Princess Lilian Through Her Son's Eyes

The birthday of Lilian Baels, second wife of King Leopold III, is coming up in a few days...Here is an interesting tribute to this beautiful, talented, but much-maligned woman by her son, Prince Alexandre Emmanuel.

Princess Lilian was a secret person but enjoyed listening to people who sometimes forgot they were confiding to her. But there is an indirect way to understand her personality. For many years, more than I can recall, she enjoyed the environment of objects, even works of art, that expressed a certain quality of life. Wherever we lived, she created a sort of "impregnation of space" that gave the visitor an impression of evidence and uniqueness. Argenteuil is certainly the home where she invested the most energy and spirituality. In a way, it was like a signature.

(Preface to the catalogue Princess Lilian of Belgium. Château d'Argenteuil. Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 2003)

Unfortunately, I do not have any good pictures of Argenteuil I can post here, but, to gain a vivid impression of the elegant environment Lilian created, click HERE. The article (a review of Michel Verwilghen's excellent book Le mythe d'Argenteuil) is in French but photos speak across language barriers...

"Petite Reine"

Here is a beautiful poem in honor of Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians.

Petite Reine

Par delà le champ de bataille,

Derrière la zone de feu,

Quand les obus et la mitraille

Sifflent, en croisant dans l’air bleu

Leurs rigoureuses trajectoires ;

Quand la mêlée aux rangs pressés,

Sous l’aile ardente des victoires,

Grouille autour des corps entassés,

Une frêle et noble infirmière

Aux yeux tendres, au cœur viril,

Vaque à sa tâche coutumière,

Insoucieuse du péril.

De ville en ville, avec vaillance,

Elle a suivi tous les combats,

Et d’ambulance en ambulance

Disputé sa proie au trépas.

Elle vient à qui la réclame,

A son aspect l’espoir refleurit,

Et d’ambulance en ambulance

Disputé sa proie au trépas.

Elle vient à qui la réclame,

A son aspect l’espoir refleurit,

Et son sourire est un dictame

Qui réconforte et qui guérit.

Elle sait le mot qui fait vivre

Malgré les cruautés du sort,

Elle sait le mot qui délivre

Et rend moins amère la mort.

Sa main panse, sa voix console,

Tout subit son charme apaisant ;

Et c’est son cher nom qui s’envole

Des lèvres de l’agonisant.

Petite Reine qui naguère

De ton palais familial,

Pour soigner les maux de la guerre,

Avais fait un vaste hôpital,

Toi, qui, souriante et sereine

Comme l’étoile du matin,

Dresse ta grâce souveraine

Devant les assauts du destin,

Dont la douce pitié se penche

Sur le front pâle des mourants

Et qui calmes de ta main blanche

La fièvre aux accès délirants,

Toi, que l’Univers entier prône,

- Héroïne sans le savoir  –

Et qui mets la gloire du trône

Au-dessous de l’obscur devoir,

Toi, dont la tendresse infinie

A des trésors inépuisés,

Petite Reine, sois bénie

Au nom de tous les cœurs brisés !

~ A. Vierset.

I will post a translation in the comments box.

(Image: old postcard of Queen Elisabeth and Princess Marie-José)

The King Returns to Brussels, 1918

"Sire, you shall return to your capital...." Belgian poet Emile Verhaeren had written to King Albert I during the dark days of World War I. On November 22, 1918, eleven days after the Armistice, these words finally came true. Click HERE for a detailed account of the magnificent day.

The capital by its enthusiastic reception witnesses its admiring gratitude to the sovereign who returns to it covered with glory of the purest quality, to its Queen, who lived throughout the war among our soldiers, lavishing upon them treasures of kindness and devotion without limit; to the Princes, who symbolize in our eyes the future of our country, and to the heroic and victorious troops who chased the enemy from our country and thanks to whom Belgium regains her place among the free and independent nations.

Long live the King, Queen, royal family and the Belgian armies! Long live the Allies!

~ Burgomaster Adolphe Max 

Queen Astrid Memorabilia

At the Queen Astrid thread of the Alexander Palace Forums, I found some pictures of her clothes and accessories. As most photographs dating from Astrid's lifetime are black and white, it is interesting to see how colorfully she dressed.

A few of her hats.

Part of the fabric of one of her dresses.

Her satin wedding slippers.

Leopold III at Berchtesgaden

On November 19, 1940 Leopold III, then a German prisoner of war, met with Hitler at Berchtesgaden. The Belgian monarch had reluctantly agreed to the meeting (arranged by his sister, Crown Princess Marie-José of Italy) in a desperate attempt to obtain better conditions for his conquered army and people. The interview, however, was a disaster. Here is the account (in French translation) of the meeting by Hitler's interpreter, Paul Schmidt, from his memoirs Statist auf Diplomatischer Bühne, 1923-1945. 

