Marie-Antoinette: A Reputation in Shreds

Elena Maria Vidal defends the vilified French queen.

She is the queen who danced while the people starved; who spent extravagantly on clothes and jewels without a thought for her subjects’ plight. Such is the distorted but widespread view of Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France (1755-1793), wife of King Louis XVI. The recent Coppola film has further damaged the image of the much-maligned, beautiful and charming Austrian archduchess, sent to France at age fourteen to marry the fifteen-year-old Dauphin. Sadly, the picture many people now have of Marie-Antoinette is of her running through Versailles with a glass of champagne in her hand, eating bonbons all day long, and rolling in the bushes with a lover...

Incidentally, all this calumny, mockery and derision reminds me of the way Lilian Baels was later treated... but that is no surprise, as Leopold's enemies explicitly hearkened back to the French Revolution.

The Tragic Cliffs

I may do a series of posts on popular representations of the Belgian monarchy. A case in point is the legend built up around the death of Albert I. This tragedy became one of the pillars of the "Myth of King Albert" and gave rise to a tradition of pious mementos. Here are a few old postcards illustrating the terrible event...

The caption reads: "A general view of the cliffs of the valley of the Meuse. The sign X marks the cruel peak, where the Sovereign fell, from a height of around 12 meters, hitting his head against a large rock."
"The place where the body of the illustrious alpinist was found. The rock, bearing the letter A, marks the location of his backpack."
"The crowd in meditation before the tragic cliff." In shock and disbelief, many Belgians came to grieve and pray.

Today, schoolchildren continue to visit the sombre place where, 75 years ago, the broken body of their beloved King was found...

A Once Joyful Family

Here, we see Leopold and Marie-Christine ("Daphné"), Lilian and Marie-Esmeralda, Baudouin, Albert, and Alexandre. (Josephine-Charlotte seems to be the only one missing). Leopold and Marie-Christine look so alike! This happy picture exemplifies the union and harmony that (according to many accounts) reigned in Leopold's family during the 1940's and 1950's.

Sadly, after Baudouin's marriage in 1960 and Leopold's departure, with Lilian and their children, to Argenteuil, relations cooled between father and son. The tensions opposing "Laeken" and "Argenteuil" have been the subject of much (often malicious) rumor and speculation. For instance, Leopold and Lilian were falsely accused (even by so prominent a public figure as Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens) of plundering all or most of the furniture from Laeken. Michel Verwilghen, in his well-documented book, Le Mythe d'Argenteuil (2006), refutes this calumny in great detail, but it continues to flare up all over the internet on forums and discussion boards. Verwilghen puts the "estrangement" down to personal conflicts (it is, apparently, true that relations between Lilian and Fabiola, two very forceful women, were often strained), and, more importantly, to political factors.

A number of Baudouin's close advisers were determined to distance the young monarch from his father and step-mother. Furthermore, close family ties provoked charges that Leopold was influencing and manipulating his son (see Echec au Roi by Roger Keyes). Political necessity, thus, obliged Leopold and Baudouin to maintain a certain mutual distance (see Léopold III, homme libre, by Jean Cleeremans). The sad result was that Leopold's two families rarely crossed paths. Lilian recalled that Baudouin, after many years' absence, discreetly visited his father, but was very anxious to meet him alone, without witnesses. Upon his arrival, he was alarmed to see a young woman in the room. He had to be reminded that she was none other than his half-sister, Esmeralda! (see Un couple dans la tempête, by Marcel Jullian and Claude Désiré).

Verwilghen, however, notes that, during the 1970's, relations improved between Leopold and Baudouin, citing touching and markedly more cordial correspondence between father and son. Lilian, who had tenderly raised the young Baudouin, also continued, despite all the vicissitudes of their relationship, to love him, worrying about his health during his last years and deeply mourning his death in 1993.

