tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8783969302315257415.post4205195532311631299..comments2024-03-16T01:00:19.876-05:00Comments on The Mad Monarchist: The Abdication of Leopold IIIMadMonarchisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08083008336883267870noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8783969302315257415.post-73178801792353467872009-07-16T17:36:35.492-05:002009-07-16T17:36:35.492-05:00Of course, it may well be true. In any case, it wa...Of course, it may well be true. In any case, it was a terrible tragedy. Thanks again for the post.Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18230268418171628594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8783969302315257415.post-36119400522559651342009-07-16T16:55:35.900-05:002009-07-16T16:55:35.900-05:00It seems people are forever taking one or two thin...It seems people are forever taking one or two things out of context, blowing them totally out of proportion and then just assuming something that is the total opposite of reality. Leopold III is one of the more prominent victims of this but certainly not the only one.<br /><br />As for the Queen and their child, I read it in the Royal Houses of Europe book I think, just took for granted it was true. So, I havn't really "heard" anything about it, just saw it listed as another sad fact and accepted it. I didn't know there was any doubt about it.MadMonarchisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08083008336883267870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8783969302315257415.post-9460508969225719512009-07-16T14:39:36.929-05:002009-07-16T14:39:36.929-05:00Thank you very much for this post, and for adding ...Thank you very much for this post, and for adding the links to mine. I think Cardinal van Roey, Primate of Belgium, put it well, when he said Baudouin's accession was a joyful event, but also a sad one as the change of reign had been caused not by the course of nature (although this, too, I suppose, would be sad, but in a different way) but by a campaign of calumny against the previous King. <br /><br />It always strikes me, how many tragedies Leopold III experienced, in rapid succession- the death of his father, his wife, the war, the political upheavals, the loss of his throne. They say "lightning never strikes twice" but, so to speak, it certainly struck him many times. Who would ever have expected all this, after World War I? The Belgian royal family was widely respected and loved both at home and abroad, they seemed to have everything - a heroic King and Queen, a "fairytale" Crown Prince and Princess- who would ever imagine so much would be swept away in such a short time?<br /><br />I just had one slight question about the biography- has it ever really been confirmed that Astrid was pregnant when she died? I know it was rumored at the time, but in her memoirs, Anna Sparre, the Queen's best friend (who surely would have been the first to know) says nothing about a pregnancy. So I have always wondered about it...what have you heard?Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18230268418171628594noreply@blogger.com