New biography for Albert II of Belgium

This June, King Albert II of Belgium will celebrate his 75th birthday, and about one month later, The King and Queen of the Belgians have their golden wedding anniversary.

To celebrate these festivities, a new biography about King Albert is published, “Albert II. De vorst met de glimlach” (Albert II, King with the smile). The biography was written by Erik Wellens, renowned copywriter for celebrity books and biographer. The book starts with the question what the difference would have been if Albert had succeeded his father Leopold, and not Baudouin. According to the book, the American Ambassador to Belgium at the end of the 1940s believed Albert would be a much better King than his elder brother, because he was more in touch with reality, whereas he feared Baudouin would only repeat what his father told him.

Sounds like it will make an interesting read, not in the least because the King’s life is not unlike the scenario of a Hollywood movie: he lost his glamorous and much beloved mother at a very early age, and was imprisoned with the rest of his family during and after World War II. He married an Italian princess, equally glamorous as his late mother, but the marriage was, for a long time, not a happy one. Then, very unexpectedly, he became King of the Belgians, and his marriage also turned out for the better. Last year, Belgium celebrated his 15-year reign with a massive feast in the streets of Brussels.

For more information on King Albert II, see here.
For an interview with the author (in Dutch), see here.

Filed under Belgium
Tagged Albert II of Belgium, Biography, Birthday, Queen Paola of Belgium, Wedding Anniversary.