Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium

Elisabeth Gabriele Valérie Marie Duchess in Bavaria ( born July 25, 1876 in Possenhofen on Lake Starnberg, † November 23, 1965 in Brussels, Belgium) was the mother of the future Belgian King Leopold III, the wife of the Belgian King Albert I and.

Life

Elizabeth was the daughter of the Munich ophthalmologist Karl Theodor Duke in Bavaria and his wife, the Infanta Maria Josepha of Portugal and the niece of the Austrian Empress Elisabeth. In 1900 she married Prince Albert of Belgium, the Belgian heir. King Albert I died in 1934 in a climbing accident at Marche- les -Dames in the Belgian Ardennes area at Namur. Her son Leopold III. had to abdicate in 1951, so that her grandson King Baudouin I was. She attended - against the will of the Belgian government - Russia, China and Poland, so it was also called the " Red Queen ". Queen Elizabeth died aged 89 and was buried in the royal tomb in the Church of Our Lady in Laeken in Brussels.

Honors

Your German descent they could use during the occupation of Belgium in World War II. Through skillful negotiations, she managed to rescue Belgian Jews; for their commitment, she was awarded the honorary title Righteous Among the Nations.

Progeny

• Leopold III. , King of the Belgians (1901-1983)
• Charles of Belgium, Count of Flanders (1903-1983)
• Maria of Belgium, Princess of Belgium, last Queen of Italy (1906-2001)