...Hitler received him with a rather icy civility. I clearly noticed that the king was making an effort to control himself. When he sat down in the office, with a face revealing a curious mixture of unease and tension, I had the feeling he was cursing the initiative his sister had taken.

Hitler tried to warm up the atmosphere a bit by asking a few personal questions. He always had, on these kinds of occasions, courteous words which betrayed his Austrian education. "I greatly regret the circumstances of our visit...Do you have any personal desire I could satisfy?" "I have no personal desires to formulate for myself," responded Leopold in the rather disdainful tone of an imprisoned monarch before a conqueror's tribunal, which indicated he had other desires to put forth.  

But he strove, at first, to prepare Hitler, by thanking him for what he had already done, in particular for authorizing Belgian refugees to return to their homeland. He added his personal thanks for the accommodations accorded him and, more especially, for the return of his children from Spain. Leopold was not a good diplomat. He expressed his thanks well, but his tone was not convincing.

Hitler launched into one of his long monologues on the political situation...At one point, Hitler rather abruptly asked how Leopold imagined future relations between Germany and Belgium. Quite cleverly, the king responded with another question: would Belgium preserve her independence at the conclusion of peace?

 Hitler did not like precise questions...(and launched into) prolonged reflections on the future of Europe, but Leopold...demanded a precise definition of internal independence. Hitler, faced with this insistence, became openly impatient. He attacked Belgium's previous attitude with a certain warmth, accusing her of having violated her neutrality. In the future, Belgium would have to align herself with Germany, militarily and politically.

"Am I to understand that Belgium's political independence will be guaranteed in exchange for political and military accords between herself and the Reich?" asked Leopold, at once raising doubts as to the possibility of such a solution, given the Belgians' love of liberty, which he underscored. He insisted upon unfettered independence, basing his demand on the fact that it had long been recognized by the English, and on the certitude that the Belgians would naturally turn in the direction which would assure their autonomy...

From this moment on, Hitler was completely closed to all Leopold's other desires. He was visibly annoyed that the King of the Belgians, in contrast to other heads of state, did not eagerly accept his offer of collaboration with Germany. These other desires principally concerned the prisoners of war. "We need manpower," said Hitler. "Naturally, the officers will remain in captivity until the end of the war." Leopold made further desperate efforts to win a few small concessions in the realm of food supply and internal administration. On both these points, the response was negative.

Henceforth, the bad mood was unmitigated on both sides. Leopold became more and more laconic and several times I got the impression he was no longer even listening...His face closed, he allowed Hitler to let flow torrents of words, no longer reacting, except for form...

Hitler would probably have preferred to put an end to the visit immediately. But a tea was planned for the king and his entourage. He broke up the meeting long before the appointed time, and received Leopold at his home...(During the tea, despite his disappointment) he opened a map to try to win the sovereign over to his views on a close collaboration between the two countries. In the course of a long monologue on the European order, he indicated that Belgium, if she allied herself with Germany, would receive not only a military guarantee, which would dispense her from ever needing an army again, but also territorial gains in northern France, as far as Dunkirk and Calais.

The king remained silent. Had he even heard? Naturally, I attached particular care to the translation of his response. But I had before me only a disappointed, apathetic man...

...Later events proved my impressions had to have been correct. Hitler never saw Leopold again. Nothing changed in Belgium. The administration did not alter and the food situation remained as bad as before. The Belgian prisoners were only liberated at the end of the war. Leopold himself remained a prisoner and, before the end of hostilities, was deported to Germany over his protests.

Hitler never forgave him for refusing to accept his offers at Berchtesgaden. "He is no better than other kings and princes!" he said from time to time, whereas before this visit, he had often had words of praise for "King Leopold, who prevented useless bloodshed in 1940"...

So much for those who accuse Leopold of having a "friendly interview" with Hitler!

The Queen's Appeal

Above, we see a photograph of Queen Astrid visiting a poor family in Kortrijk. Like her husband, King Leopold III, Astrid was deeply concerned with social problems, made all the more dire by the economic crisis of the 1930's. In February, 1935, the Queen organized a nationwide collection of food, clothing, and supplies for the impoverished Belgian miners and their families.  Her close friend, Anna Sparre, in her book, Astrid mon amie, recalls the Queen's remarkable initiative:

The winter that year was difficult for the population; unemployment was more rampant than ever, aid was insufficient and there were numerous complaints. A delegation of miners was received in audience by the King. It was a dignified, moving moment: the King and the Queen listened to them as they described, in a realistic and direct manner, their joyless existence, and the poverty that reigned in the mining region. "Our children are the victims of it, they are hungry and cold, Madame. Our children are dying of hunger." 

