Malice

This article, published February 12, 1961, in the Pittsburgh Press, shortly after Queen Fabiola's arrival in Belgium, furnishes an interesting example of the unfounded insinuations that circulated around Leopold III and his second wife, Princess Lilian. (It is actually one of the mildest examples I have seen.)

Fabiola also has a mother-in-law problem; a step-mother-in-law problem, to be exact. And Princess Liliane de Rethy could be a formidable foe. Back in 1941, when Leopold married her, she was Liliane Baels, daughter of the Governor of West Flanders. For 20 years she has been the most unpopular woman in the land, but Baudouin's devotion to her is so great he has been known to fly into rages over newspaper attacks on her, and to cancel all appointments for the day. 

When, at the time of their engagement, Baudouin and Fabiola gave their first press conference, they were later joined by their respective families for photographs. A girl journalist from an Italian magazine marked Fabiola who looked, at once, slightly untidy and infinitely appealing, with her hair wind-swept, and wearing a strawberry-colored dress, a cashmere cardigan and pearls. Squeezing the arm of a newspaper companion, this journalist exclaimed: "We are about to catch a glimpse of the future. If Liliane wishes to obliterate Fabiola she will stand next to her." 

As the royal group took their positions, Princess Liliane moved, smiling, to Fabiola's side. Tall and beautiful, fresh from the coiffeur and supremely elegant in a Paris suit, she did just what the girl journalist predicted- she obliterated the bride-to-be.

What nonsense. So Lilian could not even pose beside her own step-daughter-in-law for a family photograph without being accused of trying to steal the limelight from the new Queen? Supposing she had kept her distance from Fabiola? Then she would have been charged with being unfriendly and sulking at her loss of status as first lady of the realm. The poor woman was so reviled.

A Personal Request

If I may ask, please remember my father in your prayers. He is being tested for cancer and we are still waiting for results. Thank you all for your kindness and God bless you!

Portrait of a Princess

Christina Croft shares a description by King Leopold I of the Belgians of his late first wife, Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales.

 “...My gift is Charlotte’s portrait. The face is extremely like, and the likest that exists; the hair is a little too fair, it had become darker. I take this opportunity to repeat that Charlotte was a noble-minded and highly gifted creature. She was nervous as all the family have been: she could be violent but but then she was full of repentance for it, and her disposition highly-generous and susceptible of great devotion..."

Another New Princess

Another grandson of Princess Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium was just married. Here is footage of the wedding of Prince Guillaume, heir to the throne of Luxembourg, and Belgian noblewoman Stephanie de Lannoy.

Beauty of Flanders

As we have been discussing the divide between Flanders and Wallonia, it might be interesting to consider the case of the Flemish beauty who became the second wife of Leopold III. She was the very type of the Catholic, royalist Flemish who played such an important role in deciding the popular consultation in Leopold's favor after World War II. (Sadly, with the current trend towards separatism, more and more Flemings now seem to be turning rather venomously against the monarchy as a icon of Belgian unity). Princess Lilian was also the very type of the upper-class Flemish who adopted French culture.

This position made life even more difficult for a woman already castigated by the aristocracy as a vulgar adventuress marrying far above her station, and by other elements of popular opinion and the press as a unworthy successor to an impossibly saintly Queen Astrid, as an unscrupulous temptress, devoured by ambition, luring the King into preferring private pleasure to public duty. Lilian was doubly resented for her Flemish heritage by many Walloons. She was also blamed by more nationalistic Flemings, such as her denigrating biographer, Evrard Raskin, for supposedly betraying this same heritage through her Francophile affinities.

As Jean Cleeremans describes in Léopold III, sa famille, et son peuple sous l'occupation, there were also kinder voices among the Flemish who expressed pride at their Sovereign's marriage to one of their own, to a daughter of the talented and energetic class that had brought such prosperity to the Belgian cities through the centuries. As always in Lilian's life, however, spiteful portrayals gained much greater publicity than any appreciative ones. Hating the Princess de Réthy became a veritable industry.

Yet, through it all, Lilian remained steadfastly loyal to her principles as a woman devoted to Belgium and its monarchy. Michel Verwilghen, in Le mythe d'Argenteuil, describes her concern at the rise of separatism during the last years of her life. She even worried that her step-son, King Baudouin, might not be doing enough to oppose the efforts to shatter the country. I wonder what she would say of Belgium's most recent political crises.

