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It is not often that one sees a coronation different in character (though similar in spirit, even in view of a language barrier) than the U.K. royal investitures, but the new Belgian king Philip’s coronation this past week was quite understated and modest, and featured an excellent cast of international actors and their laudatory words, including especially those of Albert II, the outgoing (retiring) Belgian monarch who quite nicely stated his expectation for the good conduct of the monarchy for the long – term, provided it featured people like the incoming royal couple. Belgian royalty does not have it easy as it rules in a country where the warring states in Europe in the past century found lots of loopholes and fought bitter, pitched battles there. It is also true with respect to this, and again, not easy for any Belgian to stomach, much less the royalty there, that everyone came to the help of the country in time of conflict. This is quite a good example of the rear – view mirror view on things that many political pundits express, and the background and actual, non – revisionist story of how Belgium was overrun in two wars is quite complex (See above all “The Fateful Alliance” by George Kennan.)
The coronation story was not overwhelmingly noticed even by the French, but you might see the articles below for more precious and immediate details than I am able to give here:
- Reuters (via Yahoo!).
- Yahoo! (Reuters).
- UPI.
- Chinese News.
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