Albert I of Belgium

King Albert I (April 8, 1875 – February 17, 1934) reigned as King of the Belgians from 1909 to 1934. He ruled during an eventful period in the history of Belgium, which included the period of World War I (1914–1918), when 90 percent of Belgium was overrun, occupied, and ruled by the German Empire. He also acquired the former German colony of Ruanda-Urundi as a Belgian League of Nations mandate during negotiations for the Treaty of Versailles, and led Belgium through the Great Depression.

King Albert I of Belgium

King Albert touring the Belgian Congo in 1909

Newspaper compilation in December 1909 shows Albert at top left after inspection of a mine. His wife and children are at bottom right.

King Albert wearing the uniform of a British infantry officer inspecting the front line with British and Belgian officers.

King Albert climbing in the Dolomites in 1932.

Quotes

• Having a proper sense of her duty, and the means to carry it out, Belgium has mapped out her own course, and intends to keep to it. It entails a policy of humanity and progress. To a nation whos only aim is justice, the mission of colonization can only be a mission of high civilization: a small nation proves it greatness by carrying it out faithfully. Belgium has kept her word.
  • King Albert, at the time of his accession, on the 23rd of December, 1909.

• Brilliant reception at the station. Children are tidied up as soon as they enter the mission grounds. There is perfect order. The mission makes a big impression.
  • The visit of King Albert I to the Belgian Congo in 1928. Between propaganda and reality.

• The reception was enthusiastic and brilliant. The city appears largely mapped out, too bad there are so many ugly buildings that make it look like a city in the American Far West.
  • The visit of King Albert I to the Belgian Congo in 1928. Between propaganda and reality. King Albert about his entry in Elizabethville (today Lubumbashi) on his 1928 trip to the Belgian Congo.

• A real city, well laid out, with pretty houses, 1500 whites, it makes an excellent impression, better than Elisabethville. Here they are serious people, harnessed to a grandiose enterprise.
  • The visit of King Albert I to the Belgian Congo in 1928. Between propaganda and reality. King Albert about his visit of Panda-Likasi on his 1928 trip to the Belgian Congo.

• Visit of the incomparable and impressive installations of Union Minière. We go up the hill. The sight is prestigious: the station, one of the most important in Africa, the buildings, the Europeans with the houses surrounded by gardens, the vast chessboard of the native city. The Negro workers that we see do not look unhappy, they are in good health.
  • The visit of King Albert I to the Belgian Congo in 1928. Between propaganda and reality. King Albert about the mining operations in the Katanga region on his 1928 trip to the Belgian Congo.

• The chief comes to greet us, he is a handsome Baluba negro, dressed as a European with a white helmet; shame.
  • The visit of King Albert I to the Belgian Congo in 1928. Between propaganda and reality. King Albert meets an indigenous Congolese chef at the town of Kikondja on his 1928 trip to the Belgian Congo.

• What a beautiful breed these Wagenias and how friendly.
  • The visit of King Albert I to the Belgian Congo in 1928. Between propaganda and reality. King Albert meets the indigenous Congolese Wagenia fisherman tribe at Stanleyville (Today Kisangani) on his 1928 trip to the Belgian Congo.

• I am struck that quite a few black workers do not greet us and watch us pass by with folded arms. There are dances in the evening, not very lively. We feel that the strain of hard woodworking weighs on the morale of the natives.
  • The visit of King Albert I to the Belgian Congo in 1928. Between propaganda and reality. King Albert when visiting Leopoldville (Today Kinshasa) on his 1928 trip to the Belgian Congo.

• The companies are complaining, but they have not done what is necessary to retain their workforce. They have relied too much on the obligation that the administration placed on the population.
  • The visit of King Albert I to the Belgian Congo in 1928. Between propaganda and reality. King Albert when visiting the town of Buta on his 1928 trip to the Belgian Congo.

• The negro workers are still unaware of the force that can give them union organization; happy industrialists.
  • The visit of King Albert I to the Belgian Congo in 1928. Between propaganda and reality.

• It is indisputable that the blacks have benefited from certain benefits of civilization.
  • The visit of King Albert I to the Belgian Congo in 1928. Between propaganda and reality.

• In short, there is a great deal of stagnation among the settlers and the medium-sized enterprises. The native there is often mistreated, exploited and has no medical care. In the Menteau farm, we observed a considerable number of varicose ulcers, which hardly exists at UM and La Forminière. There is no dispensary on this farm. The small settler can succeed in the Congo, one can doubt it, he lives by the exploitation of the native whom he makes work like a convict and moreover, he takes back his meager salary by selling him bad goods. The settler is often doubled as a trafficker, they complement each other, the system truck. Besides, the whole colonial edifice rests on the negro's shoulders. He alone is the source of profit, thanks to the excessive exploitation of which he is the object. In a colony, where there are few transport routes, where those that exist demand exorbitant prices, where there is little or no mechanical handling, no workhorse, only the degradation of the workforce - work can maintain the commercial level of the cost price. Large companies have the merit, through their tools, their medical assistance, their works of providing more treatment and of not wasting manpower.
  • The visit of King Albert I to the Belgian Congo in 1928. Between propaganda and reality. Reflections of King Albert I on his visit to the Belgian Congo in 1928.

• The British people realise that they are fighting for the hegemony of the Empire. If necessary we shall continue the war single-handed.
  • Lord Curzon, quoted in King Albert I of Belgium's diary (7 February 1916), cited in R. van Overstraeten (ed.), The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians (1954), p. 85

Quotes about to King Albert I

• It is the great misery in the Congo, the negro does all the work, he is not paid, he is beaten. When the whites return to Europe, they are replaced by Others who mistreat us. King Albert and Queen Elisabeth came, when they are there, we are left alone, but when they are gone, it will be the same. The King does not know all this, everything is hidden from him. It is the great misery here in the Congo. The captain is very bad for us, but when Queen Elisabeth is on the boat, he does not dare to hit us.
  • The visit of King Albert I to the Belgian Congo in 1928. Between propaganda and reality.

External links

• Official biography from the Belgian Royal Family website
• Funeral of King Albert of The Belgians, newsreel on the British Movietone YouTube Channel
• Information about King Albert's mountaineering feats
• Belgium in the First World War, including stories of the royal couple, in French
• Archive Albert I of Belgium, Royal museum of central Africa

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