Kidnap threat against belgian princess Elisabeth

[Lee-Z]

Palace has confirmed the news, many belgian media are reporting on this
Onbekende wil Elisabeth ontvoeren | VTM NIEUWS

Apparently the person lashes out against foreigners (muslims in particular), says they are taking advantage of the belgian people and is angry that king and government don't take appropriate actions against them.
Person has therefore decided to take action himself in that he will kidnap the princess.

King and Queen are in Luxemburg and have been notified of the letter, security around the princess has been heightened...
Belgian authorities take the threat very seriously...

 

[dbarn67]

OMG Their Majesties must be so upset...terrible

 

[HereditaryPrincess]

Poor Elisabeth. Philippe and Mathilde must be terribly worried about their daughter, I wonder if Princess Elisabeth has been told or whether they are keeping it quiet so as not to frighten her. I can't think why someone would want to kidnap a child who has her whole life ahead of her. Also, because the child in question is the heiress apparent to the Belgian Throne, wouldn't the kidnapper have common sense and think that this will be reported about quickly/it would be easier to track them down?

 

[Marengo]

If he really wanted to kidnap her he wouldn't have announced it. Just another crazy person, who knows what such people will do next?

 

[An Ard Ri]

Just saw this story on Hola

Un diario recibe una carta con amenazas de secuestro a Elisabeth de Bélgica

 

[dbarn67]

I'm hearing there's strong police surveillance at her school now. Such a shame; pre-pubescents try to avoid being the center of attention too much. She already has the spotlight but now more than ever.

 

[Osipi]

I'm hearing there's strong police surveillance at her school now. Such a shame; pre-pubescents try to avoid being the center of attention too much. She already has the spotlight but now more than ever.

I seriously think (and hope) that this whacko figured that he could "use" the Princess to gain attention to himself and his supposed "cause". Anyone would realize that any kind of threat made towards the royal family and especially the children would be taken very very seriously and would grab the media's attention and figure that it is a good way to leap into national attention for a very short time. Hopefully too he'll have a very long time in prison to savor his wonderful blip of fame.

 

[Lee-Z]

Well, let's just hope that the person doesn't give others ideas to use something similar to get their points across...

 

[carlota]

how frightening it must be for the RF. the belgians clearly seem to be in the eye of weirdos who threaten against kidnapping them or attempting against them: not long ago someone threatened to kill fabiola, didn't they? wonder why this happens in belgium and not in any other monarchies.

i'd have assumed that elisabeth is not being told much about this to let her be in peace and enjoy her time in school - with higher security, there's no need to put pressure on her as well, they will do a great job at keeping her safe without the need to terrorise her.

 

[leidi]

OMG this is so scary, why do they have to target children? (well in general it is wrong to target anyone but children in particular are so defenseless), Elisabeth didn't ask to be born where she is, I hope all security around the kids is strenghtened, not only about her because the crazy guy might change his plans and try to take the other ones

Thankfully P&M are very protective of their children and took immediate measures to make sure nothing wrong will happen.

I just hope the culprit(s) is(are) arrested soon.

 

[MARG]

I think it's "the lone nutter" that poses the most danger to Princess Elisabeth. I cannot help but remember that that was the case in the attempted abduction of The Princess Royal and, had it not been for the fact that she was a strong willed adult who fought back she may very well have been taken or even killed. As it was, four people were wounded by gunfire.

I think that they will be taking this threat very seriously because you cannot logically state that if it was a real threat he/they wouldn't have sent the letter. You cannot assign logic to nutters and, unfortunately, there are more than a few around.

It must be very scarey for a young child to have to deal with this sort of threat because ignorance is not an option. She has to know why her every move is shadowed, even when all she just wants to do is skip rope with her friends. Loving parents who want her to live as normal a life as possible are the only antidote to living in fear.

 

[Isabella Park]

Oh my god!!
That's too bad news..
I hope that Princess Elisabeth is safe.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

This is the second member of the BRF to have received a threat. I remember the creep who used to promise to shoot Queen Fabiola every year. But to menace an innocent child is just awful.

I hope this lowlife is captured and imprisoned.

 

[Al_bina]

It is quite disturbing news for a quiet country country such as Belguim. The person in question might be disgruntled with certain things happening in the country. Making threats against Crown Princess achieves nothing.

 

[IloveCP]

I can only imagine what Elisabeth is feeling. I hope she will always be safe.

