Princess Louise Marie Amélie of Belgium (18 February 1858 – 1 March 1924) was the eldest child and daughter of King Leopold II and Queen Marie Henriette of Belgium. She was a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a branch of the House of Wettin which ruled in the Kingdom of Saxony. By her marriage to her first cousin once removed Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, she retained her birth titles of Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duchess in Saxony.
Louise was born during the reign of her paternal grandfather, Leopold I of Belgium, and was named after her paternal grandmother Queen Louise. She married in Brussels on 4 February 1875 her first cousin once removed Prince Philipp. Louise and Philipp settled in Vienna, where they had two children: Leopold Clement, born in 1878, and Dorothea, born in 1881.
Louise's marriage quickly fell apart. Endowed with a strong and whole personality, she refused to submit to a husband who did not suit her, who had been imposed for reasons of state. She reacted by leading a lavish and worldly life as a beauty in the court of Vienna. Louise was quickly preceded by a reputation for scandal to which she gave credit by engaging in several successive affairs before falling in love with Geza Mattachich, an officer and member of the Croatian nobility, whose mother Anna Kuchtich de Oskocz (b. 1847) was married secondly to Count Oskar Keglevich of Buzin (1839-1918), politician and MP of Croatian Sabor. Europe was scandalized when her husband had Louise declared insane and convinced the Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria to intern her in a psychiatric hospital, while Mattachich was accused of forgery and imprisoned. Released four years later, Mattachich succeeded in helping the princess escape. Both then traveled across Europe. After succeeding in proving her mental balance, Louise divorced amicably in 1906.
Louise began the life of a stateless person. Together with her sister Stéphanie, she filed several lawsuits, which were ultimately unsuccessful, against the Belgian State to recover the inheritance of their father, who had died in 1909. However, in 1914, she managed to receive a part of King Leopold II's fortune. World War I and the German defeat further impoverished Louise, who decided to publish her memoirs under the title Autour des trônes que j'ai vu tomber (Around the thrones that I saw fall) which also constitute a testimony of the life of the European courts. Prince Philippe, her ex-husband, died in 1921. In 1924, at the age of 66, Louise died in poverty, a year after her lover Mattachich. Her only surviving offspring was her daughter Dorothea, whom she no longer saw. The major memory she leaves in Belgium is the Avenue Louise in Brussels, named after her.
Contents
Life
Early years
Granddaughter of King Leopold I of Belgium, Princess Louise was the first child of the Duke (future King Leopold II) and Duchess of Brabant (born Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria), an unhappy and mismatched couple. In 1853, their marriage had been decided with the purpose of cementing alliance with the Kingdom of Belgium by both King Leopold I and the Habsburgs, without consulting the groom and bride, whose interests were almost everything opposite: The Duke of Brabant was hardly attracted by family life and was passionate about the politics and economy of the Kingdom which he was about to reign, while Marie Henriette was a young woman versed in religion and interests limited to horseback riding, dogs and music.
It was only after four years that Marie Henriette became pregnant for the first time; a girl was born on 18 February 1858 at the Royal Palace of Brussels. The parents were disappointed as a daughter could not succeed to the throne, leaving the future of the dynasty not guaranteed.
The princess was baptised as Louise Marie Amélie on 28 March; her godparents were her great-uncle Archduke John of Austria and her great-grandmother, Maria Amalia, Dowager Queen consort of the French, who since the Revolution of 1848 lived in exile in Great Britain. Because she was too old to go to Belgium for the baptism, Maria Amalia expressed the wish that her goddaughter would receive the first name of the first Queen of the Belgians, her eldest and beloved daughter, who had died prematurely.
Louise was described by her father in this way: "[She] is very wise, her face is already white and pink like her mother's. King Leopold I find it very pretty, I hope it will one day, but for now, I note only that it has large dark eyes and alas! a huge nose, worthy of mine in every way". A brother, Leopold, was born on 12 June 1859 and titled Count of Hainaut as the eldest son of the Duke of Brabant, and whose birth seemed to ensure the sustainability of the recently established Belgian royal house. A younger sister, Stéphanie, was born on 21 May 1864.
On 10 December 1865 King Leopold I, founder of the Belgian dynasty, died after a reign of 34 years. His son ascended to the throne under the name of Leopold II. For Louise and Leopold, aged 7 and 6 respectively, this new situation would bring about some changes in their daily life. The Count of Hainaut became the heir to the throne and was raised to the title of Duke of Brabant. Louise and her brother, until now under the direction of a governess, Miss Legrand, were now endowed with a governor: Count Ignace van der Straten-Ponthoz, major of artillery, assisted in his functions by Albert Donny, a young artilleryman. The two men entered the service of the King's children on 4 March 1866. Louise and her brother preferred Donny and nicknamed van der Straten-Ponthoz the "scolding count" (comte grondeur). Louise had a wilful character, even difficult.