A Question

Some day I hope to do a post comparing/contrasting Albert I and Leopold III. I find it an interesting topic as Leopold always modeled himself on his father, yet was accused of betraying his memory... During World War II and the Royal Question, the King's enemies manipulated Albert's image (much as they did Astrid's) to attack Leopold, portraying him as a villain unworthy of his heroic predecessor. Of course, I don't think this. On the contrary, I even wonder if Leopold was actually the greater King, as he faced worse problems. What do you think? Who was greater, Albert or Leopold?

Act of Consecration

Our Lady of Ollignies

Some may remember my post on the Belgian mystic Berthe Petit. According to Berthe, Christ requested the consecration of the world to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary. During World War I, she also reported that Christ desired the solemn consecration of Belgium and England to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart. This was the formula she believed Our Lord had revealed to her:

O Lord Jesus, Who on Calvary and in the Holy Eucharist hast shown Thyself to us as God of Love and Mercy, kneeling humbly at Thy feet we adore Thee and beg once more for Thy forgiveness and Thy divine pity. And remembering that by Thine own act on Calvary, the human race, represented by Thy beloved disciple John, gained a Mother in the Virgin of Sorrows, we desire to honour the sufferings and woes of our Mother's Heart by devoting ourselves to it in solemn Consecration.

It is but just O Mary, that our souls should strive henceforth to venerate thee with special homage under the title of Thy Sorrowful Heart, a title won by sharing in the whole Passion of thy Son and thus co-operating in the work of our redemption - a title due to thee in justice, and dear, we believe, to Jesus and to thine own Heart, torn by the wound in His.

We consecrate therefore, O Mary, to thy Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart ourselves, our families, our country and those who are fighting for its honour. Have pity on us; see our tribulations, and the anguish of our hearts in the midst of the mourning and calamities that lay waste the world. Deign, O Mother of God, to obtain mercy for us that, being converted and purified by sorrow, and made strong in faith, we may henceforth be devoted servants of Jesus Christ and His Church, for whose triumph we pray. O Mary Immaculate, we promise to be faithful clients of thy Sorrowful Heart. Intercede for us, we beseech thee, with thy Son that, at the cry of thy Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, His divine Power may speedily bring to pass the triumph of right and justice.

Sacred Heart of Jesus, have pity on us.

Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us and save us.

(The Art of Divine Love or Berthe Petit, Rev. I Duffer, M.S.C, 2003, p. 37)

Berthe was always highly respected by the church authorities, and England's Cardinal Bourne solemnly performed the consecration as she had urged. Belgium's Cardinal Mercier, however, did not. Apparently, he privately consecrated Belgium to the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart, but never in a public, solemn manner. What a pity. I do not see what harm it could have done, and it might have helped Belgium in the decades to come...

Queen Astrid's Premonitions

As we are approaching the anniversary of Queen Astrid's death, I wanted to re-post this haunting story. Strangely, not long before the tragic car crash in Küssnacht, Queen Astrid had a definite premonition of her death. She confided her forebodings to her friend, Anna Sparre, who was traveling with the royal couple in the Alps. In her memoirs, Astrid mon amie, Anna recalled:

One afternoon, Astrid and I were drinking coffee in front of a mountain hut... It was our last stop before returning to the village where we had left the car.

I believe it was the 18th of August. The weather had suddenly changed, and the cold gave us the impression that it was October. The clouds had suddenly gathered around the hut and we could see no further than a metre ahead; it was grim, and both of us were suffering slightly from altitude sickness... We wanted to return to civilization, we had had enough of the mountains.

Astrid was not completely herself; she seemed serious and was not in a mood to joke. I remember a few snatches of our conversation.

The tragic death of her father-in-law, King Albert, in a mountaineering accident, only a year and a half earlier, had been a terrible shock to Astrid; she feared that her husband, King Leopold (also a passionate alpinist) would meet a similar fate.

"Do you understand I am often terribly afraid that something will happen to Leopold, and that I will be left alone with the children?"

I understood her very well, but I realized that it would be impossible to persuade him to give up this sport, which, although dangerous, was so important for his well-being.

"Also, Annisen, you do not realize how much I fear, at times, that I will die. It would be even worse for the children, and terrible for Leopold. My dear, can you promise me something?"