A Republic of Flanders?

An intelligent, humorous commentary on the Flemish separatist movement. I think it would be a tragedy if Belgium and her monarchy disappeared from the face of the earth and I see no compelling reason why the loss would be worthwhile.

Flanders has, for most of recent memory, been more prosperous than Wallonia. I am sure some of the more racist Flemish nationalists (and there are plenty of them) would likely attribute this to the natural superiority of the more Germanic Flemings over the more Latin Walloons. Actually, in racial terms, there is hardly any difference between the two and the real reason is that Flanders has followed a more intelligent economic policy compared to Wallonia which has long been dominated by the socialists and has an economy that shows this. I can completely understand the Flemings being upset that their hard-earned tax euros get shoveled over to the Walloons to compensate for their bad economic decisions. However, the answer to that problem does not require independence, it only requires getting the socialists out of Wallonia and a good way to start would be to see them cut off from outside help so they would be forced to face the economic reality that socialism simply does not work. If the Red Chinese can figure it out, so can the Walloons. Ignoring the huge problem that would be Brussels, there is also the problem of what to do with the two halves of the former Belgium if Flanders declared independence. 

Contrary to what some think, the area of modern Belgium has been a distinct political area for quite some time before the declaration of independence in 1830. It was distinct during the period it was united to The Netherlands after the Napoleonic Wars and before that it had long been the westernmost outpost of the Hapsburg empire. Wallonia as a part of the French Republic holds no romance for me and would be an odd fit; the similarities of language aside. However, Wallonia is not the driving force behind this but rather Flanders. What would become of Flanders? There are two options: either Flanders remains independent or joins their fellow Dutch speakers in a “Greater Netherlands”. Neither option appeals to this monarchist. First of all, let there be no confusion on this point: an independent Flanders would be a republic. Period. Without doubt. So, in that scenario, Europe loses a monarchy and is cursed with another republic. In the second case; Flanders being annexed by The Netherlands, no new republics are created (assuming Wallonia joins France as is most likely) but Europe is still down one monarchy. Not good. Furthermore, I do not believe Flanders would be happy in The Netherlands anyway. They have too much of a regional mindset and are too used to being treated as something special for me to believe that they would be content to be just another Dutch province. So, I say “no” to a Flemish republic and “yes” to the Kingdom of Belgium (which, lest we forget, has been a country longer than Germany, Italy, Poland and a number of others).

The Last Hours of Marie-Antoinette

On the anniversary of the Queen's death, Elena Maria Vidal remembers the awe-inspiring dignity and grace with which Marie-Antoinette endured her humiliating trial and execution, drawing upon an incredible testimony from one of her attorneys. I am sure that Marie-Antoinette's heroism inspired many later queens and princesses in dark times, including some of the Belgian royal women.

Drawing of Queen Louise-Marie

A striking, sombre portrait. Today is the anniversary of her death. 

The Death of Sir Richard Croft

Gio writes of the tragic suicide of the obstetrician who attended the ill-fated Princess Charlotte of Wales, the first wife of the future King Leopold I of the Belgians.

The Times added: "At the conclusion of the evidence, the Coroner and Jury retired to take a view of the body of the deceased, which lay in an upper apartment, and was in a dreadful condition, the head being blown to pieces, and the deceased’s bed and bed-clothes being covered with blood; each hand grasped a pistol, which had been loaded with a slug and small shot; the contents entered at the temples. On a chair by the side of the bedstead on which the deceased lay were several of Shakespeare’s plays. The room was very small, and it appeared as if the deceased had been reading. 

One of the play-books lay inside the fender, and was entitled "Love’s Labour Lost."One of the jury took up the book and noticed to his brother jury-men that one of the characters used the following expressions in the page which lay open on the hearth: "Good God! where’s the Princess?" (Read entire post)

The Forgotten Victims of Mayerling

From last year, my article on Stéphanie of Belgium, who should have been Empress of Austria-Hungary, and her daughter Elisabeth Marie, at Lost in the Myths of History. It is a shame that Crown Prince Rudolf's mistress, Marie Vetsera, is better known than his wife. It is also a pity that the Belgian princesses who have become the consorts of foreign monarchs or their heirs have tended to meet with such frustration and tragedy. Not only Stéphanie, but also Charlotte and Marie-José, entered into the duties of their difficult new positions in alien environments with good will and dedication. Each, however, proved powerless to prevent her husband's downfall.