OOSTENDE ROYALS
In the winter weather of Belgium, Ostend is a warm breath.
Ostend is the warm paradise in the winter climate of Belgium. Belgians found there the summer dream. The three S: sun, sand and sea. It’s not a big surprise that the Belgian Royal Family wanted to settle down there as a holiday destination.
After the independence from The Netherlands, Belgium was born in 1830 with its first king: Leopold I. He would be the first one of a two centuries long dynasty. Nowadays, Belgium still has a monarchy, with the difference that now is a Constitutional Monarchy.
To understand the influence and importance of the Royal Family in Ostend, first we need to meet our main characters. The first Kings and Queens of Belgium were so interesting in Ostend. As the time past through the Royal family started to look for the summer vacation in the mediterranean coasts.
As we already know, Leopold I was the first king of the modern Belgium we know. He married twice: his first wife was the Princess Charlotte of Wales, the granddaughter of King George III of England. She died in 1817 (21 y.o.) giving birth her stillborn son.
After Charlotte, Leopold married again in 1832 to Louise of Orléans, daughter of King Louise Philippe I of France. Their first born was Louis Philippe, who died when he was one year old. After him, they had the future second king of Belgium, Leopold II (1834–1909). They had two more children: Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Carlota de Mexico.
Louise of Orléans was the first Queen of Belgium. As Belgium was just form as a new independent monarchy, the roles of the Monarchy were not clear yet. Leopold I had a determine role in his country but he never made a specific one for his wife. Louise was barely seen in public, her life was taking car of her children and making sure they had a good education. She also spend a lot of time sending correspondence with her family in France and growing her religious faith with his confessor, with who she had a close relationship.
The family of Leopold I was officially stablished in the Palace of Laeken in Brussels. When the years past and the confidence between the monarchs grew, the king allowed Louise make her own trips around Belgium. Her favourite place was Ostend, where she found a place to grow her casual pastimes: collect seashells, taking boat trips, walked along the beach… there she was just another sea lover.
Her relationship with the King grew so much that he named her Regent of Belgium in his absence. It is known as well that the King asked her for political advice. She never broke her bonds with her French family, and when her parents where exiled to England in the February Revolution of 1848, she visited them. After the Revolution of 1848 in France, the Monarchy in Belgium became more beloved and acclaimed in Belgium.
It was in Ostend where the first Queen on Belgium died the 11 of October in 1850. The Queen Louise-Marie died because of tuberculosis in the Royal Palace. She was taken to the Palace of Laeken and buried in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken.
They made a memorial in her honor in the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul of Ostend: the tomb of Louise-Marie.
After Leopold I died, his second son, Leopold II reign the Belgians. He married Marie Henriette of Austria. Leopold and Marie Henriette were just 18 and 17 when they married against their wills because of their fathers arrangement. Marie Henriette resigned to her right to be the queen of Austria and signed her marriage contact. The young couple settle down in the Palace of Laeken with the Belgian Royal family. She didn’t have a close relationship with her new family, except of her sister-in-law, Carlota of Mexico.
From the beginning, the couple did lives apart and after 1872, they officially lived apart, although they attend together to the public events. She retired to her favourite city, Spa, in the French part of Belgium. They had four children: Princess Louise, Prince Leopold, Princess Stephanie and Princess Clementine. Their only son and the heir of the Belgium throne, the Prince Leopold, Duke of Bravant, died from a pneumonia after falling into a pond when he was only 10 years old (1859–1869).
In 1876, a pavilion for the queen was started in Ostend, connected to the chalet Royal Villa. Both chalets were connected by a glass gallery. The king bough the lands surrounding his chalet to design them to his likes.
After the early death of their only son, the throne went to Leopold II’s nephew: Albert I of Belgium, son of the Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders. The third King of the Belgians married Elisabeth of Bavaria. They liked Ostend for their holidays as their predecessors. Elisabeth gave birth to Leopold III, King of Belgium; Prince Charles, Count of Flanders and Marie-José, Queen of Italy. In fact, the Queen of Italy was born in Ostend in 1906.
Leopold III became the fourth King of Belgians with his first wife, Princess Astrid from Sweden, after Albert I died in an accident mountain-climbing (1934). Before becoming Queen, Astrid gave birth to her firstborn daughter, Josephine-Charlotte and the future King Baudoin I. The same year that they became monarchs, Albert II was born.
Astrid was a beloved queen in Belgium. The couple liked to travel and they got a holiday home in Switzerland. In their last trip, they went on incognito with their two eldest kids. After the vacation, they sent the kids back to Belgium and had one last hike in the mountains. While the King was driving and the Queen looking into the map, they had an accident. She died in the act when she was thrown away far from the car, the King just got light injuries. After Astrid’s death, he married again with the Princess Lilian of Réthy. They had other 3 children.
Leopold III abdicated in 1951 and his firstborn son Baudoin I became king. He was the last king to sovereign the Congo. He married a Spanish noble, Fabiola de Mora y Aragón. With this marriage, the glorious times of Ostend as the Queen of the Searesorts drew to a close. The couple started travelling to Spain for vacation instead of to the North of Belgium. In fact, Baudoin died in 1993 in Mortril, Granada, from a heart attack.
As they never had children, Baudoin’s brother, Albert II, became the sixth King of Belgium with his Italian wife Paola Ruffo di Calabria. Same situation repeated here: the couple chose Italy over Belgium to have there holiday house.
The couple had four children: Philippe I, Astrid, Laurent and Delphine. Albert II abdicated in 2013, giving the throne to his firstborn Philippe I, actual King of Belgium. He is the seventh King of the Belgians. Philippe married Mathilde, the first native-born Belgian Queen. They haven’t been seen in the Royal chalets in Ostend.
The King and the Queen of Belgium have four kids: Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Bravant; Prince Gabriel of Belgium, Prince Emmanuel of Belgium and Princess Eléonore of Belgium.
The next King of Belgium will be a Queen, actually. The Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Bravant will be the first Queen of the Belgians who is not a consort. As the time changes, maybe they will also change for Ostend and the Royals will decide to come back to the place that was always their home. However, it has always been an attractive paradise to the Belgians.