"What is that?"

"If I die while the children are still little, will you look after Joe-Joe (her daughter, Princess Josephine-Charlotte)?"

"We have to pull ourselves together, dear. With this bad weather, we are not quite ourselves and that is the reason why you are thinking of horrible things. Why should anything happen to you...?"

"I am serious. Look after Joe, promise me."

"No, my dear, right now we must be reasonable. How could I come and say: 'I promised Astrid that I would take care of Joe in my apartment at Västerås...It is not realistic! Please, do not ask me to make this promise. Chase away these black thoughts."

"But I promised I would look after my god-daughter, Christina, if something happened to you," she answered, trying to smile.

"That is a completely different matter, and very kind of you. It is reassuring to know you will look after her."

That was the end of the conversation, but her sadness persisted until we entered the car. Ten days later, she was dead.

An Idyllic Moment?

Here is a photograph, taken by Queen Elisabeth, of King Albert I, Prince Leopold, Princess Astrid, and one of the royal grandchildren. It conjures up images of an (0stensibly) happy, peaceful period, when Belgium seemed to have everything- a heroic King and Queen, a "fairytale" Prince and Princess...

An idyllic moment, but also a poignant one. Trouble and tragedy would mark the 1930's and 1940's. (I think Albert looks worried even here). Within a few short years, brutal blows of fate would sweep away Albert and Astrid, leaving a shattered Queen Mother, a grieving King, and forlorn royal orphans. Leopold faced World War II alone, setting the stage for the Royal Question.

What might have been, if the whole family had weathered the storm together? What if Albert had still been reigning in 1940? It is incredible enough that political enemies succeeded in painting Leopold as a traitor, when, in fact, from his earliest youth, he had shown himself to be a loyal and courageous patriot. But could anyone have accused Albert of being a Nazi collaborator? How could he be the hero of one war, the villain of another? Or what if Astrid, at least, had been alive? Her immense popularity would surely have been a precious asset to Leopold.

It is hard to say for sure. It is astonishingly easy to malign anyone. Yet, I am certain that the monarchy's position would have been far stronger, if Albert and Astrid had survived. What a pity the three generations in this tender picture could not remain together.

Lilian's Last Wishes

When Princess Lilian died in 2002, she was interred with King Leopold III and Queen Astrid in the royal crypt of Laeken. This had been the King's wish; perhaps, by honoring his second wife in this way, he wanted to compensate her for all the insults she had suffered through the decades. Lilian, however, longed to be buried in her chapel at Argenteuil. To an intimate, she confided:

This is the first and only time I will disobey the King's wishes, but I think I have given enough. Since my marriage, I have been a prisoner. The Royal Question dragged me through the mud. All my life, I have shut myself up in silence. At least, after my death- and, please understand, for reasons which are my affair alone- let me not be shut up in the royal crypt.

(Quoted in French by Jacques Franck in Souvenirs de la Princesse Lilian, an article published in La Libre Belgique, October 29, 2003).

In her will, the Princess wrote:

As for my funeral, I desire that it take place among my intimate family, enlarged only by the close circle of those who have manifested, to His Majesty King Leopold III, to my children, and to myself, fidelity and attachment, assistance and devotion. I intend that it be preceded by a sober and contemplative Eucharistic celebration, stripped of particular pomp, in my royal chapel at Argenteuil, in the absence of all representatives of the press...

Notwithstanding the desire of His Majesty King Leopold III to have me rest by his side in the crypt of Laeken, I permit myself, here, to express my very firm wish to be buried at the foot of my royal chapel at the Estate of Argenteuil. I thus consider myself authorized to depart, for the first time, from the King's will.

(Quoted in French by Michel Verwilghen in Le mythe d'Argenteuil, 2006, p. 53)

As Argenteuil belonged to the Belgian state, the government had the final say in the matter, and did not respect Lilian's choice. Nonetheless, I find her last wishes very dignified and touching.

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

May Our Lady intercede for us on her holy feast.

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.