The Queen listened, horrified, and promised, spontaneously, to do what she could. 

Astrid immediately addressed an open letter to the Minister of State, Henri Jaspar, and to the Belgian people, imploring their aid in this tragic situation. The letter was published, and become known as "The Queen's Appeal."

The very next day, money and aid began to flow in. The Queen herself, along with a rapidly constituted committee, composed of ladies who had volunteered to help, was on the go at the Belle Vue. An unending line of generous people wound through the palace, armed with packages and bags, money and cheques. Department stores, societies, businesses, and individuals from all over the country joined in the Queen's very personal initiative... 

Money, food, clothing, shoes, candles, blankets - even hats and eyeglasses - were swiftly collected. The Queen played an essential role during the distribution of the aid:

The Queen visited, in person, the districts in the most crying need; her appearance alone, when she emerged from the car, in the middle of a village, greeting the people with a wave of her hand, was enough to give them hope and confidence. The newspapers followed her activities, and, every day, gave reports on donations and relief measures, but, above all, they noted the popular reactions in the areas where she appeared. They described her immense popularity; she became a symbol of a power synonymous with generosity. "She is our good Fairy, who personifies, at the same time, Power and Goodness." 

The first three months of that year were entirely devoted to this massive collection and to the organization of a permanent aid program for the needy of the mining region. The Queen unceasingly exhorted her people to generosity; and the unfortunate, to maintain their morale and keep up their courage. She defended their cause, she granted interviews, she made herself seen and heard; people believed her and trusted her word. With the King's support, she had set in motion a trend which took off; its results continued to be felt for a long time afterwards. 

I found the story of "The Queen's Appeal" very inspiring and touching. This episode from her - tragically short - reign illustrates Astrid's tenderness, realism, intelligence, and generosity.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

She was an ancestor of Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. 

Elizabeth had always shown a strong inclination toward piety as well as a great love of helping the needy and downtrodden. She opened a hospital for the poor in one of her castles and ran a soup kitchen. She was passionately in love with her husband, which is one of her most appealing aspects - she was a saint but she was also very much a woman.

In her memoirs, Queen Marie-José of Italy, daughter of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, recalls that her mother admired this saint and encouraged the young Marie-José to read Comte de Montalembert's famous Vie de Sainte Elisabeth de Hongrie (1836). I think the Belgian queen definitely resembled her distant forebear in her charitable works, and also in her passion for her husband!

Birthday of Queen Astrid

On November 17, 1905, the short life of Astrid, future Queen of the Belgians began. She was the youngest of the three daughters of Prince Carl and Princess Ingeborg of Sweden. She was a timid, tender little girl, always very dear to her family.

Also, I cannot believe it, but I missed the (religious) wedding anniversary of Leopold and Astrid on November 10! (Somehow I had the idea it was later in the month). But if you want to see pictures of their engagement and marriage, click HERE and HERE.

(Elsewhere: Le Fleur de Lys Too)

Majestic Marie-Henriette

A wonderful painting of Marie-Henriette of Austria, future Queen of the Belgians at the wedding of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (future Edward VII) and Alexandra of Denmark in 1863.

Obituary of Queen Louise-Marie

An obituary of the first Queen of the Belgians, published in 1850 in The Gentleman's Magazine, paints a fascinating and moving portrait of this remarkable woman. Whatever one thinks of her father's actions towards the elder branch of the Bourbon family, she is to be admired...

Oct. 10. At Ostend, aged 38, Her Majesty the Queen of the Belgians.

Louise Marie Thérèse Charlotte Isabelle, Princess of Orléans, was the... daughter of the late King Louis-Philippe and Queen Marie Amélie, and was born at Palermo on the 3d of April, 1812. It is well known how deeply the education of his children engaged the attention of the late King of the French. His family has ever been a model of union, good morals, and domestic virtues. Personally simple in his tastes, order and economy were combined with a magnificence becoming his rank and wealth. Under the able and discreet management which marked the early and subsequent education of his family, those virtues and benevolent tendencies which in after-life constituted the principal charm of her highly useful career exhibited themselves in the youthful days of the Princess of Orléans, and procured for her the love and esteem of all who came within her influence.

