Carlota's Prayer

In the 1939 film Juarez, Bette Davis, cast as the tragic Belgian empress of Mexico, begs Our Lady for a child.

A Belgian Republic?

At the Royal Universe, Aimee voices her frustration with Belgium's politicians and argues in favor of maintaining the monarchy.

So basically the irresponsible elected politicians want to take away the few political powers of the one man who has used his hereditary position with responsibility in this theatrical political joke that sees no end. And at the margins of these political discussions, of course, lurks the debate on the usefulness of the monarchy. “A monarchy is a remnant from the Middle Ages; in a modern country like Belgium we don’t need that,” is an argument. Yes, I agree a monarchy is a remnant from the Middle Ages. But unlike many others, I am perfectly aware that the current Belgian king does not have the same political power enjoyed by a king in the Middle Ages. Quite the contrary. The only political prerogative the King still has, at the moment, is to appoint a formateur and informateur after the elections. He has no influence on the elections. He is not even allowed to vote. He has no influence on the government negotiations, except when the politicians themselves make such a mess of it that he has to conjure one white rabbit after another out of his fictional crown. Even then, he doesn’t  get involved in the negotiations personally, he simply sends experienced negotiators and respected elder statesmen into the field to act as mine-clearers in the hopes of persuading the politicians to come to an agreement. He has never tried to influence the negotiations in any particular direction, he only listens to the whining of the party leaders hoping that another white rabbit will appear.

“The monarchy costs us over € 15 million a year” is another argument. I suppose I cannot refute that, as the dotations alone amount to almost 80% of that figure. “A President would be so much cheaper,” the argument continues. No, (s)he wouldn’t. Presidents need to be elected, which costs money. Who do the republicans think pays for that? Presidents receive a very nice yearly salary. And then they retire and they receive a pension based on that nice salary. And who pays for that? For all the ex-presidents receiving pensions simultaneously? And would the household of a President really be so much cheaper than that of a king? Do the people who use this argument realise that the King pays his staff from that dotation? Do they realise that Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent receive a dotation because they were not encouraged, or even allowed, to work in the first place? Of course not.

“Albert is not king of all Belgians, he is king of the French-speaking half,” is another widespread argument amongst the republicans. Ridiculous. Yes, he is a native French-speaker, but he speaks Flemish better than many Flemish speak French. Basically those people are just letting their dislike of anything francophone get the better of them. Can you really blame a man for being brought up in a predominantly French environment? I think not. And can you, really, blame someone for not being good at studying foreign languages? It is true that the Dutch of Queen Paola is poor – but then again also comparable to the French of so many Flemish. And contrary to many of those Flemish, she keeps trying to learn the language better, even at the respectable age of 73. Let me ask those ardent republicans a question now. Would an elected President be President of all the Belgians? Would (s)he not be, after all, either a native French-speaker or a native Dutch-speaker? Would the Flemish ever really see Elio Di Rupo as “their” Belgian President? Would the Walloons ever accept De Wever as “their” elected Belgian President? For those two received most votes in the past elections… it would have had to be one of them. Or will we make it even more complicated and have a duumvirate, a politician from each of the two groups? They would work together every bit as well as they’re working together now, which is to say not at all. Or why not a triumvirate; after all, the German-speaking part of the population of Belgium is so often overlooked…(Read full article)

October 19, 1851: The Death of Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of France

It is a curious coincidence that Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte of France, the famous "Madame Royale", eldest daughter and only surviving child of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, passed away only three days after the 58th anniversary of her mother's execution. Marie-Thérèse may seem a bit off topic for this blog, but she was actually a very important person in the youth of the first Queen of the Belgians. She was a cousin, godmother (by proxy) and namesake of the little Louise-Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte-Isabelle d'Orléans, future consort of Leopold I. Marie-Thérèse and Marie-Amélie, Louise-Marie's mother, shared deep faith, hope and charity, as well as close ties of kinship, mutual esteem and affection. Sadly, however, relations between Madame Royale and Louise-Marie's father and aunt, Louis-Philippe and Adélaïde d'Orléans, were severely strained. Understandably, Marie-Thérèse never felt comfortable around the children of the renegade First Prince of the Blood who had voted for the beheading of her own adored father, the King. The July Revolution of 1830 marked the final rupture between the Bourbons and the Orléans. Yet, Madame Royale's charitable public works remained an inspiring model for the new Queen Marie-Amélie and her daughters.

