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The Red Queen
Elisabeth of the Belgians (1876-1965)
By Art Beéche
At Possenhofen
castle, drenched by the waters of Lake Starnberg, a little princess was
born on
July 25,
1876. Her name was Elisabeth, her country was Bavaria, her future was Belgium.
A
member
of the illustrious House of Wittelsbach, she was given the name of her
most famous, and
romantically
well remembered aunt, Elisabeth in Bavaria, Empress of Austria, commonly
known
as "Sissi."
At the time of the little princess' birth, some twenty-odd monarchs ruled
over Germany.
Some of
these rulers were of consequence, others functioned more like little operetta
monarchs in
small
principalities.
Above the
German monarchs the House of Hohenzollern ruled supreme in the person of
Kaiser
Wilhelm
I, the recently crowned emperor of a new Germany. In Bavaria, the little
princess'
cousins
wildly spent the country's revenues building the legacy for which the country
is known.
Indeed,
the romantic castles built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria remain the country's
most
recognizable
attraction.
The father
of Duchess Elisabeth was Karl-Theodor, Duke in Bavaria, an ophthalmologist
of
recognized
reputation. Her mother was the Infanta Maria-Josepha of Portugal, daughter
of exiled
King Miguel
I of Portugal. Maria-Josepha was the sister of Maria Theresa of Portugal,
third wife
of Archduke
Karl-Ludwig of Habsburg and stepmother of Emperor Karl I, of Maria-Anne
of
Portugal,
wife of Grand Duke William of Luxembourg, and of Maria-Antonia of Portugal,
second
wife of
Duke Robert I of Bourbon-Parma and mother of Zita, wife of Emperor Karl
I. An artist
himself,
Duke Karl-Theodor cultivated the artistic tastes of his family, and Elisabeth
was raised
with a
deep love for painting, music and sculpture. At her father's clinic, Elisabeth
learned to cope
with human
suffering.
Duchess
Elisabeth met her future husband under sad circumstances. Her aunt, Sophie-Charlotte
in
Bavaria
had married the Prince Ferdinand of Bourbon-Orleans, Duke d'Alencon. On
May 4, 1897,
the Duchess
d'Alencon met with a terrible and untimely death during the fire that consumed
the
Charity
Bazaar in Paris. At the funeral for this tragically deceased woman, Elisabeth
met Prince
Albert
of Belgium. At the time that Albert and Elisabeth met, Prince Albert was
the heir to his
uncle
King Leopold II of the Belgians. Albert was the second son of Prince Philippe,
Count of
Flanders,
and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a sister of King Carol
I of Romania.
At birth,
Albert occupied the third place in the line of succession behind his father
and elder
brother,
Prince Baudouin. The unexpected death of Baudouin in January of 1891 immediately
raised
Albert to prominence within his country. A studious, quiet man, Albert
was not the choice
of heir
that King Leopold II would have relished. As the only male member of his
generation,
Albert
was guaranteed the crown of the Belgians upon the king's death. Albert
had two sisters who
survived
into adulthood, Princess Henriette who married Prince Emmanuel of Orleans,
and
Princess
Josephine who married her cousin Prince Karl-Anton of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen,
brother
of King Ferdinand I of Romania.
Belgian
Royal Family: Front row, left to right: Prince Charles, Princess Marie-José,
Queen Elisabeth, Prince Leopold.
In the back: King Albert I of the Belgians. c.1910
Seduced
by the intense looks of the gracious and slender Bavarian princess, Albert
asked her to
marry
him not long after. The wedding took place on October 2, 1900. A little
over a year later, on
November
3, 1901, their happy marriage was crowned with the birth of a little prince,
the future
King Leopold
III of the Belgians. Two more children would join the royal nursery in
Brussels,
Charles
on 10 October 1903 , and Marie-Jose on 4 August 1906. This young princess
would
eventually
become the last queen of Italy. The pleasurable and tranquil life of Albert
and Elisabeth
came to
an end on 17 December 1909. On this date old King Leopold II of the Belgians
died
without
a male heir. The Belgian crown was inherited by his nephew, who ascended
the throne as
Albert
I, King of the Belgians.
At the
beginning of the First World War, the German armies invaded Belgium, violating
the
country's
neutrality. The Belgian royal couple refused to abandon their subjects
and stayed on
while
the country's valiant, although futile, effort tried to resist the German
onslaught. Elisabeth,
using
the medical knowledge she had acquired at her father's clinic, opened a
field hospital where
she served
as a nurse. During these terrible times, Elisabeth lifted the spirits of
wounded soldiers
by given
each one a floral arrangement during a lonely Christmas. Her sensible soul
had
understood
that at certain times, small details gained essential importance. On 11
November 1918
Belgium
was liberated. Riding next to her husband, now known as the Cavalier King,
Elisabeth
joined
the parades to receive the ovations of the Belgian populace.
The end
of the Great War also meant the beginning of a very happy period in Elisabeth's
life. She
could
indulge in her passion for the arts. The royal couple gained worldwide
recognition for their
valiant
defense of Belgium. Foreign travels became commonplace, and everywhere
they went,
Albert
and Elisabeth were received as heroes.
On 17 February
1934, King Albert I met with death unexpectedly. During a solitary mountaineering
trip,
Albert fell to his death in the mountains of Marche-les-Dames. Elisabeth
received the tragic
news at
Laeken Palace and in a show of internal fortitude, the Queen did not loose
her composure.
The magnitude
of Albert's death would hit her days after the royal funeral.
History
seemed to repeat itself in 1940. King Leopold III, Albert and Elisabeth's
eldest son, was
faced
during hectic moments with the onslaught of the Nazi armies. Belgium was
invaded and
quickly
overtaken by the advancing German armies. During the Second World war,
Elisabeth of
Belgium
found solace in her music and charitable organizations.
Upon Belgium's
liberation, Elisabeth once again dedicated herself to the artistic development
and
restoration
of her devastated country. She created schools, artistic competitions and
met with the
greatest
talents of her time. In fact, in 1958 Elisabeth became the first royalty
received at the
Kremlin.
"I love to travel and meet people from all over the world," declared the
Queen Mother of
Belgium.
"I love art in all its forms, I love seeing the world by myself, especially
when that world
is in
the East." Three years later she paid a visit to China against the reservations
of her grandson
King Baudouin
who said: "Grandmother....you are going to bother quite a few people...I
know,
said the
Queen, but good thinkers of this country are not going to forgive me for
this. Yet, thanks to
the Lord
those people are fewer and fewer every day."
On 23 November
1965, as rain shrouded the skyline of Brussels, at Stuyvenberg Palace a
Queen
was dying.
The Belgium royal family, royalties from around the continent, artists
and the people of
Belgium
in general lamented the loss of a great woman. No other person best summarized
Queen
Elisabeth's
life than her friend Jean Cocteau: "There was in Belgium a modest queen
of small
frame
and large soul who always said...I'm but an artist...and in her modesty
as an artist Elisabeth
said...I'm
just a queen."
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