The Snow Princess: Queen Astrid Of Belgium, Part 1

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

Some more pictures of Astrid

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

1. Astrid with her son Albert
2. Astrid with Leopold and her brother and sister in law, princess Marie Jose and prince Charles.

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

At expo 1935

[Hannelore]

15 years old

[bad_barbarella]

i feel so sorry for her... she was too young to pass away, but im sure the lifes she touched will never be the same for the better

[pdas1201]

OMG, Catherine you are in love with Astrid. Beautiful pics....I am sure many were hard to find.
Thanks again for sharing such beautiful pics of such a beautiful woman.:)
I thought I'd some share some pics as well...

[pdas1201]

King Leopold and Queen Astrid leaving Cathedral

[pdas1201]

Crown Princess Astrid of Belgium with her daughter, Josephine Charlotte, 1930

[pdas1201]

Crown Princess Astrid with Josephine Charlotte

[Warren]

Queen Astrid was born a Princess of Sweden, and therefore Lutheran.

The Belgian Saxe-Coburgs were (are) Roman Catholic.

I cannot recall seeing anything about the arrangements made when she became engaged to Crown Prince Leopold.

Did she convert to Catholicism? If so, this would be a relatively rare example within the European Royal Houses, certainly at such a high level. If she did not convert, did this cause any problems?

Does anyone know what happened?

thanks,
Warren

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

She converted, but only when she felt ready for it herself. I believe it was around 1933 or 1934.

[Warren]

Originally Posted by Cathérine Bergeyck

She converted, but only when she felt ready for it herself. I believe it was around 1933 or 1934.

Thanks Catherine. This means she was Lutheran when she married the Crown Prince. Did this marriage require special authorisation from the Vatican?

I am just curious because the situation of a Catholic Crown Prince marrying a Protestant Princess is fairly unusual, and I was wondering if there may have been some debate on this at the time (1926). I would imagine that some strict traditionalists would not have been happy.

I remember reading in a "Royalty Digest" magazine article (last year?) that some members of the Bourbon Parma family refused to attend the wedding of Princess Anne to King Michael of Romania in 1948 because he was Orthodox, and they weren't impressed that she was marrying a non-Roman Catholic (although her mother was Danish Princess Margrethe).

[delineate]

Thanks for the info and photos of this very interesting Queen! I didn't notice it until now, but all of her children either became heads of state or married one.

[Lisele]

Thank you for a tribute in words and in pictures to a wonderful woman that was cut down in the prime of her life, leaving a husband, 3 children under 10 and another on the way that died with her, at the beginning of her husband's reign. Truly a tragic tale. I wonder if her children even vividly remember her they were so young :(

I don't know if any of you noticed but 52 years later, another princess died in an automobile accident roughly the same time of the year? Chlling coincidence or history repeating itself.

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

Joséphine-Charlotte had vivid memories of her mother and Baudouin missed her all his life. I remember seeing a documentary on tv where queen Fabiola shows a framed photo of queen Astrid, saying "We love mama Astrid very much, she's part of our life".

[Hannelore]

Originally Posted by Cathérine Bergeyck

Joséphine-Charlotte had vivid memories of her mother and Baudouin missed her all his life. I remember seeing a documentary on tv where queen Fabiola shows a framed photo of queen Astrid, saying "We love mama Astrid very much, she's part of our life".

Absolutely.

The last words he wrote in his diary the day he died were "I feel old and tired. Maman, soon we'll be together again. I'll find comfort close to you".

[martha-louise]

Originally Posted by Lisele

Thank you for a tribute in words and in pictures to a wonderful woman that was cut down in the prime of her life, leaving a husband, 3 children under 10 and another on the way that died with her, at the beginning of her husband's reign. Truly a tragic tale. I wonder if her children even vividly remember her they were so young :(

I don't know if any of you noticed but 52 years later, another princess died in an automobile accident roughly the same time of the year? Chlling coincidence or history repeating itself.

There are 3 tragic car accidents with princesses I can remember . Astrid, Grace and Diana. It seems like the more popular you are, the more chance you have to die in a car accident. Very horrifiyng...

[Hannelore]

actually lots of people die in car accidents every day :(

Princess Mathilde's younger sister and grandmother also died in a car accident.

[Hannelore]

In front of the Engelhornhütte Queen Astrid and King Leopold III frame Eveline Palmer, wife of Walter Amstutz who took the picture on 4 August 1935. Astrid died in a car accident 3 weeks later.

During the summer of 1935 the couple went mountain climbing, together with Astrid's best friend, countess Anna Sparre.

(credit photo:Jozefin)

[queenanne]

Does anyone else see a very strong resemblance to Grand Duchess Josephine Charlotte in that last painting? It struck me as soon as I opened it.