22 chapters
5 hour read
Selected Chapters
22 chapters
MY OWN AFFAIRS
MY OWN AFFAIRS
By The Princess Louise of Belgium With Photogravure Frontispiece and Eight Plates Translated by Maude M. C. ffoulkes CASSELL AND COMPANY, LIMITED London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne 1921 I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO the Great Man, to the Great King, who was MY FATHER...
16 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER I Why I Write this Book
CHAPTER I Why I Write this Book
As the eldest daughter of a great man and a great King, whose magnificent intelligence has enriched his people, I owe nothing but misfortune to my royal origin. Ever since I was born I have suffered and been deceived. I have idealized Life too much. In the evening of my days I do not wish to remain under the cloud of the false impression which is now prevalent concerning me. Without desiring to allude too much to the past, and to retrace the road of my Calvary, I should like at least to borrow a
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER II My Beloved Belgium; my Family and Myself; Myself—as I Know Myself
CHAPTER II My Beloved Belgium; my Family and Myself; Myself—as I Know Myself
If in an official procession the principal personage comes last, then Belgium should come last in my pages, for it is about myself that I must begin. I decide to do so not without apprehension, for I remember the descriptions of themselves which celebrated writers of autobiography—Saint Simon, for instance—have given at the commencement of their memoirs. Far be it from me to wish to paint myself in glowing colours. That would be a pretension from which the great writers who possessed the talent
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER III The Queen
CHAPTER III The Queen
The Queen was the daughter of Joseph Antoine Jean, Prince Royal of Hungary and Bohemia, Archduke of Austria (the last Palatin, greatly venerated by the Hungarians), and his third wife, Marie Dorothée Guillemine Caroline, Princess of Wurtemburg. Affianced to Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant, heir to the throne of Belgium, Marie Henriette of Austria married him by proxy at Schönbrunn on August 10, 1853, and in person, according to the Almanach de Gotha , in Brussels on the 22nd of the same month. B
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IV The King
CHAPTER IV The King
My father was not only a great king—he was a great man. A king may achieve greatness through possessing the art of surrounding himself with the right entourage, and thus taking advantage of the importance which it is then so easy for him to gain. He must be superior, at least at heart, to have a taste for superiority. When he came into power Leopold II did not aim at gathering round him those wonderful intellects who would have inspired him to greatness. He had not the same chances as Louis XIV,
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER V My Country and the Days of my Youth
CHAPTER V My Country and the Days of my Youth
It is more than forty-five years that, since my marriage, Fate has exiled me from my native country. I have never revisited Belgium, except in passing through it, and then often under very painful circumstances. Well! I will close my eyes and return in imagination to the Château of Laeken, and to a certain pathway in the park; I will go, in like manner, to one particular footpath in the forest of Soignies; there are trees, stones and roofs there, which seem to me to be those which I once knew. A
20 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VI My Marriage and the Austrian Court—the Day after my Marriage
CHAPTER VI My Marriage and the Austrian Court—the Day after my Marriage
I was barely fifteen when it was first decided that I was to be married. On March 25, 1874, I was officially betrothed to Prince Philip of Saxe-Coburg; on February 18 I entered my sixteenth year. My fiancé certainly showed perseverance. He had already made two proposals for me. His first was repeated after an interval of two years. The King replied to it by advising him to travel. The prince then made a tour round the world; this completed he renewed his request. Again he was asked to wait. To m
9 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VII Married
CHAPTER VII Married
On the morrow of such a painful episode in the life of two newly married people I witnessed with bitter grief the preparations for my departure to Austria. Never was Belgium so dear to me; never had she appeared more beautiful. Concealing my tears, I said good-bye to all those who had known me as a child and a young girl, and who had loved and served me, and to all the familiar objects in the Château of Laeken, where everything appealed to my affection. Little did I foresee that I should be look
22 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER VIII My Hosts at the Hofburg—the Emperor Francis Joseph and the Empress Elizabeth
CHAPTER VIII My Hosts at the Hofburg—the Emperor Francis Joseph and the Empress Elizabeth
Since defeat has overthrown in one day thrones which were the foundation of the world of Germany, I sometimes pass from the Ring towards the Graben by the Hofburg, the ancient Imperial Palace of this city of Vienna where I am now writing. I can see from the Fransenplatz (the large inner court) the windows of the rooms which formerly saw me received by the guards and chamberlains with the honours due to my rank. These windows are now closed, empty and silent. In Vienna everything seems dead. The
21 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER IX My Sister Stéphanie Marries the Archduke Rudolph, who Died at Meyerling
CHAPTER IX My Sister Stéphanie Marries the Archduke Rudolph, who Died at Meyerling
My younger sister spent a happy girlhood at Brussels. At the age of nineteen she was a radiant beauty. Without knowing whom she was eventually to marry, she had been encouraged to look forward to making a more advantageous marriage than her eldest sister. The King had never been very enthusiastic over my marriage with the Prince of Coburg. He had higher ambitions for me. My mother, however, desired the marriage. I have already given her reasons. To avenge himself for his disappointed hopes, the
17 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER X Ferdinand of Coburg and the Court of Sofia
CHAPTER X Ferdinand of Coburg and the Court of Sofia
The glory of the Coburg family reached its zenith at the time of Leopold I and the Prince Consort. They gave to the world a series of princes who were veritably made to rule. Their direct influence on Belgium, and indirectly on England, created a period of peace and an "Entente," of which the beneficial results are so well known. Later, when my father continued the brilliant work bequeathed to him by King Leopold, Duke Ernest, Prince Regent of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, proved himself no le
