King Leopold III of The Belgians (1901-1983)


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Speech by the King Leopold III
Broadcast to the United States on October 27th, 1939


On the verge of an attack and in the service of civilization, King Leopold III
now commander in chief of all Belgian armed forces explains Belgium's position in the war.
In 1936 when the allies failed to stop the Nazi's from re-entering the Rhineland
Belgium adopted her policy of armed independence.

In 1937 Belgium proclaimed her armed independence, and each of her three great neighbours took note of her declaration. Indeed, they went further--they gave Belgium, of their own accord, formal assurances that they would respect Belgium's territory and would guarantee the independence of Belgium. The
declaration of armed neutrality by the Belgian Government at the beginning of the war was the logical conclusion of this policy and was supported by Belgian people.
Listen to a real KINGS SPEECH !


http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/3241...-10-1-meg?da=y

Thanks for posting.:flowers:
Very interesting.
 
Hi,i am probably asking on the wrong thread,but here goes,,,,My mother in her single days,around the mid to late 30's, was as I remember her telling me, a Governess to the Royal Belgian Family,now that she has passed away(1971) we are trying to piece things together,I also remember seeing a Photo of her with a very Regal looking pram in a park in Brussels,Are there any records of Royal Household servants from about that time? Her maiden name was Mary Elizabeth Crosby(Crosbie) Born 1916,In Tuam County Galway Ireland Workhouse,hope someone can help,
Regards Tommie Brennan South Australia
 
Tommie,
You should write to the Royal Palace of Brussels , sending and saying all what you know with their proof/evidence.
They have a Department of Royal Archives . Kind regards from Maria Olivia
 
If King Albert I did not die accidentally in Marche les Dames, he should be King of the Belgians for WW2 and his high International Reputation was known.
But The King died in 1934.

If Queen Astrid did not die accidentally in Kussnacht , King Leopold III should have remain King until his dead in 1985.
But The Queen died in 1935.

If King Baudouin did not die suddenly in Spain , Prince Albert of Liege should never be King . His private life should have been different.
But the King died in 1993.

Never in other Monarchies such Events happened.

Thanks to Carminha, what a nice story.
Now I know beter why th King travelled alone !

First Pictures of The King and his Sons in 1950. Mourning of Mrs Baels.
That was not appréciated.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I just read a few pages of an old biography of King Baudouin. It mentioned that from 1936 onwards the government tried to push the King leopold III into another marriage. The king spent many sleepless nights crying loudly through the corridors of the palace and was in a depression. The relationship with his government suffered as well.

Apparently the government started a rumor in the press that the King was getting engaged to the Archduchess Adelheid of Austria, eldest daughter of the late Emperor Karl I of Austria and Empress Zita.

I did some search in online newspapers and it seems the Belgian press also hinted at an engagement to Princesses Alexandrine and Feodora of Denmark, daughters of Prince Harald and Princess Helene.
 
Last edited:
The relationship between King Leopold III and the Scandinavian Royals was bad until Queen Fabiola became Queen Consort.
I think that Princess Ingeborg saw King Leopold III and Princess Lilian for the first time at Josephine Charlotte's Wedding in 1953. Ambiance .
 
The relationship between King Leopold III and the Scandinavian Royals was bad until Queen Fabiola became Queen Consort.
I think that Princess Ingeborg saw King Leopold III and Princess Lilian for the first time at Josephine Charlotte's Wedding in 1953. Ambiance .

Thanks for the interesting piece of information, Maria-Olivia ! Do you happen to know how Queen Fabiola managed to make the two families closer again ?
 
I think that King Baudoin became very happy near the queen Fabiola, he saw the life differently,
He did the first visit to England and met the royal family in 1963, the war between the two royauties was finished same thing with the scandinavia royals , at his death, he was appreciated by all the royals

Before his wedding, he stayed with his father and mother in law and never travelled apart in the Congo in 1955 .
 
When King Baudouin came back from his State Visit to Congo in 1955 he changed completely and smiled !
Melina you forgot his travel to USA and Holywood!.
 
The relationship between King Leopold III and the Scandinavian Royals was bad until Queen Fabiola became Queen Consort.
I think that Princess Ingeborg saw King Leopold III and Princess Lilian for the first time at Josephine Charlotte's Wedding in 1953. Ambiance .