Wedding in Brussels
Louise had just celebrated her 14th birthday when she was actively sought after by several European princes because she had a pleasant exterior and her father was reputed to be wealthy. King Leopold II had long feared having to give her in marriage to the Prince Imperial, son and heir of Napoleon III, because he considered the Bonapartes to be upstarts. After the fall of the Second French Empire and the proclamation of the French Third Republic, this "threat" faded and, very quickly, two candidates asked for the hand of the still-teenaged princess: Prince Frederick of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen – brother of the Countess of Flanders (sister-in-law of Leopold II) – and a first cousin once removed of King Leopold II, Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (member of the Koháry branch of the family).
Philipp presented his request for Louise's hand in 1872 and repeated it in the summer of 1873 when, after having toured the world, he went to Ostend accompanied by his mother, Princess Clémentine of Orléans, to make a formal visit to the Belgian sovereigns. Philipp was doubly-related to the Belgian royal family by both his paternal and maternal sides, being a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha through his father, Prince August, and also a grandson of Louis Philippe I, King of the French (whose middle name he bore) through his mother, Princess Clémentine, who was the sister of Queen Louise of Belgium thus making Philipp a first cousin of Leopold II through their mothers. This made Philipp and Louise paternal second cousins and maternal first cousins once removed. Residing in Vienna and called to inherit the paternal fortune in the form of a sumptuous Majorat in Hungary, the prince, who was already enjoying the favor of Queen Marie Henriette (nostalgic about her birthplace), ended up also establishing himself as a privileged candidate in the eyes of King Leopold II, who did not want a rapprochement with Prussia so soon after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
From a familiar and political point of view, Philip was also allied with several European courts. His late paternal aunt, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, married an Orléans prince, Louis, Duke of Nemours, second son of King Louis Philippe I. Their two sons were brilliantly married: the eldest, Gaston, Count of Eu, with Isabel, Princess Imperial of Brazil, and the second, Ferdinand, Duke of Alençon, with Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria, sister of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, "Sissi", thus becoming a brother-in-law of Emperor Franz Joseph I. Finally, Philip's paternal uncle, Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, became King consort of Portugal and the Algarves by his marriage to Queen Maria II da Gloria. As for Philip's sister, Princess Clotilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, she was happily married with the brother of Queen Marie-Henriette, Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria, titular Palatine of Hungary.
A disastrous union
On 15 March 1875, Louise discovered her new residence and was deeply disappointed by it: "I was cold when I entered it. Looks great on the outside. It is gloomy inside [...]. My room terrified me. Imagine a moderately large room, furnished halfway up the wall with small dark wood wardrobes, closed with blue curtained panes behind which I never wanted to look! [...] In the middle of this paradise, an immense display case full of the prince's travel memories: stuffed birds with long beaks, weapons, bronzes, ivories, Buddhas, pagodas. My heart was lifted!". In this setting that she didn't like, Philipp and his mother Clémentine decided everything. Louise did not adapt to this new life: If her father-in-law was a self-effacing man, Princess Clémentine was a woman of character and a possessive mother who bluntly imposed her lifestyle on her 17-year-old daughter-in-law.
The young couple argued regularly. Philipp wanted to transform his wife, who he saw as his property, and tried to introduce the young woman to a sexuality that she disapproved of by giving her daring books to read or by making her discover his erotic collection brought back from Japan. Louise took her revenge by leading the lavish life of a spendthrift socialite, where her beauty attracted and her attitude shocked the court of Vienna. She had a very keen sense of observation, a talent for imitating, and a biting satire that liked to highlight the faults of her fellows. Viennese society quickly assigned her several love affairs.
When Louise and her husband stayed in Brussels with the sovereigns in the summer of 1876, King Leopold II ignored his daughter. No doubt he learned of the marital disputes and heard of Louise's reputation in Vienna. The couple, disunited in their marriage, nevertheless had two children: a son, Leopold Clement (born 19 July 1878) and a daughter, Dorothea (born 30 April 1881); in addition, Louise suffered two miscarriages in 1886 and 1888. These two births, however, did not bring the couple, who quarreled frequently, close. Louise became more and more hostile, multiplying the tantrums towards her husband and not enjoying her role as mother. From 1887, her children were brought up separately in order to receive an adapted program: Leopold Clement came under the authority of a tutor, while Dorothea was entrusted to a governess.
