The Private Theatre of Marie-Antoinette

Here are two images of Marie-Antoinette's private theatre. (Via Tea at Trianon). As shown above, it was redecorated by her niece Marie-Amélie, Queen of the French under the July Monarchy of 1830-1848.  Readers of this blog will remember that Marie-Amélie's daughter, Louise-Marie d'Orléans, was the first Queen of the Belgians.  Marie-Antoinette's design (below) has since been restored, although the monogram above the center stage is actually still Marie-Amélie's. I love both Marie-Amélie and Marie-Antoinette, but I must say that I much prefer Antoinette's beautifully delicate, lighter taste. The heavy scarlet is too oppressive for me.

February 23, 1934: The Accession of Leopold III

On February 23, 1934, a day after the funeral of his tragically deceased father, Albert I, Leopold III, fourth King of the Belgians, ascended the throne. I have gathered a few contemporary descriptions of this sombre, but magnificent occasion. It was a moment of mingled joy, sorrow, wonder and hope.

Albert, King of the Belgians, warrior, statesman and sportsman, now belonged to history. And King Leopold III, in his turn, now belonged to the people of Belgium. Before middle age he was called upon to succeed a father who had set a standard of kingship of immaculate realism and democracy. That call had been so sudden, the circumstances surrounding it so tragic, that he could well have been forgiven a tremor of hesitancy. But the Royal stock of Belgium is sturdy. Leopold, in those critical days, acquitted himself with grace and honour. The boy who had "fagged" at Eton for the Duke of Gloucester now became the man prepared to serve a nation. His grief did not outstrip his courage or his sense of duty or his regal bearing. Behind him, he knew, was the trust and love and inspiration of his Queen, the friendship and confidence of his subjects. ~Michael Geelan

One of the most noble and touching sights of contemporary times was that of the young, handsome, forthright Leopold, head and hand raised, taking the Oath of Accession before his Throne in the Chamber of Deputies. In his first speech as king he said: "According to a solidly established tradition, the Belgian dynasty is at the service of the nation, and I am firmly resolved never to forget it." He glanced towards Queen Astrid - a stately figure in deep black, seated with her children in virgin white - and their eyes met. Then and there he told the august gathering of State that both he and they could depend upon the love and loyalty of the Queen. These were no idle words dove-tailed into the pattern of a formal and picturesque ceremony. They were sincere. They came, not only from his manuscript, but from his heart. All who heard them knew them to be true. ~Michael Geelan

The young and handsome couple were well fitted to be the protagonists in this deeply moving pageant. The new Queen was soon to become a mother again. Seated between her two children, who were as lively as crickets, she drove round the capital in the state coach. The new King, followed by the Count of Flanders, rode to the Chamber on horseback, as his father had done before him, and delivered his speech with quiet dignity. His next action had no precedent: he mounted his horse and rode round the city, only pausing once- before the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. 

When the new King and Queen appeared on the balcony of the Palace in the dazzling sunlight, she in black, he in the uniform of a Lieutenant-General, the people, still subdued by the sorrow of the previous day, felt as though they were gazing at a reincarnation of the spirit of spring. ~Charles d'Ydewalle

Little Prince Alexandre

I thought these were quite handsome pictures of Prince Alexandre Emmanuel (1942-2009), the first child of King Leopold III and Lilian Baels. 

Here is an obituary of Prince Alexandre of Belgium from The Telegraph.

Easter Essay Contest

Well, I have decided to have another essay contest for Easter. The rules as to range of topics and length of submissions will be the same as for the Christmas essay contest.  I hope there will be more participants this time! Please email entries to crossoflaeken@gmail.com by March 31, 2013. Please do not send essays as attachments, but simply cut and paste the text in the body of the email.

February 17, 1934: The Death of Albert I

Today is the anniversary of the tragic and untimely death of Albert I, King of the Belgians. According to official documents, a chance slip from a craggy precipice at Marche-les-Dames, during a solitary rock-climbing excursion on the afternoon of February 17, 1934, cut short the life of this beloved monarch, at the age of 58. In the depths of the night, after hours of desperate search, his weeping attendants found him by the light of torches, spread-eagled at the foot of the Cliff of the Gentle God of Pity, soaked in his blood, his skull fractured. By a cruel coincidence, the Sovereign who had led independent Belgium to her centenary, four years earlier, had died only ten months before celebrating his Silver Jubilee. 

Grief, shock and disbelief swept through the Royal Family, the country, and, indeed, the world. Widely loved and admired for his heroism during World War I, and graced with a modest, affable personality, Albert was deeply mourned far beyond the frontiers of his realm. Meanwhile, throughout Flanders and Wallonia, as in 1914, the carillons tolled out the tocsin. In Brussels, amidst the moving and imposing funeral ceremonies, the people, braving pouring rain and icy fog, filed past silently to pay their last respects to their dead King, lying in state in a candle-lit chapel of flowers in the Royal Palace."The top of the head was heavily bandaged," wrote the British ambassador, George Clerk, "but the features were extraordinarily composed and peaceful, and death had removed the traces of many years".  

On February 22, as the funeral cortège made its way from the palace to the Cathedral of St. Gudule to the Church of Our Lady of Laeken, vast, sombre crowds lined the route. Thousands knelt and prayed as the gun-carriage, bearing the King's coffin, passed by. "Au revoir, Albert," one old man was heard to whisper. After the Requiem Mass, celebrated by Cardinal van Roey, Archbishop of Malines, in the black-draped cathedral, Albert's body was conducted to the Church of Our Lady of Laeken, where the final Benediction took place. Then, to the strains of funeral music and the booming of artillery, the third King of the Belgians was laid to rest in the Royal Crypt. 

