Synopsis: Do careerists deserve to have love? Charlotte and Leopold's Love Story (Part 1)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="27" > a short, fleeting and happy life</h1>
Although the two "conceived ghost fetuses" before marriage, the feelings of the two heated up rapidly after marriage. Leopold apparently quickly won Charlotte's affection, affectionately calling her husband "Doucement." They read to each other, played the piano with both hands, walked together in the garden, rode a carriage together... In Leopold's memoirs, he also spoke fondly of the time when he was inseparable from Charlotte: "Except when I went out hunting, we were always together, we could be together, and we never got tired. Although Leopold's attending physician and close friend Baron Stockma felt that Charlotte's manners were somewhat frivolous and that her dress was too unpretentious. But soon, he was attracted to Charlotte's frankness, and the two gradually became very good friends.
Charlotte and Leopold
Life after marriage is very happy, but there are still many people staring at Charlotte's belly, the husband's family does not have a throne, but England still has a throne to inherit. The two had just gotten married, and Charlotte was pregnant with a baby, but for unknown reasons she miscarried. After 1 year, she became pregnant again, which was definitely good news, and British bookmakers quickly made a bet on the sex of the child: the birth of a princess would make the stock market rise by 2.5%; the birth of a prince would make the stock market rise by 6%.
Princess Charlotte
Charlotte is more plump, she does not like sports much, after pregnancy, she often cried hunger. Eating too much and not exercising made Charlotte's figure swell rapidly, and she often cried that she was not breathing well and her body was weak. Her medical team demanded that Charlotte go on a strict diet because the examination found that the fetus in her abdomen was too large and her body was not good enough, so it was difficult to give birth.
Although Charlotte was large after becoming pregnant, Leopold did not spend her days outside like other noble princes who took advantage of his wife's pregnancy. Unwilling to move and unsure of her own delivery, Charlotte was very fond of asking a painter to paint a portrait of her. Whenever the painter painted a portrait of Charlotte, Leopold would come over and sit with Charlotte all the time. Charlotte would follow her horse every time Charlotte rode a horse in the garden, and they would leave the table earlier than everyone else at dinner, and then play the piano or sing together in the studio.
Leopold asked Charlotte to stick to the horse and asked the professional medical team to come up with the most suitable treatment plan. But unfortunately these measures did not help Charlotte in any way, and dieting and occasional bleeding made Charlotte very weak. When the due date came, Charlotte showed no signs of childbirth.
Half a month after the due date, Charlotte's belated delivery began, and due to the excessive size of the fetus and the particular weakness of the pregnant woman, the difficult delivery lasted for 2 days. Charlotte barely gave birth to a larger baby boy, but unfortunately the child was born without breathing, which was a stillbirth. The doctors were convinced that the princess was in good health and left Charlotte to rest alone. Charlotte, who had a long labor, looked very calm after learning that the child was stillborn, and she just said flatly, "Maybe this is God's meaning."
Charlotte and Leopold
At this point Charlotte looked very normal and had no bleeding. She ate something herself and rested under the service of the maids. Leopold, who had been with his wife for two days, returned to his bedroom after learning that his wife was safe. Unfortunately, in the middle of the night, Charlotte suddenly began to vomit violently and complained of pain in her abdomen. Her attending physician, Sir Richard, hurried to examine her, at which point Charlotte had trouble breathing and began to bleed profusely. He gave Charlotte a hot compress, but the treatment was clearly ineffective, and Charlotte's bleeding did not stop. Seeing that the princess was not in a good condition, the attending physician hurried to Baron Stockma and asked him to bring Leopold with him quickly. However, Leopold, who was sleeping to death, could not wake up, and by this time Princess Charlotte had stopped breathing, and she and her beloved husband had not been able to see each other for the last time.
The last portrait of Charlotte
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="33" > charlotte's death</h1>
After Charlotte's death, the whole of Britain fell into deep mourning. It was a disaster, for the British people, and a subversive change for the British Royal Family. At this time King George III was in a state of insanity, and the regent George, who had no other legitimate heir, was so distraught that he could not attend Charlotte's funeral. His wife, Princess Caroline, fainted and was also unable to attend her daughter's funeral.
Middle-aged Leopold
Leopold was overwhelmed with remorse and anguish, he had not been able to see the last side of his wife, and Charlotte had died when he was dragged from bed by Baron Stoke. He knelt by Charlotte's bedside, took her already cold hand and kissed it, and before Charlotte's burial, he would go into the room every day and sit with her all night.
Fifty years later, Leopold told his niece, Queen Victoria of England, "I never again had that feeling of happiness, the kind of happiness that Charlotte brought, the happiness that was brief in my life."
As heir to the English throne, Princess Charlotte was buried in St. George's Church at Windsor Castle, with her son at her feet.
Monument to Charlotte
If it were a romance novel, Leopold would spend the rest of his life alone and nostalgic. But obviously, reality doesn't have only love like romance novels. Leopold's life featured an actress, Caroline, whose side face looked almost exactly like Charlotte's.
Louise Marie Thales Charlotte Isabelle de Orléans
Later, he broke up with Caroline and became King of Belgium after belgium declared its independence on October 4, 1830, and 15 years after Charlotte's death, Leopold married Louise Marie Thérèse Charlotte Isabelle de Orléans, the eldest daughter of King Louis Philippe of France, and the two had three sons and one daughter. The current king, Philippe Leopold Louis Marry, is a descendant of Leopold.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="38" > Leopold</h1>
As we mentioned earlier, Leopold's choice as Charlotte's husband had nothing to do with his own background. But as the youngest son of a duke of a small principality, he grew up to be the king of Belgium step by step, and even brokered the marriage of his widowed sister Victoria to Prince Edward, so that they gave birth to a daughter, she is the famous Queen Victoria.
Queen Victoria and her mother Victoria were once strained, but she always trusted her uncle, and even her husband, Prince Albert, was chosen by this uncle. It can be said that Leopold went from an obscure poor boy to the leading power on the European continent.
Leopold died on 10 December 1865 in Lacan, Belgium, at the age of 74.
Before his death, Leopold had written to his niece, Queen Victoria, asking for her permission to be buried in England after her death, buried with his first wife, Charlotte, with their son. Victoria agreed. However, the Belgian subjects disagreed, and as King of Belgium, Leopold had to be buried in Belgium. Leopold was eventually buried in Belgium, thousands of miles away from his beloved wife, but his ministers heard him calling Charlotte's name on his deathbed.
Leopold had always loved Charlotte deeply, and even if he hid it deep in his heart, he never forgot her.
Queen Louise Marie with Leopold's child
Let's interpret this history from another perspective: Leopold went from a young son with no money, no power and no inheritance rights to the peak of life with a face. We can say that Charlotte, Crown Princess of the British Empire, was a stepping stone, and this marriage was a turning point in Leopold's life, from which he benefited innumerable benefits. After Charlotte's death, he pretended to be deeply affectionate, and did not marry for the next 15 years only because he could maximize his interests, and he immediately married a French princess after he got the Belgian throne. His election as King of Belgium had a huge relationship with the support of England and France.
Elderly Leopold
Yes, we can understand that political matters should not be mixed with emotions, and we should interpret the behavior of politicians in such a rational and realistic way.
Perhaps, as a political careerist, everything is based on profit first, and emotions are only a small part of life. But Leopold called Charlotte's name on his deathbed, which made me think that if all this was a scam, it would be good to be able to cheat for a lifetime.