Louise became a friend of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, who was her age, due to her nonconformism and her beauty; she encouraged him to marry her younger sister Stéphanie. The wedding took place in Vienna on 10 May 1881. When Stéphanie settled down at the Austrian court, her mother Marie Henriette warned her: "Avoid Louise, and if you see her, reason with her, show her a good example [...] Louise is not true. She is very frivolous". His marriage brought the Crown Prince even closer to the Coburgs, but if he held Louise in esteem, he nonetheless shared Philipp's debauchery. In addition, Rudolf had few interests in common with his young wife, who gave him a daughter. Affected by a venereal disease, he infected his wife, who became sterile. Disappointed in both his emotional and political life, Rudolf led a life of debauchery until the Mayerling incident in 1889.
A new life
In May 1895, Louise met, at the Prater in Vienna, a Croatian officer, Count Geza Mattachich, nine years her junior, who became her great love and benefactor. From this first meeting, Louise fell under Mattachich's spell. She went daily to the Prater where she hoped to see him again, as well as to the Opera. The following year, Mattachich, recently promoted to First Lieutenant in the Imperial and Royal Uhlan Regiment, traveled to Opatija in the Austrian Riviera where he heard about Louise's presence and presented himself to her at a ball. Also in love, Louise offered him the management of her stables and wanted him to give her riding lessons. In the spring of 1896, Mattachich became director of Louise's stables, who also mandated him to manage her finances. Their connection quickly became known, and the Emperor Franz Joseph I summoned Louise on this subject. He reminded her that she had a husband and advised her to travel and to abstain from appearing at the next court ball. From that day on, she was, in Mattachich's words, "just a fallen woman, without any support".
Louise's affair became known all over Europe. Queen Marie Henriette and King Leopold II forbade Stéphanie to see her older sister, who was no longer received in Belgium. On 18 February 1898, Louise's birthday, Prince Philipp challenged Geza Mattachich to a duel to maintain his honor as a scorned husband, but lost to his opponent. At the end of the duel, Mattachich joined Louise in Nice, where she was with her daughter. Philipp succeeded in separating Dorothea from her mother by sending the young girl and her fiancé Ernst Günther of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg to Dresden. Philipp then tried to settle his wife's heavy debts, but he failed to fully meet the demands of the creditors. He addressed his father-in-law, King Leopold II, who refused to contribute anything. Finally, Emperor Franz Joseph I himself settled the debts from personal finances, causing the breakdown of relations between the King of the Belgians and the Emperor of Austria.
In 1898, a few weeks after the duel, Philipp and the Emperor of Austria were determined to bring Louise back to Austria and remove her from Mattachich's influence. Supported in his designs by the Belgian sovereigns, Philipp then had his wife declared insane and convinced Emperor Franz Joseph I to have her locked up in a psychiatric hospital. Louise had the choice between returning to the Palais Coburg or internment in a nursing home. She opted for the second solution: the nursing home in Döbling, near Vienna, where she was installed in a special pavilion, isolated from other residents because of her rank.
Last years
When World War I broke out in 1914, Louise and Geza resided in their apartments at the Parkhotel in Vienna-Hietzing. Louise wrote: "The war surprised me in Vienna. Until the first hostilities, I could not bring myself to believe it [...] I was, from the first day of the war, "enemy subject" for the court of Vienna, too happy to find an opportunity of still stand out in my regard. I was invited to leave the territory of the double monarchy as quickly as possible. The President of Police came, in person, to notify me of this judgment [...] I left for Belgium. Events stopped me in Munich. The German army blocked the road and my homeland was to experience the horrors for which Prussia was initially responsible". Up to August 1916, Louise and Geza lived in Munich with Maria Stöger who joined them six months before, without suffering too much deprivation, but then financial resources dwindled. The annual pension of 50,000 francs paid to her by the Belgian state in her capacity as Princess of Belgium was cut, and Louise took out new loans. In April 1916, her son Leopold Clement, who had openly sided with his father and refused all contact with his mother, died in tragic circumstances following a fight with his mistress who, before committing suicide, had thrown him acid in the face and then shot him four times.
On 25 August 1916 Geza was arrested at the instigation of the Austrian government which suspected him, as a Croatian subject, of conspiring against the Empire. He was sent to a camp not far from Budapest. Louise experienced poverty again and had to sell her jewelry in order to ensure her livelihood. In November, she was forced to move to another hotel in the Austrian capital. At the beginning of 1917, her debts amounted to 30 million marks. Declared insolvent, she helplessly attended the auction of all her effects. She was forced to take a room in a small villa in town and survived thanks to a few occasional interventions from her daughter Dorothea and her sister Stéphanie. One day, she received a visit from a messenger from Geza who succeeded in taking her out of Austria and settling her in Budapest. Geza, still imprisoned, however managed to pay her short visits, and contacts with Stéphanie were reborn. In April 1919, Louise returned to Vienna because she had to leave Hungary on the orders of Béla Kun, one of the strongmen of the Hungarian Soviet Republic.
