In her 1995 Panorama Interview, Diana, Princess of Wales, recalled Queen Astrid by declaring: "I'd like to be a Queen of People's Hearts." This had been Astrid's title and many have compared the two young, beautiful, fashionable and tragically deceased royal women. What is, perhaps, less well known is the way Jacqueline Kennedy imitated Princess Lilian of Belgium. In a letter to her couturier, Oleg Cassini, she asked for designs reminiscent of Lilian's: "très Princesse de Réthy, mais jeune." (1)The elegant commoner who became the second wife of King Leopold III was a good model. Reviled and hated Lilian might have been, but nobody denied her consummate sense of style. Furthermore, like Jackie, she was a dark, sultry beauty, who had to strike a queenly figure without actually being a Queen...
Were there deeper similarities between these two iconic women? Both were courageous, intelligent, cultured, sparkling with vivacity, wit and charm. Each imparted her innate elegance and taste to her surroundings. Both were loyal wives and mothers. With remarkable fortitude and dignity, each faced terrible ordeals. Lilian endured war, captivity, political turmoil, and decades of calumny and insult; Jacqueline saw her husband murdered before her eyes.
Not surprisingly, Lilian and Jackie knew each other. In her book, Léopold III, mon père, Lilian's daughter Esmeralda recalls her parents' visit to the American presidential couple. During her youth, Lilian (educated partly in England, where the President's father spent time as American ambassador) had, incidentally, also been a friend of John F. Kennedy's sister, Kathleen, and the visit was the occasion for the revival of old memories.
Certainly, in one respect at least, Lilian and Jacqueline were very different. Elegance, grace and charm might win Jackie widespread admiration, but these same qualities did nothing for Lilian's popularity...
Please leave a comment to say why you think Lilian and Jacqueline were (dis)similar. Whom do you prefer?
(1) "very Princess of Réthy (Lilian's other title), but youthful." (Lilian was 13 years Jacqueline's senior). Quoted in Grace and Power, 2005, by Sally Bedell Smith, p. 24