On the 11th of August, 1832, the Princess of Orleans was wedded to Leopold, King of the Belgians. The nuptials were celebrated at Compeigne. From the moment she became Queen Consort the august lady commenced that uninterrupted career of boundless charity and benevolence which, for the last eighteen years, has made her the idol of the Belgian people. The quantity of work performed in the Queen of the Belgians' own family, and by others under her superintendence, in the shape of clothing for the poor in inclement weather, was enormous ; and, in the ever-recurring lotteries on behalf of the poor, scarcely an exhibition took place in which the Queen did not contribute articles of clothing, screens, chair-covers, and little nic-nacs in Berlin wool, &c. But it was not only for her charities that the deceased Queen was revered by the people. She was destined to play a not unimportant, although a very unostentatious, part in Belgian politics. The King being a Protestant and herself a Catholic, she constituted herself a sort of link between the Catholic party and the throne. When the Catholic party evinced a disposition to exceed the limits enjoined by a just toleration, the Queen stepped in as a mediatrix ; and when, on the other hand, the liberal party showed a tendency to apply too tight a rein to the Church, the same good offices were never refused.

Louis-Philippe had the highest opinion of her intelligence, and used always to speak of her as "my Louise." In June 1832, when a terrible insurrection was raging in Paris, it was considered necessary for the King, who was at Neuilly, to go to the Tuileries ; but the Queen and royal family, alarmed for his safety, objected to his going alone. There was, however, no male member of his family to accompany him, his two sons, the Ducs d'Orléans and d'Aumale, being already at the Tuileries. At last the King, irritated at the opposition made to him, said, " Well, then, Louise shall accompany me;" and the young princess joyfully set forth. At Laaken, after her marriage, the Queen led a simple life, and employed a good deal of her time in active occupation...The King generally passed his evenings in the private apartments of the Queen, and she frequently read to him. The last two works she read to his Majesty were Lamartine's " Histoire des Girondins," and Thiers' " Histoire du Consulat et de l'Empire." Their Majesties exchanged observations on different passages, and sometimes had a discussion. What the Queen said was always remarkable for justice, depth, and à propos. English was the language which the royal couple employed in their conversations : indeed, all their intimate communications were carried on exclusively in that language. Although her Majesty did not meddle in politics, she studied all political questions, even the most difficult. She caused the ex-tutor of one of her brothers to keep her constantly informed of the intellectual movement of Paris, and made him send her, immediately on their appearance, every publication of any importance. She assiduously read the newspapers, even those of the advanced opposition, both of Belgium and France. In every visit she made to Paris she received the well-known M. Michelet, who had been her professor of history : yet at the time she did so he had become noted for his violent opposition to the Government of Louis-Philippe, and for his extreme democratic opinions.

The Queen was a great letter-writer. Every day from that on which she quitted her family on her marriage, up to her fatal illness, she wrote to the Queen, her mother, and every day her mother wrote to her. Her Majesty composed her letters all at once; those of her royal parent were commenced in the morning and kept open till post-hour, her Majesty noting anything that occurred—sending, in fact, a sort of journal. After the Revolution of February, when for eight days it was not known what had become of the ex-King of the French and his Queen, the Queen of the Belgians suffered the most poignant anxiety, and this emotion had a most lamentable effect on the disease which had long been undermining her health. The death of her brother the Duke of Orleans, and of her sister the Princess Marie, had previously been terrible blows to her. She most tenderly loved both, and kept up a daily correspondence with the latter. On the death of the princess, the Queen, her mother, caused a notice of her to be printed for the family (only twelve copies were struck off) ; and this notice was made up chiefly from the letters of the two royal sisters. These letters are described as profoundly affecting, and the manner in which she spoke of the death of Madame Mallet, their governess is, in particular, indescribably touching. After the death of the princess, the Queen, in addition to the duily letter to her mother, wrote every day to some other member of her family. She also at the same time kept up a constant correspondence with Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the Duchess of Kent, and the Princess of Prussia. When absent from the King, her husband, for however short a period, she wrote to him almost every day—twice a day, even when both were in Belgium—and the King replied to every one of her letters.

The Queen has left behind her three children, Leopold, Duke of Brabant, and heir to the Crown, born April 9, 1835; Philippe, Count of Flanders, born March 24, 1837; and the Princess Marie Charlotte, born June 7, 1840. Her first born, Prince Louis-Philippe, died in early infancy.

The remains of this illustrious and amiable personage were on Thursday, the 17th Oct. interred in the cathedral church of Laaken. The Cardinal Archbishop of Malines and tbe clergy received the King at the entrance to the church. The King entered first, with Queen Amelie leaning on his arm. The King's sons, the Duc de Brabant and the Comte de Flandre, accompanied by the Princess Clementine, followed, and then came the Duc de Nemours, the Prince de Joinville, the Duc d'Aumale, and the Prince Augustus of Saxe Coburg Gotha. The Royal party was accompanied by the Duc de Cazes.