ROYAL TRAGEDY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 233, 30 August 1935, Page 9

ROYAL TRAGEDY

QUEEN OF BELGIANS DEAD. FATAL CAR SMASH. KING SLIGHTLY HURT. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph. Copyright.) LUCERNE, Aug. 29. The Queen of the Belgians was killed when a motor-car, driven by the King, was battered in a collision with a tree. The King was slightly injured. The King, for an unexplained reason, lost control when driving on a lakeside road at Kussnacht, and the car swerved into a belt of trees. The Queen, who was sharing the front seat, was killed instantly. The King received cuts on the head. The chauffeur, in the rear seat, was uninjured. It is thought the King had not recovered his direction after a sharp curve on a narrow road on the water’s edge. He and Queen Astrid had been for some weeks holidaying in the Swiss and Italian Alps and had just visited the Dolomite Peak on which the late King Albert’s ascent was commemorated by a tablet. Another version of the accident is that Queen Astrid was alone in the back seat, where the lull force of the impact was sustained. THE CRASH DESCRIBED. A POIGNANT SCENE. KING’S INJURIES UNCERTAIN. Received August 30, 9.45 a.m. LUCERNE, Aug. 29. Their Majesties were staying at a villa near Lucerne during their visit. King Leopold’s wounds were bandaged and he was taken hack to the villa, to which the Queen’s body was also removed. An eye-witness stated that the ear was travelling at 30 miles an hour and suddenly skidded and hit a small embankment. it rebounded against a tree and the Queen was thrown through the window. She was terribly cut and her skull was fractured. Tin car, with the King still clinging to tbs wheel, ran into a small field and hit another tree, and overturned into a bed of reeds at the edge of the lake. As the King extricated himself, the blood streaming down his face, ho looked round and saw his wife. He knelt beside her and picked her up, kissed her dazedly, and called for help. Reports vary as to the King’s condition. Some say it is not serious and others that his. head is injured and lie is still too dazed to describe the accident. The Chief of Police at Lucerne says he has received a report that the King is seriously hurt. Their Majesties’ two elder children were staying at the villa. A Brussels message says the news of the tragedy was broadcast. It stunned tlie Belgians. The Premier (M. Van Zeeland) chartered a special ’plane and flew to Lucerne. GREAT BRITAIN’S SORROW. MESSAGE FROM THE KING. (British Official Wireless.) Received August 30, 11.38 a.m. RUGBY, Aug. 29. The news of the death of Queen Astrid has deeply shocked public opinion and expressions of profound sympathy are extonded in the Press to the Belgian people, by whom the Queen was deeply loved. Tlie official news of the accident was conveyed by 4iie Belgian Embassy to the Foreign Office this morning. Tlie King, who was immediately informed, sent a telegram of condolence on behalf of himself and the Queen to King Leopold. His Majesty’s Government sent a message of official condolence to the Belgian Government and Sir Samuel Hoare addressed a personal message of sympathy to the Belgian Ambassador in London for transmission to Belgium. , The Belgian King and Queen were returning front a mountaineering holiday and had just left their villa outside Lucerne, which was one of the summer residences of the Royal Family The King had relieved the chauffeur at the wheel of the car, ’f he cause of the accident is unknown, but the Queen and King were both thrown from the car. The King’s injuries are not. serious, and h:s condition does not give cause for anxiety. The chauffeur and lady-in-waiting, the other occupants of the car, were not seriously hurt. The body of the dead Queen is being taken to Brussels to-night. If he has recovered sufficiently to travel, King Leopold, who is suffering from shock and has not vet been able to give an account of the accident, will accompany it.

The Queen of the Belgians was formerly Princess Astrid of Sweden, and was married to King Leopold 111 on November 10, 1926. There are three children of the marriage, Princess Josephine Charlotte, Prince Baudoum. Heir Apparent, and Prince Albert. The Queen was a daughter of Prince Carl Duke of Vastergotland, a brother ol the King of Sweden. She was born on November 17, 1905. . , ■ This is the second occasion "itlnn a short space of time in which a member of the Belgian Royal I nmily has been accidentally killed, as. on l’ebiuarv 17, 1934, King. Albert lost his life when mountaineering in the Meuse Valley.