BELGIAN ROYAL FAMILY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25566, 20 June 1944, Page 4

BELGIAN ROYAL FAMILY

N. t y ARREST OF CHILDREN TRANSFER TO GERMANY (PA.) WELLINGTON, June 19. The Consul-general for Belgium, M. Armand Nihotte, has received cabled advice from London that the Belgian Government has learned that the Germans apprehended the Belgian royal children on June 9, and removed then} to Thuringia. It is stated in Belgian circles in London that King Leopold, who was transferred to Germany on June 1, has been taken to Bavaria, and is thus separated from, his family. The cablegram added: “The version issued by the German radio at Brussels is that Hitler ‘wished to safeguard King Leopold against Allied air attacks.’ The insincerity of this pretension is shown by the fact that the Germans did not reveal or try to justify the outrage until King- Leopold’s removal was announced by the Belgian Government.”

Following the surrender of Belgium to Germany in May, 1940, King Leopold was taken by»the Nazis to his own palace at Laeken, on the outskirts of” Brussels, and held there as a prisoner. The Belgians showed their sympathy with the captive King on national anniversaries by flocking to Laeken with masses of bouquets. It has been reported that Leopold declined to become a Belgian Laval, refusing a German proposal that he should return to the throne with the object of quelling anti-Nazism in. Belgium. Leopold was mentioned in November, 1941, for the first time by the Nazis in a proclamation issued by the German? military authorities forbidding patriotic demonstrations on Armistice Day and on November 15, which is the King’s name day. “As the King considers himself a war prisoner,” it was stated, “he does not want political demonstration* in hi* favour." Belgian circles in London interpreted the mention of Leopold-'* name a* confirmation of the fact that he wa» refusing to collaborate with the Germans. Leopold married Mile. Mary Lilian Baels, the daughter of a former Belgian Minister of Agriculture and Governor of West Slanders, in 1941, and a. son wa* bom in July, 1942. The report of his wedding created - great interest, as his bride was a commoner. She took the title Princess of Rethy. Leopold was formerly married to Princess Astrid. third daughter of Prince Charles of Sweden and a ftiece of the King of Sweden. There are three children by his marriage. Queen Astrid was killed in a motor accident in--1935 while driving with Leopold alongside Lake Lucerne.

It was reported in March last year that the captive King protested .to Hitler against the deportation of Belgian workers to Germany, but the reply stated that the necessity of war prevented Germany from stopping the deportations. When Leopold surrendered to the Germans the Belgian Cabinet decreed that, as he was in the power of the invader, it was impossible for him to reign. , . j . j • K\