 

[Tiggersk8]

Sadly and considering the "reason" stated in the letter for the threat, they can't brush it off, and I would think their security people would take it even more seriously because of why he is doing this. There's so much hatred right now against those of the Muslim Faith and the perceived views of a sad few that "They're taking over our Country and must be stopped!!". Those few are so blinded by the sickness of bigotry, they are ready and willing to do whatever they think is needed in order "for the cause" to win/change things to their "thinking".

Sadly, it doesn't matter if it's only one person who stated in beyond crystal clear wording why he was making this threat. It's the reason why the threat was made that is terrifying. After all, we've all seen and heard just how much pain, grief and life shattering changes that the actions of one determined zealot can hand out over the years. Some of the survivors of such acts are racing w/Prince Harry to the South Pole as we speak.

This is beyond scary for all of the BRF right now. My thoughts and prayers for them to have courage and strength over the coming days will be and are headed their direction.


Sent from my iPad using The Royals Community mobile app

 

[Jacknch]

Palace has confirmed the news, many belgian media are reporting on this
Onbekende wil Elisabeth ontvoeren | VTM NIEUWS

Apparently the person lashes out against foreigners (muslims in particular), says they are taking advantage of the belgian people and is angry that king and government don't take appropriate actions against them.
Person has therefore decided to take action himself in that he will kidnap the princess.

King and Queen are in Luxemburg and have been notified of the letter, security around the princess has been heightened...
Belgian authorities take the threat very seriously...

This is a shocking state of affairs I must say. Whilst I am certain that the young princess is well looked after and has adequate security protection, the very idea of a kidnapping will be in her parents' minds and it must be quite stressful for all concerned.

The man who made the threats appears to have been angry that the king and government do not take appropriate action in relation to his ridiculous complaint. Rather ironic that the action he proposed to take is far from appropriate itself and hardly addresses the concerns he has.

 

[leidi]

Philippe took Elisabeth and Gabriel to school yesterday:

deredactie.be video: Het journaal 1 - 03/12/13

http://nieuws.vtm.be/binnenland/70254-onbekende-wil-elisabeth-ontvoeren

And yes, those threats should never be brushed aside, as MARG pointed above, there's the chance of a shooting or a bomb (God forbid) happening, saying that it wouldn't happen just because he announced it is not an option, I am a parent myself and I'd be terrified if anything remotely like this happened to my children, I think P&M feel that and it's better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Victorian-Dandy]

It has to be truly terrifying for them all, I just hope and pray that these threats remain just that and do not come to fruition.

 

[Bine221]

It has to be truly terrifying for them all, I just hope and pray that these threats remain just that and do not come to fruition.

I am soo sad for the RF and especially Elisabeth. How horrible, if a obviously ill person is speading such messages to an innocent little girl.
BYe Bine

 

[Flipje]

This is so scary.

Ugh. Some people.

 

[GracieGiraffe]

I think it's "the lone nutter" that poses the most danger to Princess Elisabeth. I cannot help but remember that that was the case in the attempted abduction of The Princess Royal and, had it not been for the fact that she was a strong willed adult who fought back she may very well have been taken or even killed. As it was, four people were wounded by gunfire.

I think that they will be taking this threat very seriously because you cannot logically state that if it was a real threat he/they wouldn't have sent the letter. You cannot assign logic to nutters and, unfortunately, there are more than a few around.

It must be very scarey for a young child to have to deal with this sort of threat because ignorance is not an option. She has to know why her every move is shadowed, even when all she just wants to do is skip rope with her friends. Loving parents who want her to live as normal a life as possible are the only antidote to living in fear.

Yes, that is very true - we cannot expect the irrational to act rationally. And usually these types want as much attention and notoriety as they can garner.

As for Elisabeth now knowing - she's 12. It's the internet age. Her classmates will let her know, no matter how much her family might want to shield her and downplay all of this. Her classmates also face some threat as they could be in the wrong place at the wrong time, theoretically. So they must be placed on their guard as well.

Horrible to shatter innocence like this.

 

[leidi]

Another threatening letter was sent to RTL yesterday:

La princesse Elisabeth menacée d'enlèvement: RTL reçoit aussi une lettre anonyme (vidéo) - RTL info

 

[Marengo]

VTM's royalty/ het nieuwsblad makes a comparison to 1936, when a man from Liege demanded 2 million Belgian francs to stop him from kidnapping Baudouin, Albert and Josephine-Charlotte:

Ook Boudewijn en Albert werden als kind bedreigd - Het Nieuwsblad

The man soon was identified as the 31 y/o gangster Nicholas Elsèn and he was arrested. It is unknown how much time he spent in prison though.