In a sermon to commemorate the Belgian dead of World War I, and the veterans who had passed away since the return of peace, the saintly Abbot of Orval, Dom Marie Albert van der Cruyssen, himself a war hero, and an intimate of King Albert, rendered a beautiful tribute to the deceased monarch: 

Ah, I cannot tell you all the good sentiments with which his heart was filled to overflowing, and which he poured out, in private, in confidences, which do not yet belong to the history of our time. But his public virtues can and must be known, those of the good father of a family, so attached to inculcating in his children integrity and self-sacrifice, those of the head of state, so concerned for justice and the happiness of all, and, above all, those of the great Christian who could tell himself each day: "I do not fear death, I am ready." If some were astonished, because, on the mask of the man who had died in such a tragic accident, there was such a peace, for, he was not - God is my witness, since I had the supreme consolation of giving, to this king and friend, the last blessing, before the lead coffin closed forever upon his august face - he was not, I say, disfigured, or disguised, he was great, calm, and beautiful in death, it is because he was great and beautiful in his life!

Blogging Break

I am sorry to say I will have to a break from Cross of Laeken for the next month or so. I am just very tired and I have a number of other obligations and projects to focus on at the moment. God Bless!

Wijnendale Castle

Here are some images, displayed with the kind permission of a good friend of this blog, of the Flemish castle where the fateful final meeting between Leopold III and his ministers occurred in May 1940.

Christmas Essay Contest Results

Here is the winning submission by Richard Taylor. I am sorry that we did not have any other participants. However, I hope you all enjoy this excellent article on the First World War, King Albert and Belgium's struggle for unity.

Nine years after the southern Netherlands revolted against Dutch rule, the great powers of Europe signed the Treaty of London guaranteeing Belgian neutrality. For the next seventy-five years, Belgium had no foreign enemies and prospered yet not all was peaceful in the new kingdom. Without an external threat, internal bickering was the norm between Walloons and Flemings, clerics and anti-clerics, socialists and liberals. Strikes were common over wage disputes and general strikes were called over universal suffrage and plural voting. 

The everyday fraternal fighting was interrupted in August 1914 by a German army looking for a quick victory over the French by encircling Paris and capturing channel ports to prevent a British intervention. The German plan did not anticipate Belgian resistance and certainly did not anticipate the character of the King of the Belgians, Albert I. 

“Belgium is a nation, not a road,” replied the King to a German ultimatum. An hour after the invasion began, the King addressed the Belgian Parliament wearing the field uniform of a brigadier general without decorations. “One duty alone is imposed upon us, namely the maintenance of a stubborn resistance, courage and union. Our bravery is proved by our faultless mobilization and by the multitude of voluntary engagements. This is the moment for action... Are you decided to maintain inviolate the sacred patrimony of our ancestors?” The chamber erupted in a chorus of yeses, seconded by the thousands of Bruxellois who lined the streets to cheer the King. 

The Belgian Army fought valiantly defending the cities of Liege and Antwerp, but heroics alone could not defeat a larger German Army. King Albert and his army retreated behind the Yser River insuring a little piece of Belgium would not be occupied by the Germans and helping to protect the French ports of Dunkerque and Calais. 

The army behind behind the Yser was small in the autumn of 1914 and winter of 1915. Rarely in the history of any army had there been a closer bond between a commander in chief, his family and his soldiers. King Albert was a regular visitor to the front lines in contrast to other heads of state who would visit troops only on the quiet days. A wounded soldier was likely to be cared for by Queen Elisabeth. Later in the war, a soldier of the 12th Regiment of the Line assigned to sandbag duty would find himself digging alongside the young Prince Leopold. Emmanuel Havenith, Minister of Belgium to the United States, 1911-17, told the story of the King taking the place of an exhausted soldier on the firing line and “fired....just as one of his soldiers.” A friend of the Minister wrote to him about the King taking command of a detail installing a wireless telegraph. “My friend said it was nervous work, as shells dropped near them repeatedly, and they tried to urge the King to find a safer place, but he would not.” The King remained in Belgium for the duration of the war sharing hardships with his soldiers, working along side them and earning their respect. 

The army would grow as Belgians fled to Holland, crossed the North Sea to England, crossed the channel to France and traveled overland to the King's army. The King would become the commander Army Group Flanders that included French and British divisions and the added responsibilities meant fewer contacts with his soldiers whom he called “my friends.” Many of the prewar tensions returned to the army especially the linguistic divide as the majority of soldiers were Flemish and most of the officer corps was francophone. In time, after the glow of victory faded, internal bickering became the norm once more in Belgium. 

National unity has been an elusive dream for Belgium, but it was achieved for a brief time by an able king who could inspire and encourage his people. It is a tragedy that it took a devastating world war and tens of thousands of Belgian lives to achieve it. 

Sources:
Tuchman, Barbara, The Guns of August, New York, Macmillan, 1962
Taylor, A.J.P., The First Word War, New York, Perigee, 1980
de Lilbert de Flemalle, Gabriel, Fighting with King Albert, London, Hodder and Stoughton, 1915
Lucas, Netley, Albert the Brave: King of the Belgians, London, Hutchinson & Co., Ltd., 1935
Page, Walter Hines and Page, Arthur Wilson, The World's Work, Volume 29, New York, Doubleday, Page and Co., 1915

Charlotte of Belgium

Gorgeous!

Adoration of the Magi

Happy Epiphany! Today is the last day for submissions if anyone wants to participate in our Christmas essay contest!