A Blue Garden

(Credits)

As Queen Astrid's best friend, Anna Sparre, recalls in her memoirs, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium loved horticulture and kept a special garden featuring a variety of blue flowers. She had a firm belief in the soothing effects of blue. So, in her honor, I present some lovely blue blossoms.

(Credits)

(Credits)

(Credits)

Anna Sparre remembered that after leaving the garden, everything seemed garish and jarring...so she thought there might be truth in the Queen's theory. What do you think? Are blue flowers relaxing?

Loving Clementine

I have posted before on Princess Clementine (1872-1955), youngest daughter of King Leopold II. I am always in awe of her forbearance with an impossible father, notorious for his cold, harsh ways and scandalous private life. For years, the King prevented Clementine from marrying the choice of her heart, Prince Victor-Napoleon, Bonapartist claimant to the French throne. Meanwhile, despite her suffering, the Princess dutifully assisted her father in his public role. Her patience was rewarded, when, after Leopold's death, she was finally able (at age 38!) to marry her Prince. In her correspondence, Clementine's joy, as well as her wonderfully warm, affectionate heart, come to the fore. In glowing terms, she described Victor as "kind...sweet, adoring, loving, intelligent, knowledgeable..."

To her beloved sister, Stephanie, after her engagement, Clementine wrote:

You cannot imagine the depth of my happiness in answering to the love, the fidelity, and the happiness of the man who has remained at my side for many long years. God has looked upon my difficult situation and, in His power, has resolved everything.

After her wedding, she confided to Stephanie:

Napoleon, for Clementine, is a love, I adore him. During the day, I spend most of my time finding ways to please him, and the nights!... they are exquisite. I never thought this could be so good.

Clementine adored her children, too. Whenever she mentioned them, her profound maternal love (mixed with a gentle humor) shone through:

My daughter is happy, smiling, sweet. She is the image of her father. My son has a sweet nature, he is very endearing. He is intelligent and observant, he likes singing all day...but does not smile much when he has to study...

Given her parents' disastrous union, and her own glacial upbringing, Clementine's happy marriage and loving family life must have been all the more precious to her. In the light of this tragic background, her tender letters are especially touching.

(I found the excerpts from Clementine's letters HERE, the translations are mine).

In Memoriam: King Baudouin I of the Belgians

July 31, 2009 marks the 16th anniversary of the death of King Baudouin I (1930-1993). After reigning for 42 years, he died of a heart attack, while on vacation with Queen Fabiola in Motril, Spain. A national icon, widely admired for his integrity, devotion to duty, and unassuming ways, he was deeply mourned by the Belgian people.

May his soul rest in peace.

Defiant Queen

A hilarious story of Dowager Queen Fabiola's humorous and brave stand against repeated death threats on Belgium's National Day.

(elsewhere: The Royal Representative)

A Talk With Princess Henriette

In her memoirs, Marie-José, daughter of King Albert I, quotes a letter from her father to his wife, Elisabeth, written during their engagement. "After you," he told her, "I love my sisters most." Both were certainly very lovable souls, devoted to religion, family and country. I came across a wartime interview with Albert's eldest sister, Princess Henriette, Duchess of Vendôme. Like her sister-in-law, Queen Elisabeth, Henriette worked valiantly during World War I to relieve the sufferings of combatants and noncombatants alike. I do encourage everyone to read the interview, Henriette seems so staunch, loyal, charming, maternal and tender. To illustrate her character, I wanted to include this message, from 1914. The Princess thanked the American Commission for Relief in Belgium, and pleaded for more aid for her people:

I gladly accept your invitation to become patroness of the Women's Section of the American Commission for Relief in Belgium. I know that I speak for every Belgian woman and child when I say that we thank God for what you are doing. Now that the extremity of our distress is becoming known, we feel sure that the tender hearts of the women of America will respond to our cry.

Food is terribly needed by millions of my brave brother's unhappy subjects, who still remain in their native land. Before Winter is over the need will become still more desperate. In the name of the suffering women and little children of Belgium, I ask the women of America to help us.

HENRIETTE.

A few memories of a tragic yet heroic period in Belgian history, in anticipation of the upcoming 95th anniversary of the war...and a tribute to those refined, yet amazingly strong royal ladies of old.

Parents of Queen Marie-Henriette

I have posted before on Marie-Henriette (1836-1902), unhappy consort of King Leopold II of the Belgians. Here are portraits of her parents, Archduke Joseph of Austria, Palatine of Hungary, and his third wife, Maria Dorothea of Württemberg.

The Anne Boleyn Files

A while back, I came across an intriguing blog, The Anne Boleyn Files by Claire Ridgway. The author describes herself as:

...a full-time freelance writer, closet history lover, armchair historian and champion of the underdog, from England - land of the Tudors, Shakespeare, green fields and yummy fish and chips.

Of course, as a Catholic, I take Catherine of Aragon's part in the divorce controversy, and she is one of my favorite historical heroines, a great and, ultimately, I  believe, saintly Queen. Yet, Anne was certainly a pivotal figure in English history. For all her faults, she was also an elegant, intelligent, witty and brave woman. Claire Ridgway has a talent for treating controversial topics in an engaging and entertaining fashion and stimulating lively discussions. While sympathetic to Anne, she is not blindly so, and I think her efforts to grasp the truth of an enigmatic character who has inspired such violently contrasting verdicts (monster? beauty? whore? witch? Protestant martyr?) are commendable. I encourage my readers to look at this site, it is a fascinating read.

Portrait of Prince Charles

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

A Tender Father

After the tragic loss of his wife, Queen Astrid, King Leopold III of the Belgians had to try to be both father and mother to his children... despite his many public obligations.

His eldest daughter, Princess Josephine-Charlotte, also attempted, courageously, to take care of her younger siblings, Baudouin and Albert. But she was only a child herself.

Queen Elisabeth did her best, lavishing affection on her grand-children, but it would take Leopold's remarriage with Lilian Baels, who proved to be a devoted step-mother to the royal children, to restore the family circle.

Yet, Leopold is reproached for marrying during the war, when the Belgians were suffering. He is accused of selfishly valuing his own happiness more than that of his people. Were there no other wartime weddings in Belgium? How did the marriage harm the people? Leopold and Lilian were married with great discretion, as befitted the somber and tragic times. It is not as though they indulged in feasting and revelry.

There is no doubt that the royal children would have suffered profound psychological damage, in the atmosphere of anxiety and insecurity during the Nazi occupation, and, particularly, in the traumatic period of captivity in Germany, without maternal care and affection. Lilian's vigilance, in fact, protected the family from many dangers, during their deportation by the SS and subsequent imprisonment under harsh conditions in an insalubrious German fortress (see HERE and HERE). Belgium owes her a great deal, since she played an essential role in safeguarding the lives and mental equilibrium of the King and the heirs to the throne.

The King's remarriage was not a selfish act, but an important one for the good of his family and country. He was a tender father and a responsible ruler.

The Grand Square of Brussels

Courtesy of Paul Ijsendoorn.