The Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954)(about) |
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Friday 30 August 1935
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BELGIAN QUEEN KILLED
KING LEOPOLD BADLY HURT
Car Crashes Into Tree at Lucerne KING WAS DRIVING LUCERNE (Switzerland) . August 29.
The Queen of the Belgians was killed this morning when a motor car in which she was driving crashed into a tree. The King of the Belgians, who was driving the
car, sustained cuts on the head, and, according to police reports, his injuries are Serious.
KING LEOPOLD, owing to some cause which has not yet been explained, lost control of the car while he was driving on the road beside the lake at Kuss- nacht. The vehicle swerved into a belt of trees alongside' the lake, and the Queen, who was sharing the front seat with tine King, was killed instantly. The chauffeur, who was in the rear seat, escaped injury. According to another version of the tragedy the Queen (formerly Princess Astrid of Sweden) was alone in the back seat of the car at the time of the occurrence, and she experienced the full force of the impact with the tree. Later details suggest that the car had not recovered its direction after it had negotiated a sharp curve on a nar- row road at the water's edge. King Leopold and Queen Astrid had been spending a holiday of some weeks' duration in the Swiss and Ital- ian Alps. They had just visited Dolo- mite Peak (in the Tyrol), where there is a tablet commemorating the late King's Albert's feat in having ascended the peak.
King Leopold. '
King Leopold. '
Their Majesties had been staying at a villa near Lucerne. After King Leo- pold's vounds had been bandaged he was taken back to the villa, to which place the body of Queen Astrid was also removed. STORY OF EYE-WITNESS An eye-witness states that the car was travelling at 30 miles an hour, when it suddenly skidded, hit a small embankment a foot high, and re- bounded against a tree. The Queen was thrown through the window of the car. She was terribly cut, and her skull was fractured. The car, with the King still clinging to the wheel, ran into a small field, where it hit another tree, and then overturned into a bed of reeds on the edge of the lake. Their Majesties' two elder children were also staying at the villa with the King and Queen. LATE QUEEN'S CAREER Niece of Swedish King The Queen of the Belgians, wife of King Leopold III, was enthroned with her Royal husband on February 23, 1934, a week after the fatal accident to King Albert. Before her marriage to Leopold, who was then Crown Prince of Belgium, she was Princess Astrid of Sweden, being the third daughter of Prince Charles, Duke of Vastergotland, and his wife, who was formerly Princess Ingeborg of Den- mark. She was a niece of King Gus tav V of Sweden, and was born at Stockholm in January. 1911.
Her mother had original ideas, and the education of her daughters was different from that usually followed in the case of Royal children. Prin- cess Astrid and her sisters were taught to earn their own living, if necessary, for Princess Ingeborg considered noth- ing so insecure as the existence of a Royal dynasty. Their training in cluded domestic science, and they had to go down once a week to the kit- chen and cook the family's meals. They also had to supervise the house- hold expenses, for strict economy had to be practised, as the family was not rich. The girls learnt to make their own clothes and even to launder them. All took a course of nursing, and had to spend four months as probationers at the hospital, where they were on the same footing as the other nurses, getting up at 5 a.m. and sweeping floors, and attending to other house- hold duties. When the education of Princess Astrid had been finished, her mother took her to Spa. They were invited to visit the Queen of the Belgians (wife of King Albert), who had taken a fancy to the charming Swedish princess, and saw in her a suitable wife for her son, Prince Leopold, who was Crown Prince and Duke of Brabant, Prince Leopold at the time was at the military college, and did not meet his future wife on that occasion. But in March, 1926. his mother took Leopold to Stockholm, and there he met Princess Astrid for the first time. They met again at Luxembourg, to which Astrid had gone with her mother and sister for a christening ceremony. Then it was that the Queen of the Belgians showed her motherly foresight and tact. The two Swedish princesses were invited to stay with the King and Queen of the Belgians at their summer palace During that period Leopold went incognito to Sweden to see the King and Queen of Sweden. Thus it was a loveable marriage was made. ROYAL MARRIAGE Ascent To Belgian Throne The betrothal was announced in September. 192G, and it was em- phasised that it was based on warm, mutual love. The wedding took place in November in two stages — the civil ceremony in Stockholm and the re- ligious service in Brussels, for the bride was, and remained a Protestant, While the Prince is a Roman Catho- lic. The honeymoon was spent in the south of France and in Paris where the young people stayed' in an hotel incognito as M. and Mme. Los ange, from Mentone, seeing the sights like ordinary tourists and sometime taking supper in Montmartre. They
