King Philip and his son Prince Gabriel travelled to Switzerland to pay tribute to Queen Astrid, fourth Queen of the Belgians, who died in a road accident in Switzerland, 80 years ago on Saturday. It was a death that shocked and shook Belgium, and probably altered its history.
Long before the tragic deaths of Princess Grace of Monaco (1982) and of Diana, Princess of Wales (1997) there was the death of Queen Astrid, the 29 year old beautiful mother of three – born Princess of Sweden, and sister to Norway's Crown Princess Märtha. Her sons Baudoin and Albert II were kings, her only daughter became as Grand-Duchess of Luxembourg, as wife of Grand Duke Jean.
Astrid and her husband King Leopold III, who had come to the throne in 1934 after his father King Albert I was killed in a mountaineering accident, were on a summer holiday in Switzerland when the fatal accident occurred.
LAKE LUCERNE
On the morning of August 29, the royal couple drove along Lake Lucerne, with the King driving, when the car veered off the road. The vehicle then struck a tree before falling into the lake. The queen was ejected from the car, hit her head on a tree and died instantly. The king suffered only minor injuries.
Belgium was in deep mourning. The couple's youngest child Prince Albert was only 14 months old, and had just started walking. That was one reason the King and Queen, who had send their elder children home by train only one day earlier, wanted to go home as quickly as possible. According to the King's wish, the wrecked car was cast into the deepest part of Lake Lucerne.
The Swiss Confederation offered Belgium the place where the tragedy occurred. Ten months later, a chapel in memory of Queen Astrid was erected there. It was to this Chapel King Philip – grandson of Queen Astrid – travelled to pay hommage. It was the first time he had been here and he took his son Prince Gabriel with him. Five years ago, at the 75th anniversary, it was King Albert II who paid tribute to his deceased mother.
ABDICATION
King Leopold (1901-1983) stayed behind – the lonely King in the big Palace. In the middle of World War II, in 1941, the King remarried, to Lilian Baels, daughter of a Belgian provincial governor. The population never really came to terms with this second marriage, to which another three children were born. King Leopold, who with his young family was kept as prisoner of war towards the end of the war, was forced to abdicate in 1950. © RB
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