Belgium

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 80, 8 April 1915, Page 5

Belgium

KIMC ALBERT'S BIRTHDAY

ACKNOWLEDGMENT FROM LOYAL SUBJECTS IN AUSTRALIA. ROYAL INTEREST IN WELFARE OF UNHAPPY COUNTRYMEN. Unitkd Prebs Association. (Received 9.10 a.m.) Sydney, April 8. The Rose Bay Belgian appeal committee cabled to King Albert saying that they were holding a festival and that the Belgians forwarded their felicitations on His Majesty's birthday. King Albert replied thanking the committee, saying that he would be.happy to personally distribute the gift to his unhappy countrymen.

(Albert, King of the Belgians, is the second son of the late Count of Fhuir ders, and is a nephew of the late King Leopold If. Ho was born April Bth, 1875, and married the Duchess Elizabeth of Bavaria in 1900. King Albert has two sons. Prince Leopold (born 1901), Prince Charles Theodore (born 1903), and a daughter, Princess Marie-Jose (born 1906). On December 17th, 1909, King Albert succeeded his uncle to the throne of Belgium. It may be noted that under the rule of Albert, conditions in the Belgian Congo have greatly improved, forced labour being abolished, and the Congo basin opened to foreign trade. His individual action in the present crisis, often at great personal risk, is one of the virtues endearing him to his people. It is hoped that future returns of the birthday festival will be celebrated under brighter and happier conditions.