After the Armistice of 11 November 1918 and the liberation of Belgium, Louise's property was sequestered because she was considered to be Hungarian by the Belgian State. She then decided, probably thanks to the assistance of Henri de Noussanne, to write her memoirs, published in Paris in 1921 under the title Autour des trônes que j'ai vu tomber ("Around the thrones that I saw fall"); in it, she settled the score with various people in her life, including her father Leopold II –yet she dedicated the work "to the great man and great King that was her father". On 3 July of the same year, her former husband Prince Philipp died in Coburg; Louise was obviously excluded from any inheritance.
Historiography
Autobiography
In her memoirs published in 1921 under the title Autour des trônes que j'ai vu tomber, Louise immediately affirms her Belgian patriotism (always hoping for a return to her native country) then recounts her eventful existence and draws up interesting portraits, obviously subjective, of members of her family and of the European sovereigns she has met during her lifetime. This work offers first-hand testimony to the royal courts, some of which have disappeared by the time the author describes them. She also settles the score there. She describes Emperor Franz Joseph I as "a narrow man, full of false and preconceived ideas [...]. Under the decor of rank and ceremonies, under the vocabulary of receptions, audiences and speeches, there was a being devoid of sensitivity [...]. He looked like an automaton official, dressed as a soldier". But she praises the beauty of Empress Elisabeth, whom she sees as a "martyr".
Louise claims that her brother-in-law, King Ferdinand I of Bulgaria, attracted by occultism, told her during a stay at the court in Sofia in 1898: "You see all that is here, men and things. Well! everything, including my Kingdom, I place with me at your feet". She draws up a severe indictment against German Emperor Wilhelm II: "the emperor of illusion [...] who lulled his people with illusions and lies, and led them to ruin, civil war, dishonor". As for Queen Victoria, she remembers that she liked to gather her parents around her and admits that she sometimes displeased the British sovereign.
Biography
Olivier Defrance wrote the first biography dedicated to Louise of Belgium, published in 2001. During her lifetime, Louise had already become, writes the author, "a character in a novel, the legend going beyond reality, and that will last a long time...The memoirs that Louise will write [...] will consolidate the myth". Thanks to an investigation in numerous unpublished archives kept at the National Archives of Austria, the Pannonhalma Archabbey in Hungary, Brussels, Baden-Baden, Coburg, the Musée Condé or even Regensburg, the Belgian historian paints the full and nuanced portrait of this controversial figure of the Belgian dynasty. The biography sheds new light on Louise, psychologically unstable, but not devoid of intelligence.
The biography dedicated to Louise also includes an interesting analysis of the neuropsychiatrist Jean-Paul Beine who tries to answer the question: "Was Princess Louise of Belgium mad?". According to him, the psychiatrists who examined Louise played a leading role in the princess's internment. However, apart from the final expertise which made it possible to free the patient, the incomplete nature of their opinions probably constitutes an obstacle to a formal conclusion. Beine sees "an abusive maneuver [by which] the princess is led to give her written consent to this stay in a nursing home, which turns out from the first day to be interned in a mental institution". The last expertise of 1904–1905 concluded that there was no need for internment and guardianship. The reason given in favor of the internment finds its sources in the grievances of her family about her affair with Geza Mattachich and in an obscure case of unpaid drafts against a background of forgery. To conclude, Beine declares: "The lavishness of the princess did not, from the documents provided today, have its origin in a mental disorder such as to justify her internment".
Aftermath
Louise has no living descendants today. Her son Prince Leopold Clement of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, born in 1878, died unmarried and in the aforementioned tragic circumstances in 1916. As for her daughter Princess Dorothea of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, born in 1881, married on 2 August 1898 (during the internment of her mother) with Ernst Gunther, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, brother of the German Empress Augusta Victoria. This marriage, which Louise disapproved of, has remained without posterity, but on 11 November 1920 they adopted Prince Johann Georg and his sister Princess Marie Luise, children of a distant cousin, Prince Albrecht of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, prematurely widowed. Dorothea had also given up all relationship with her mother, and after her husband's death in 1921 and in economical distress, she left the Neues Schloß in Primkenau for a modest residence in the same city, where she died in 1967.
Titles and heraldry
Titles
At her birth, as the daughter of King Leopold II, Louise was titled Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duchess in Saxony, with the predicate of Royal Highness, according to the titles of her house, and bears the unofficial title of Princess of Belgium, which will be officially regularized by Royal Decree dated 14 March 1891.
18 February 1858 – 4 February 1875: Her Royal Highness Princess Louise of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duchess in Saxony
4 February 1875 – 15 January 1906: Her Royal Highness Princess Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
15 January 1906 – 1 March 1924: Her Royal Highness Princess Louise of Belgium