BELGIUM’S ROYAL CHILDREN

Evening Star, Issue 22447, 18 September 1936, Page 1

BELGIUM’S ROYAL CHILDREN

KING LEOPOLD'S CONSTANT CARE The three motherless children of King Leopold of the Belgians are being brought up exactly as their mother, Queen Astrid, wished them to be. Princess Josephine Charlotte will be nine in October, Prince Baudouin is six in September, and Prince Albert was born on June 6, 1934, barely 15 months before his mother was killed in a motor accident a year ago to-day. Princess Josephine, tall, goldenhaired, knows that her mother is dead, states a writer in a London paper. The boys do not. Prince Baudouin said to his sister recently: “ AVhen 1 am bigger I will have a motor car to get mamma, who has been away too long.” Queen Astrid personally looked after her children, spending most of her time with them, and she was often seen pushing a perambulator in the avenues adjoining the palace at Stuyvenberg. The children were moved to Laeken Palace in • September, 1935. Their grandmother, Queen Elizabeth, widow of the famous King Albert, had the Btuyvenberg nursery copied exactly, and the same governesses and servants were brought in. Their education follows Queen Astrid’s method, which was the use of tutors daily under the supervision of their grandmother, their father, or both. The nursery is on the first floor of the Palace of Laeken. The children rise at 7, and are bathed and have light exercises before breakfast. King Leopold often stops in the nursery to say a cheery “ Good morning ” before going to Brussels. Princess Josephine Charlotte leaves Laeken by motor car every morning at 8 for school in the Palace at Brussels, which has four pupils. These, are the princess and three other children of tho same age—Premier Van Zeeland’s daughter, Baxonne Snoy, and the countess Van der Straeten Ponthoz, niece of the Belgian Ambassador to Washington. At noon Princess Josephine returns to Laeken, and lunches in the nursery with her brothers. Sometimes she lunches with Queen Elizabeth and her father, and in' the afternoon she studies under tutors. At 5 o’clock she plays with her brothers, and seldom plays with dolls. The children dine early in the nursery, and are in bed early. Prince Baudouin spends a qalm existence, mostly devoted to playing. He likes bicycling in the palace grounds, and received a bicycle shortly after Queen Astrid’s death because she had promised it. Prince Albert passes. the days of any normal, healthy baby. Queen Elizabeth devotes most of her time to her grandchildren,. and King Leopold is with them whenever possible. Queen Elizabeth goes to the nursery after breakfast, returns during the morning, superintends luncheon, and also keeps an eye on their studies, their play in the nursery, during the afternoon, and their bedtime. She insists that the children’s education and recreation should follow the lines prepared by Queen Astrid, and has been absent only 15 days since Queen Astrid’s death, and that was to visit her daughter iu Naples.