had a great welcome home to Bel- gium. On October 11, 1927, the Crown Princess gave birth to a daughter, who was named Josephine Charlotte Ingeborg Marie-Jose Astrid. The birth of an heir to the throne, Prince Baudouin, in 1931, caused great re- joicing in Belgium. While the Crown Prince and Prin- cess were ski-ing at . Adelbodcn in February, 1934, they received the news of the tragic death of King Albert. He had been killed by a fall while rock-climbing in the Ardennes Stunned by the tidings, Leopold hastened back to Brussels, where on February 23 he was proclaimed as King Leopold III. In a manifesto to the nation he said: 'Belgium will continue to associate herself with the organisations of peace, which she hopes to see prolonged in honour and justice by the coming together of the peoples. Belgium will also remain, re- solved to make all necessary sacri- fices to assure the safety of her soil and liberty. I give myself to Bel- gium. The Queen will help me with all her heart in the accomplishment of my duty."'
After the coronation the Queen played a splendid part with her Royal husband in relieving distress in the country. Her early training proved of Immense benefit, for she became the practical leader of several social and domestic movements for the educa- tion of Belgian mothers and girls, and became deservedly popular throughout the nation. Leopold III has been an exceptionally popular King; in fact, he has been called an ambassador of his country. And in every movement for the welfare of his people he had the loyal co-operation of his young Queen. KING ALBERT'S DEATH Fell Down Cliff At Namur On the afternoon of February. 17, 1934, King Albert of the Belgians, who had led his little nation through, the dark days of the war, perhaps the most heroic figure in all Europe, met his death near Namur while in- dulging in his favourite hobby of mountaineering. With his valet he had motored to Rocher de Marche des Dames, where he intended to climb the most difficult rocks. . He left his valet in the car, saying: that he would be back within an hour, but never returned. At 2 o'clock the following morning his body was found at the foot of a steep cliff, with a deep wound in the neck. Fallen rocks lay near by. Amid national mourning and with heartfelt tributes from an admiring and sorrowing world, King Albert was buried with military pomp and splendour in the Royal crypt at Laeken, and his, son Leopold was crowned King in his stead.
There were not wanting, however, rumours that King Albert had been the victim of foul play, and on February 22 a free fight occurred in the Belgian Parliament when a Com- munist deputy insinuated that pos- sibly King Albert's death had not been due to an accident. Nothing further than rumours developed, and it does not appear that this tragic in- cident, which cast a gloom over the civilised world, was anything more than a pure mishap, caused by a boul- der, over which King Albert had thrown a rope, giving way and hurl- ing the King on to a butting shoulder of rock, causing instant death. LAKE OF LUCERNE One of Finest in Euroupe
Lucerne, the capital of the Swiss canton of the same name, is situated 59 miles south-east of Basle. It is beautifully situated where the Reuss issues from the Lake of Lucerne, opposite Mount Pilatus, and is partly surrounded with mediaeval towers. On a rock in the Reuss is an old, tower, which is said to have been, a light house (lucerna) in Roman times, hence the name of the town. Outside one of the gates is the Lion of Lu-
The children of the late Queen: Prince Baudouin and Princess Josephine.
The children of the late Queen: Prince Baudouin and Princess Josephine.
cerne, which was hewn in 1821 out of the solid rock after a model by Thor- waldsen, and is a monument to the Swiss Guards who perished at the Tuileries in Paris in 1792. Nearby is the Glacier Garden with rocks illus- trating the action of ice. The Lake of Lucerne is one of the most beautiful in Europe. In shape it resembles a cross with a crumpleH stem, and its shores are mostly steep and rocky. The length from Lucerne to Fluelen is 23 miles, and its average breadth is one and a half miles.
Late Queen Astrid
Late Queen Astrid