Member "Matterhorn" of the magnificent blog "The Cross of Laeken" reminds us that today is the anniversary of the passing of H.M. King Baudouin of the Belgians in 1993, one of my absolute favorite monarchs of recent years. He died unexpectedly of heart failure while on holiday in Spain at the age of 62. May he rest in peace and may his spirit and example continue to guide his country in the future.
Thank you for the kind words. I often wonder what life would have been like for Baudouin if things had gone differently - if he had had his grandfather and mother around for longer, if his father had reigned until his death, and so on. Baudouin really had a tough time, with so many factors militating against him at the beginning of his reign, and later. I'm actually surprised his reign was a success at all, I think of the heirs of Charles X, Louis-Philippe and Victor-Emmanuel III, for instance, none of whom got to reign (at least not for very long) after their predecessors had abdicated. Yet, Baudouin managed to hold on and restore, to a large extent, the prestige of the monarchy.
ReplyDeleteRest in peace, he did the best he could.
ReplyDeleteI think it his morals and firm principles that really made him a respectable figure. Even the ones who disagreed with his traditional values (which I suppose got to be the majority based on how people voted) they still respected the King for standing by his principles. Although I'm sure he would have preferred to do without it, he probably gained some sympathetic favor from the public because of losing his mother, being apart from his father and then being unable to have a family of his own.
ReplyDeleteHe was a very great man, but I suspect he could have been greater still, if he had not had all those shocks in his youth and if he had had more time to prepare for the role.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was last in Brussels I discovered that there was now a bust of the late king outside the Catholic cathedral:
ReplyDeletehttp://media.photobucket.com/image/bust%20%25252B%20%252522King%20baudouin%252522/royal-travel/Brussels/StatuevonBaudouinIvorKathedrale03.jpg