A Royal Example—Creating a European Family

Abstract

This chapter details the relationship between the British and the Belgian monarchy by relying on press cuttings and archival material that convincingly proves the unique closeness between the two royal families. The chapter continues with a comparison between Queen Victoria’s impressions of Belgium and its population and that left by Charlotte Brontë in her fictional accounts of her Belgian visits and her letters home. Thus, I will make the most of the fact that Brontë and Victoria were of a similar age and were in Belgium at more or less the same time. The chapter continues with the slow deterioration of the entente between the two countries under the reign of Leopold II. Here too the correspondence between the reigning monarchs is used but also the articles published by W.T. Stead who revealed the rationale behind the scenes negotiations with Leopold during the siege of Khartoum.