Princesses Anne and Astrid Unveil Edith Cavell Memorial

The Princess Royal today paired up with Belgium’s Princess Astrid to unveil a memorial honouring a British nurse executed during the First World War, Edith Cavell.

A bust of Nurse Cavell designed by Belgian sculptor Natalie Lambert was unveiled at Montjoie Park in Uccle, a suburb of Brussels, by the two Princesses and the Mayor of Uccle, Armand De Decker, before attending a special session of the Belgian Senate to honour the 100th anniversary of Cavell’s execution in October 1915.

“It’s very moving to stand today exactly where Edith Cavell was sentenced to death. She deserves our admiration, our respect and our deepest gratitude,” Princess Anne said during the ceremony, also recalling the final conversation the nurse had with an Anglican priest the night before her execution: “As he bid farewell, the priest said ‘We will remember you as a heroine and as a martyr. Edith replied: ‘Don’t think of me like that. Think of me as a nurse who did her duty’.”

Vice Admiral Timothy Laurence accompanied his wife to the events.

Edith Cavell was running the Brussels Nursing School when the First World War broke out in 1914. As a British citizen, she was offered the chance to return to England after Germany invaded Belgium, but declined to stay with her nurses where she provided medical aid to wounded soldiers from both sides.

The nurse was also involved with the Belgian resistance network, helping to smuggle over 200 allied soldiers out of the country into the Netherlands. When the Germans found out about the network in mid-1915, Cavell was put on trial for treason and executed by firing squad on October 12, 1915. Her death was seen as an example of German brutality, and was used by the British to encourage young people to sign up for military service.

Edith Cavell, ca 1890

Filed under Belgium, The United Kingdom
Tagged Anniversary, Memorial, Princess Astrid of Belgium, The Princess Royal, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, World War I.