LATE KING ALBERT

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 97, 21 October 1935, Page 4

LATE KING ALBERT

FRENCH CLUB LECTURE

At the recent reunion of the Cercle Francais, M. Armand Nihotte, Consul for Belgium, lectured upon "Le Roi Albert," whose dep.th took place in February last year. The lecturer dwelt upon the honour in which this sovereign's memory is held by the Belgians, and concluded his eulogy by pointing out that the great dead raise to their own height the sentiments of those faithful to them and thus extend the.good they did in life. From these reflections M. Nihotte went on to. review the career of.King Albert. All his life King Albert respected scrupulously the bath he took upon ascending the throne, namely, to observe the Constitution, not only because the Constitution bound him ■ and because honesty was the best (and to him the only) policy, but because it represented his own belief as to what best served the needs of his people. The principles •of the Belgian political regime did not produce in King Albert reactions of the kind"alluded to as the "authoritativencss" of Leopold 11. He did not hold them immutable in all .their applications, but he judged their institutions satisfactory and capable of being used to good effect. Respecting the Chambers, he did not encourage disparagement and defended Parliamentai'ians. Some may have called King Albert a democratic King, but the lecturer preferred' to say "Roi demophile," for, if he loved the masses, his rectitude and sense of social realities kept him far removed from demagogic ■ compliances. The .King always held himself above parties and to those indiscreet persons who tried to probe his personal leanings he replied' that his wife was more Socialist than he but that he was more liberal, than she. He was an impartial, arbiter of Belgian political contests, and because he belonged to no party or coterie, and had no axe to grind, he inspired the confidence of the whole'nation.

No one had ever doubted that he would keep the oath he made upon mounting the. throne, which was to consecrate his life to the service of his country. The facts of the Great War were too well known for it to be needful to say more than that the role played by King Albert in any one of various categories would be sufficient to establish his glory. A striking tribute to the King of the Belgians was paid by. General Brecard in his souvenirs of 1914, published in the "Revue de Paris." In 1919 he went to France to interview the "Big Four" delegates, in consequence of certain engagements made with Belgium being threatened; later he alluded to this as his first diplomatic success.

King Albert never took things lightly; he disliked exaggerations and detected flattery and bluff at a glance. He was modest to a fault, and one of his biographers states that he systematically underrated his influence and personal authority. He was without selfish ambition and his simplicity was never vulgarity—never anything in it to suggest a falling away from true noblesse! Albert I was "every inch a king," said M. Nihotte. The sovereign's secretary, M. Gerard, had noted very particularly that, simple as were his manners, the king was an aristocrat to his finger tips; he pardoned an infraction of etiquette towards himself personally, but he never forgot a lapse towards his royal function. King Albert had the sense of humour which was a trait of Leopold 11, but he did not'press his ironies to woundingpoint;.his humour was without malice. Upon one occasion, returning from a ceremony where he had met certain dethroned sovereigns, he remarked that there decidedly was "a great deal of unemployment in our trade"!

M. Nihotte concluded by saying that the memory of the Roi Chevalier would ever be a call to duty and honour.

The president, Professor F. F. Miles, 0.A.; in thanking M. Nihotle for his lecture, made a. brief reference to a flying visit paid by himself to Brussels at the time of the Great War.

Musical items were given by Mrs. P. Doogan, who sang "Softly Awakes My _Heart," and was encored. Mrs. Fouhy accompanied her. Mr. E. G. Bucklin played a pianoforte piece and also responded to an encore.

The conversation circle was directed by Madame Bendall and the evening closed with "La Marseillaise" and a supper (supervised by Miss Mackay, assistant secretary). Miss Coralie Smythson received.