José's English governess. According to Leopold, she continually told Charles that he was less loved, less admired than Leopold, and that even his parents neglected him. (Very strange, I must say, it was not at all the governess' place to make such comments). Charles, apparently, was so afflicted by feelings of inferiority that his short stature as a child reduced him to despair. At age 16, when he finally caught up with his siblings in height, he viewed it as a major triumph.

The accounts of Charles' behavioral problems as a child make me wonder if, today, he would have been diagnosed as suffering from some disorder. If so, it may be that an unidentified condition was treated as a moral problem by his family, sowing the seeds of resentment and bitterness.

Charles never admitted that he had wronged his brother; nor did he defend him, in the decades after Leopold's abdication, against the continual repetition of old slanders. As a result, although relations between them varied over the years, Leopold and Charles were never truly reconciled. Leopold, nonetheless, was terribly shaken by Charles' death, only a few months before his own, in 1983. He privately visited Charles' lying-in-state, and remained for a long time by his casket, trembling, obviously deeply moved. He made the sign of the Cross...

Perhaps Marie-José's dream represents a hope for her brother?

(The photo of Marie-José is from this source, where more images of the Queen can be viewed)

References:

Cleeremans, Jean. Léopold III, homme libre. 2001.

Keyes, Roger. Echec au Roi: Léopold III, 1940-1951. 1986.

Regolo, Luciano. La regina incompresa: tutto il racconto della vita di Maria José di Savoia. 2002

Verwilghen, Michel. Le mythe d'Argenteuil: demeure d'un couple royal. 2006.