Prince Carl Bernadotte was a great friend of both Leopold and Lilian, way before Fabiola.
 
The relationship between King Leopold III and the Scandinavian Royals was bad until Queen Fabiola became Queen Consort.
I think that Princess Ingeborg saw King Leopold III and Princess Lilian for the first time at Josephine Charlotte's Wedding in 1953. Ambiance .
When and why was the relationship bad? King Leopold III's first wife and the mother of three of his children was Scandanavian.
 
I am interested in the years 1935 - 1940 when Leopold III was King of the Belgians.
Reading books and books , he was really depressed by being responsible of this terrible car crash.
During this 5 years no official show up.
He did not attend Princess Juliana's Wedding in 1937 , Queen Elisabeth did attend.
The King attend Princess Beatrix Baptism because he was his Godfather.
He always has great support of Queen Wilhelmina.
 
how is tat an indication that his relationship with the Scandinavain royals was "bad"? If he didn't go on visits or to royal weddings etc for some years due to sadness about Astrid's death, that has nothing to do with the relationship with the Scandinavian royals
 
In Royalement Blog there is an interview from King Baudaouin saying that Queen Fabiola restaured the relationship of the Belgian Court with the Scandinavian Royals.
 
And does it say why there was a problem?
 
Leopold III became King of Belgium in 1934.
 
Thank you so much. The last King on a Horse . The same people wanted him to abdicate ! what a sad story.
 
Were King Leopold III and Queen Astrid in love ?

It is unclear to me how dynastic marriages worked. Back in the era of absolute monarchy,, the consorts of princes and princesses were chosen purely based on diplomatic / political goals. By Leopold and Astrid’s time ( or Frederik and Ingrid’s) , a Prince was however given some degree of freedom in terms of who he wanted to marry provided that he chose of course a royal bride. So, rather than a love match, it seems to me it was more a question of picking the person who got along the best with you among the (limited) available pool of candidates. Very different then from the modern-day royal marriages.

Thank you so much. The last King on a Horse . The same people wanted him to abdicate ! what a sad story.

It is really unfortunate that the Belgian royal family doesn’t use horse-drawn carriages anymore.Modern motor cars being escorted by horse guards as we often see in Belgian royal events look really weird and rather ugly IMHO.

What happened to those beautiful coaches as the one carrying Queen Astrid for King Leopold ‘s enthronement ? Are they kept in a museum as part of the Royal Collection ?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Were King Leopold III and Queen Astrid in love ?

It is unclear to me how dynastic marriages worked. Back in the era of absolute monarchy,, the consorts of princes and princesses were chosen purely based on diplomatic / political goals. By Leopold and Astrid’s time ( or Frederik and Ingrid’s) , a Prince was however given some degree of freedom in terms of who he wanted to marry provided that he chose of course a royal bride. So, rather than a love match, it seems to me it was more a question of picking the person who got along the best with you among the (limited) available pool of candidates. Very different then from the modern-day royal marriages.
Both Astrid, her sisters Märta, Margaretha and cousin Ingrid all married for love. Ingeborg of Sweden said about her daughter Margretha and her future son-in-law that she was afraid to leave them alone in a furnished room.
At the announcement of the engagement of Astrid and Leopold in Brussels his mother Queen Elizabeth exclaimed that it was a love match which was evident to anyone who saw the couple. When the bridal party arrived in Belgium Astrid broke all protocol and ran towards Leopold and kissed him before the eyes of the thousands there to great her and her family.
Ingrid famously transformed the rough, brusque sailor with a drinking problem that was Frederik into the great father, husband and king he became. He was literally putty in her hands.
Olav of Norway survived Märtha by 40 years and never got over the loss of his wife.
 
Yes . In the middle of the Interview King Baudouin says no body spoke more about my Mother Queen Astrid than my wife. There has been contact interruption during many years but due to Queen Fabiola, they started again and we went to Sweden.
Princess Margaretha of Danemark likes my wife and She likes her...
 
Yes . In the middle of the Interview King Baudouin says no body spoke more about my Mother Queen Astrid than my wife. There has been contact interruption during many years but due to Queen Fabiola, they started again and we went to Sweden.
Princess Margaretha of Danemark likes my wife and She likes her...
Wasn't there contact with Sweden after the war for at least as long as Ingeborg were alive?
 
