In his memoirs, Robert Capelle, former secretary of Leopold III, quotes Paul Crockaert, a Belgian defense minister, in describing the first four Belgian Kings:
Si l'on voulait résumer chaque règne des souverains belges, on dirait que Léopold 1er personnifie la sagesse politique, Léopold II le génie créateur, Albert 1er le sens de l'honneur, Léopold III le sens du devoir.If one wanted to summarize the reigns of the Belgian sovereigns, one would say that Leopold I personifies political wisdom, Leopold II, creative genius, Albert I, the sense of honor, Leopold III, the sense of duty.
Do you agree? What is the difference between "sense of honor" and "sense of duty?" And what qualities would Baudouin I and Albert II represent?
1 comment:
Looks like an accurate summary to me. The honor-duty difference could go a number of ways. Maybe it was a reference to Albert I standing up for national honor (sovereignty) knowing that it would be an all but hopeless fight. For duty it might refer to Leopold III thinking it was his duty to endure occupation and later his duty to abdicate inspite of winning the referendum to save his people from further divisions.
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