NEW KING OF BELGIUM

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26477, 19 July 1951, Page 7

NEW KING OF BELGIUM

PRINCE BAUDOUIN ENTHRONED

BRUSSELS, July 17. Enthusiastic crowds acclaimed Prince Baudouin to-day when he drove to Parliament from the Royal Palace to take the oath as King of the Belgians as the result of the abdication of his father, King Leopold. Eight thousand soldiers stood,. at close intervals along the route. Police and troops had difficulty in controlling the crowds, who with shouts of “Baudouin, Baudouin” tried to break through the cordons. After taking the oath at a joint session of both Houses of Parliament in Flemish and French, King Baudouin said: “I put myself at the service of the nation. Belgium, during the reign of my father, had to face the most tragic incidents in her history, but during this trial Belgium’s independence, her honour, the integrity of her territory and of the Belgian Congo, her democratic institutions, and her will to live freely and prosperously, have been saved. My preoccupation will be to support the initiatives which tend towards social progress, to perfecting scientific progress, to the development of our economic power, and the reinforcement of intellectual and artistic values.”