Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

DEATH OF THE DUKE OF BRABANT.
His Royal Highness the Prince Royal
died on the morning of January 22. The
young Duke of Brabant had a presentiment
for several days that his end was approach-
ing. On January 14 he said to one of his
physicians, " have I yet some days to live,
doctor ?" The physician constrained him-
self to re-assure his young patient, and said,
"your Highness is much better." "Indeed,
no," replied the prince, " I am sure that
my end draws near." For the last three
days the Queen did not leave her son's
couch; she remained beside him without
even changing her garments. The King, a
prey to agitation and violent grief, for
several nights paid incessant visits to the
chamber to see his son, and to make anxious
inquiries as to the progress of the disease.
When the end had come and there was no
longer any doubt of the prince's decease,
the King threw himself upon a couch and
uttered heartrending cries. The physicians
surrounded him, and he was obliged to be
placed in his bed. The prince expired in
the room in which his grandfather, Leopold
I, drew his last breath. For four days the
prince was delirious, and he expired at forty
minutes after midnight. His sisters, the
young princesses, left Laeken on January
22, the same morning, to stay for a time at
Brussels. After embalmment, the mortal
remains of the prince were removed to
Brussels, where they were placed in a
chapelle ardente. The first Duke of Brabant,
heir presumptive to the throne of Belgium,
of the present dynasty, died at the Chateau
of Laeken in May, 1834, at the age of ten
months. He was the first child of the mar-
riage of Leopold I with Queen Louise
Marie, Princess of Orleans, daughter of
King Louis Philippe, and was born in July,
1833. The young Duke of Brabant having
been the only son of King Leopold II, the
heir presumptive to the crown of Belgium
is now his Royal Highness the Count of
Flanders, brother to the king. The count.
was horn on March 27, 1837, and is conse-
quently thirty-two years of age and entitled
to sit and vote in the Senate. The funeral
of the Prince Royal took place on January
25. The K'ing and the Count of Flanders
were present at the solemn ceremony. There
was an immense concourse of spectators,
who evinced the deepest sympathy and
sorrow.
$