I came across Marie-Thérèse's will on a website devoted to her beloved nephew, Henri V of France, the "Comte de Chambord." It is interesting to compare her last wishes with those of her father and mother:

+WILL+

OF MARIE THÉRÈSE OF FRANCE,

DAUGHTER OF KING LOUIS XVI

AND OF QUEEN MARIE ANTOINETTE,

WHO DIED AT FROHSDORFF,

+OCTOBER 19, 1851+

Following the example of my parents, I forgive, with all my soul, and without exceptions, all those who may have harmed or offended me; sincerely asking God to extend to them His mercy, as well as to me, and supplicating Him to accord me pardon for my faults.

I thank all the FRENCHMEN who have remained attached to my family and to me for the proofs of devotion that they have given us, for the sufferings and pains they endured because of us.

I pray God to pour out His blessings on FRANCE, which I have always loved, even in the midst of my bitterest afflictions.

Having always considered my nephew HENRI and my niece LOUISE as my children, I give them my maternal blessing. They have had the happiness to have been raised in our holy religion, may they always remain faithful to it, may they always be worthy descendants of SAINT LOUIS! May my nephew consecrate his happy faculties to the accomplishment of the great duties which his position imposes upon him! May he never depart from the ways of moderation, justice and truth!

Mother and Daughter

A tender image of Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians with her only daughter, little Princess Marie-José. The style vaguely reminds me of an icon or a painting of the Madonna and Child. I regret to say I have no idea who the artist might be. Does anyone know?

October 16, 1793: The Execution of Marie-Antoinette

Here is her beautiful last letter, addressed to her sister-in-law, Madame Elisabeth of France. Sadly, it never reached her.

16th October, 4.30 A.M.

It is to you, my sister, that I write for the last time. I have just been condemned, not to a shameful death, for such is only for criminals, but to go and rejoin your brother. Innocent like him, I hope to show the same firmness in my last moments. I am calm, as one is when one's conscience reproaches one with nothing. I feel profound sorrow in leaving my poor children: you know that I only lived for them and for you, my good and tender sister. You who out of love have sacrificed everything to be with us, in what a position do I leave you! I have learned from the proceedings at my trial that my daughter was separated from you. Alas! poor child; I do not venture to write to her; she would not receive my letter. I do not even know whether this will reach you. Do you receive my blessing for both of them. I hope that one day when they are older they may be able to rejoin you, and to enjoy to the full your tender care. Let them both think of the lesson which I have never ceased to impress upon them, that the principles and the exact performance of their duties are the chief foundation of life; and then mutual affection and confidence in one another will constitute its happiness. Let my daughter feel that at her age she ought always to aid her brother by the advice which her greater experience and her affection may inspire her to give him. And let my son in his turn render to his sister all the care and all the services which affection can inspire. Let them, in short, both feel that, in whatever positions they may be placed, they will never be truly happy but through their union. Let them follow our example. In our own misfortunes how much comfort has our affection for one another afforded us! And, in times of happiness, we have enjoyed that doubly from being able to share it with a friend; and where can one find friends more tender and more united than in one's own family? Let my son never forget the last words of his father, which I repeat emphatically; let him never seek to avenge our deaths.

A Royal Ruby

A stunning Savoy heirloom which graced the first and last Queens of Italy, Margherita and Maria José.

Leopold III: A Traitor?

A vindication of the King from Finest Hour:

In 1936, as Hitler, unopposed, reoccupied the Rhineland, the Belgian government adopted a position of “armed neutrality,” refusing to join an alliance with France and Britain while arming Belgium for any future conflict, remembering how their country had been trampled in 1914. As a result, Belgium was one of the better-prepared nations when Hitler marched west in 1940.