18 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XI William II and the Court of Berlin—The Emperor of Illusion
CHAPTER XI William II and the Court of Berlin—The Emperor of Illusion
I wish to speak of William II as of one dead. He does not belong to this world; he belongs to another. I must be excused if I am sparing of anecdotes. It would be painful to me to recall to life and movement one who has passed. My desire is to limit myself to explaining effects of which I know the cause. It was puerile to wish under high-sounding vain words such a petty thing as the arrest and trial of a Government sunk in shame. Society cannot recognize any Divine law in crimes against civiliza
10 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XII The Holsteins
CHAPTER XII The Holsteins
I first knew Augusta of Schleswig-Holstein shortly after her marriage with Prince William of Prussia. I saw her later as German Empress at the Court of Berlin. It was not easy to find favour in her sight; not that she was a malicious woman, but her narrowness of mind and her pretensions to the perfections of German virtues made her no friendly judge of women. A pessimist and a martinet, she was wholly given up to her domestic duties and her worship of the God of Luther, whom she served with a ze
12 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIII The Courts of Munich and Old Germany
CHAPTER XIII The Courts of Munich and Old Germany
Each time I have stayed at the Court of Vienna I have regretted that I did not know Louis II personally. When I first saw him he had already taken refuge in his dreams and his dreamlike castles. Like Rudolph, he had been seized with a great mistrust, not of humanity, but of those who directed human affairs. He did not, like Rudolph, find a way of escape in suicide. Louis II created for himself a paradise of art and beauty, where he endeavoured to lose himself, away from his people, whom he loved
11 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIV Queen Victoria
CHAPTER XIV Queen Victoria
Is it possible for me to mention the name of Queen Victoria without remembering that the Prince of Coburg and myself were often the guests of our aunt and cousin? One of the most hospitable of women, she revelled in the joys of domesticity, and liked nothing better than to gather her relatives around her, preferably the Coburgs, the family of which the Prince Consort was a member. Although the Queen was extremely short, afflicted with a corpulency that was almost a deformity, and an excessively
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XV The Drama of my Captivity and my Life as a Prisoner—The Commencement of Torture
CHAPTER XV The Drama of my Captivity and my Life as a Prisoner—The Commencement of Torture
My misfortunes, alas! are known to the public all over the world. But it is not on me that they weigh most heavily. If calumny and persecution, assisted by the most powerful influences, have continually added blow upon blow, one truth, at least, is patent: I was not — I am not — mad , and those who endeavoured to affirm that I was insane, did so to their shame, and, I also hope, to their sorrow. "Nevertheless," it was said, "the princess is peculiar." Others, better informed, declared emphatical
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVI Lindenhof
CHAPTER XVI Lindenhof
Can anyone adequately realize the sufferings of a woman who sees herself erased from the world and taken to a madhouse—the conscious prisoner of an odious abuse of power? At Doebling, and afterwards at Purkesdorf, my tortures would have been beyond human endurance if I alone had been obliged to suffer. But with the hope of Divine justice, the knowledge that another was submitting to a worse punishment solely on my account gave me strength to endure. The loss of honour is as terrible as the loss
8 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVII How I Regained my Liberty and at the Same Time was Declared Sane
CHAPTER XVII How I Regained my Liberty and at the Same Time was Declared Sane
As I had not been in good health it seemed advisable for me to take the waters at some cure. I really needed treatment, and as small thermal establishments abound in Germany it was not difficult to find a place suitable to my state of health, where my keepers would have no fear of a cosmopolitan crowd, and where they could still guard me as an isolated prisoner. However, soon after the incident of the letters which had been thrown into my carriage, I was told that I was to stay at Lindenhof. The
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XVIII The Death of the King—Intrigues and Legal Proceedings
CHAPTER XVIII The Death of the King—Intrigues and Legal Proceedings
A certain book exists of which only 110 copies have been printed, and these have been carefully distributed among those who were unlikely to mislay them. This book, of which I deplore the fact that a greater number of copies were not printed, contains all the evidence concerning Niederfullbach, and the various judgments against my claims. Such as it is, and for the sake of what it contains and does not contain, I should be glad to see this book in the colleges and schools of Law throughout the w
24 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XIX My Sufferings during the War
CHAPTER XIX My Sufferings during the War
I was at Vienna when war was declared, and until actual hostilities commenced I could hardly believe such a thing was possible. The idea that the Emperor Francis Joseph, already with one foot in the grave, contemplated appearing as a combatant, after invariably suffering defeat, seemed sheer madness to me. It is true that a camarilla, acting under orders from Berlin, used the weakly old man as a tool. But that Berlin really wished to embark on a war which could not fail to cause a universal conf
15 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
CHAPTER XX In the Hope of Rest
CHAPTER XX In the Hope of Rest
And now that I have said all that I think is indispensable, perhaps my readers will make excuses for me if I have expressed myself badly in narrating the story of my sufferings. They will, perhaps, also make excuses for my having broken the silence which I have hitherto maintained. There has been endless discussion concerning me and my affairs. I have not wished it, I have not inspired it. It has arisen solely through force of circumstances. We are powerless against circumstances. Our lives seem
6 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter