A King Returns

The Socialists insisted that the return of King Leopold III to Belgium would mean revolution. Socialist Leader Paul-Henri Spaak told Parliament last week: "In a few minutes in the great political quarrel which has divided Belgium for ten years, you are going to win a game. In a few minutes you will have recalled Leopold to the throne and given the signal for disturbances which are going to tear Belgium apart." But Parliament's majority, the Social Christian (Catholic) Party, was stubborn. It had won its absolute majority in the recent election (with a popular vote of 46.74%), and it was determined to recall the King, six years in exile.

When the Social Christians called for a vote, 139 Socialists, 38 Liberals and ten Communists walked out of the Belgian Parliament. The vote was 198 to 0 for the recall of Leopold.

Last Saturday Leopold flew back to Belgium in a military transport plane escorted by eight Gloster jet fighters. He brought with him his two sons, 19-year-old Prince Baudouin and 16-year-old Albert, but he had left his wife, the beautiful Mary Liliane, in Switzerland. He wore the khaki uniform of a lieutenant general of the Belgian army. As he stepped out of the plane at Evere airport near Brussels at 7:20 a.m., he stood rigidly at attention while a band played the Belgian national anthem, La Brabanqonne.

Few of his subjects were on hand to greet him. The airfield and the roads near by were guarded by 10,000 soldiers, black-helmeted gendarmes armed with carbines, and squads of special police in riot cars. Motorcycle squads preceded Leopold's car while 17 truckloads of police and four armored cars followed him. The procession went through deserted streets, avoiding Brussels' center. On the walls there were freshly painted signs, "Abdicate!" and "Down With Leopold III," but the King gave no indication that he saw them.

In a broadcast to the nation Leopold said: "I address a solemn appeal to you for concord and I implore you not to be led astray in sterile and vain struggles . . . The King is a symbol of the continuity of the nation. He is a counselor placed above party struggles, respectful of the decisions of the majority, attentive to the opinions of the minority. Whatever additional tests the future can impose on me, this role will be mine."

Moderates who had hoped that the King would clear the air by abdicating in favor of Prince Baudouin were disappointed. The broadcast had the tone of a king who wanted to be a king.

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