Although Belgium did share military information with the Allies, as a proclaimed neutral it could not allow Allied forces to pre-position themselves or march with Belgian forces until it was actually invaded. Oliver Harvey, British Minister in Paris, wrote in his diary in January 1940:

Poor Leopold is in a desperate dilemma. If he commits himself to a military agreement, the Germans will say he has violated his neutrality and so justify a German invasion. If he doesn’t get agreement with us and France we cannot afford him proper help if he is attacked—a vicious circle. Moreover, it can be represented as an Allied interest that Germany should not invade Belgium and therefore Belgium should not provoke Germany. The answer is, I suppose, that Germany will invade Belgium if it suits, whatever Belgium does.[11]

Winston Churchill took a dim view of neutrals. For him there were only two options in the face of Hitler: fight or surrender. Each neutral, WSC said on 20 January 1940, “hopes that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last. All of them hope that the storm will pass before their turn comes to be devoured. But I fear—I fear greatly—the storm will not pass.”[12]

But Leopold’s stance was based not on Churchill but on the governments that ruled France, Britain and Belgium in the 1930s, which had resolutely refused to oppose Germany’s numerous aggressions. Against that kind of leadership, however forlorn the hope that Hitler would leave Belgium alone, as commander of the Belgian forces, Leopold had few alternatives.

When Hitler attacked in May 1940, Holland went down in four days, but Belgium fought bravely for two weeks, its artillery taking a deadly toll on the invaders. Prolonged resistance contributed to the successful evacuation at Dunkirk, where 340,000 French and British soldiers were rescued. Nearly all the French soldiers refused to join Free French forces in Britain and returned to France. The Belgian government, then in exile in unoccupied France, forbade Belgian soldiers to leave, and even court-marshalled Belgian pilots who had flown to Britain or North Africa, accusing them of having stolen their aircraft![13]

Leopold had little joy from some of his allies. When General Gort, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, pulled back from the coast to protect access to Dunkirk (leaving the Belgian right flank unprotected) he did not tell the Belgians, nor indeed his own government, until after the fact. Meanwhile General Pownall, commander of British forces in Belgium (the same Pownall who would later assist Churchill in writing his war memoirs) remarked at the time: “we don’t give a bugger what happens to the Belgians.”[14] (Read full article)

Miracle of the Sun

Today marks the anniversary of the final apparition of Our Lady of Fatima. On October 13, 1917, the three shepherd children, Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta, saw Our Lady appear as the joyful Virgin Mother, the Sorrowful Mother, and Our Glorious Lady of Mount Carmel. They also saw St. Joseph, holding the Child Jesus. The assembled crowds saw the sun dance in the sky, radiating multicolored lights. Here are some testimonies of the event:

"Before the astonished eyes of the crowd, whose aspect was biblical as they stood bare-headed, eagerly searching the sky, the sun trembled, made sudden incredible movements outside all cosmic laws — the sun 'danced' according to the typical expression of the people." ― Avelino de Almeida, writing for O Século (Portugal's most widely circulated and influential newspaper, which was pro-government and anti-clerical at the time. Almeida's earlier articles had satirized the previously reported events at Fátima).

"The sun, at one moment surrounded with scarlet flame, at another aureoled in yellow and deep purple, seemed to be in an exceeding fast and whirling movement, at times appearing to be loosened from the sky and to be approaching the earth, strongly radiating heat." ― Dr. Domingos Pinto Coelho, writing for the newspaper Ordem.

"…The silver sun, enveloped in the same gauzy grey light, was seen to whirl and turn in the circle of broken clouds… The light turned a beautiful blue, as if it had come through the stained-glass windows of a cathedral, and spread itself over the people who knelt with outstretched hands… people wept and prayed with uncovered heads, in the presence of a miracle they had awaited. The seconds seemed like hours, so vivid were they." - Reporter for the Lisbon newspaper O Dia.

Worldly Wisdom from Leopold I

His hardheaded, pragmatic advice to his son-in-law, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, on the question of accepting the Mexican throne.  It is hard to imagine two dynastic founders more different than the realistic Leopold and the romantic Maximilian.

Marie-Valerie of Austria, cousin of Queen Elisabeth

The favorite child of Empress Elisabeth, and a first cousin of the third Queen of the Belgians, Valerie was a deeply religious, charitable and practical woman. She bravely faced many tragedies; a disappointing marriage, the "suicide" of her brother, the assassination of her mother, a world war, and the collapse of the empire of her forefathers, before dying of cancer at age 56. A charming, artistic soul, she seems to have been a delightful blend of the piety and common sense of the Habsburgs and the poetry of the Wittelsbachs.

Here is a description of Sissi's relationship with Valerie from Clara Tschudi's biography of the Empress.