Word: leopolds
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Without his father's counsel and his Queen's popular touch, Leopold began to get himself into stupid situations. He insisted on writing his own speeches about colonial policy and economic affairs. Politicians groused that in England the constitutional monarch left speeches to his ministers. Leopold antagonized Parliament by refusing to grant its members the customary honors and titles...
...Rule or Reign. Leopold's biggest mistake was his conviction about the outcome of World War II. In March 1940 he told a visitor: "I am as anti-Hitler as you are. But keep in mind that Germany will win the war." The King seemed right when the German army engulfed Belgium after 18 hopeless days of resistance. He refused to follow his government to exile in England. He surrendered his army. In both these actions he showed his stubborn will to rule rather than reign...
...Leopold's case has been summed up by wartime Premier Hubert Pierlot. "The King is not a traitor," he wrote in 1947. "We have never doubted his good intentions. There is nothing unconstitutional in a King's being wrong, provided he follows the advice of his government. In this case, his ministers take the responsibility for his acts. But the King has acted on his own against the advice of his government . . . What is even more serious, he refrained from informing his ministers of his intentions ... A minister who bears the responsibility has a right to know...
Private Affair. The Germans interned Leopold in the royal chateau at Laeken. He regarded himself as a prisoner of war, refused to exercise royal functions. He visited Hitler at Berchtesgaden; his purpose, he later said, was to get better treatment for the Belgians. It was at Laeken, in September 1941, that he married Mary Liliane Baels...
Hill of the Highnesses. Leopold and Mary Liliane are waiting, too. Four years ago, after a nonstop drive from Austria, they arrived at Le Reposoir, a greystone mansion near Geneva, Switzerland. (The upkeep is $7,500 a year rent, plus wages for six servants, two secretaries.) They dream of a return to Brussels, and Le Reposoir lends itself to such dreams. Built in the 18th Century, it is nicknamed le coteau des altesses-the hill of the highnesses. Among others who have lived there and dreamed of lost diadems were Louis Bonaparte's Queen Hortense and Napoleon...