OH, HENRI!

The staunchly Roman Catholic Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg has refused to sign the law legalising euthanasia. He has explained his position in a radio message to the country. It's caused a constitutional crisis. The government plans to strip the GD of his powers. Personally, I think he should have abdicated in favour of his son, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume (what a hunk!). I wonder what Henri's father, Grand Duke Jean, thinks of all this.

THE DUTCH HUNK PRINCE CELEBRATES 40

Prince Maurits celebrates his 40th birthday today.


Quotes from his Telegraaf interview (translated by Joris in the BRMB)

About living under a looking glass:

"As a member of the Orange family you must remain close to yourself. When there is such a continuous attention on you there is the danger of drowning."

About anniversaries. Party time?

"We will surely have a party. Although this 40 years milestone doesn't anything special to me. We will just give a "lekker" (= cool) dance party. Life passes quickly, one should celebrate the moments when things go well."

Amsterdam?

"I feel relaxed in Amsterdam, whevever I am. At school there is a mix of [children of] people both with a moderate income as well as millionaires. But one cannot see the difference! They all come on their bikes bringing their kids. And nowhere you can a drink on an outdoor terrace or have a dinner out like here. And there is only one Albert Cuyp." [daily market]

Today in 1935

Today - seventy-two years ago, Queen Astrid of the Belgians was killed in an auto accident in Switzerland. She was popular, even in Holland - my father collected Astrid memorial postage stamps, unfortunately destroyed when his house was bombed during the 1939-45 war.

To commemorate this event and her short life, the BRMB has posted some old photos.

Wow, I bet there is a story behind the photo above, on the right, of Astrid and Leopold during a 1933 trip to the Belgian Congo. Fascinating, when you consider how the Belgians raped Africa and you see this kind of paternalistic, colonial (1930s) view of Belgium over the Congolese. These kinds of souvenir photos of the rulers with the local indigenous people are typical. We know what happened to Astrid, Leopold, and the Congo. But what did the future hold for the six children in this photograph? What were their stories? They have names, but remain nameless.