A lot of pictures of Princess ingeborg with Astrid 3 young Children before the War. No pictures anymore after the war.
The only picture is Princess Ingeborg at Princess Josephine Charlotte's Wedding.
Only a thought , if King Leopold did not drive his car Queen Astrid should be alive. Was he guilty for his Family in law ?.
Thought 2 : Seeing pictures of Princess Lilian wearing Queen Astrid personal jewels and gifts must have been terrible for Princess Ingeborg.

Grand Duchess Josephine Charlotte never missed a Scandinavian glitteriing Event;
 
Only a thought , if King Leopold did not drive his car Queen Astrid should be alive. Was he guilty for his Family in law ?.


It was an accident. I think Astrid's family understood that. It is not like Leopold was driving in a reckless way, or was intoxicated, or something like that. At least, I am not aware he was. If you have any additional information on this topic, please share with us.



Thought 2 : Seeing pictures of Princess Lilian wearing Queen Astrid personal jewels and gifts must have been terrible for Princess Ingeborg.
I can't comment on that one. It is reasonable that, if Leopold remarried, his new wife would have access to the family jewels, especially in a family that didn't have that many jewels to choose from. The problem is that Leopold's second marriage was never truly seen as "legitimate", both inside Belgium and out of the country.


As far as I know though, Princess Lilian never wore e.g the Nine Provinces (Astrid's most precious jewel) in its full configuration. She did wear the Nine Provinces big diamonds with Queen Elisabeth's art deco bandeau and the base alone as a bracelet, but never the base of the Nine Provinces properly with the diamonds on top. She also wore Astrid's now missing emerald necklace, which could also be worn as a convertible tiara. I wonder where that ended up.
 
Last edited:
A lot of pictures of Princess ingeborg with Astrid 3 young Children before the War. No pictures anymore after the war.
The only picture is Princess Ingeborg at Princess Josephine Charlotte's Wedding.
Only a thought , if King Leopold did not drive his car Queen Astrid should be alive. Was he guilty for his Family in law ?.
Thought 2 : Seeing pictures of Princess Lilian wearing Queen Astrid personal jewels and gifts must have been terrible for Princess Ingeborg.

Grand Duchess Josephine Charlotte never missed a Scandinavian glitteriing Event;

If the difference was indeed *before* WWII and *after* I'd like to add thought 3: maybe the Swedish relatives were not happy with K.Leopold's choices in WWII (I'm pretty sure it was a big deal then)
 
She also wore Astrid's now missing emerald necklace, which could also be worn as a convertible tiara. I wonder where that ended up.

Princess Lilian wore parts of the Stockholm tiara as a brooch. The tiara was a wedding gift to Queen Astrid from the city of Stockholm.

A lot of pictures of Princess ingeborg with Astrid 3 young Children before the War. No pictures anymore after the war.
The only picture is Princess Ingeborg at Princess Josephine Charlotte's Wedding.
Only a thought , if King Leopold did not drive his car Queen Astrid should be alive. Was he guilty for his Family in law ?.
Thought 2 : Seeing pictures of Princess Lilian wearing Queen Astrid personal jewels and gifts must have been terrible for Princess Ingeborg.

Grand Duchess Josephine Charlotte never missed a Scandinavian glitteriing Event;

I remembered late last night that Josephine-Charlotte told anecdotes in the documentary "A Royal Family" from a family gathering at Fridhem that took place after the war.

I also found this picture from the Golden wedding anniversary of Ingeborg and Carl in 1947. So there must have been some contact with her grandparents. I know that at least Ingeborg was very worried for the future of her Belgian grandchildren.
https://goo.gl/images/GGkz7j
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I read years ago that there were 'difficulties' in Leopold's relationship with his Scandinavian inlaws after Astrid's premature death, so I would guess that perhaps there was some silent finger pointing after the death of a beloved daughter and sister, as well as the guilt that Leopold felt on his own account. As for the accounts of Lilian wearing some of Astrid's jewellery, especially the wedding gifts given specially to the beautiful Swedish princess..goodness knows how they felt.
 
JR76, This is a picture I never saw. Thank you so much.
No Belgian member of the family , they were on exile in 1947 until 1950. It is strange that even Queen Astrid Children were not alowed to leave the Country.
 
Back
Top Bottom