BELGIUM: Prince Royal

So you are the King. Dull work at your age, eh?

—Bernard Shaw,

Caesar and Cleopatra

At 19, Belgium’s Prince Baudouin last week assumed the dull duties (though not yet the full pomps) of kingship. In Brussels, the Belgian Parliament voted to accept King Leopold Ill’s offer to stand down from the throne; Baudouin would become “Prince Royal” and act as regent until his 21st birthday, then become king. Thus Parliament hoped to end the state of near-civil war which has rocked Belgium since Leopold’s return from exile (TIME, July 31, et seq.).

Later that day, lanky, bespectacled Baudouin (who despite his spindle-thin appearance has a golf handicap of 6) drove to Parliament. Created lieutenant general in the Belgian army by his father, he wore a bright new olive-drab uniform with the wide purple Grand cordon de I’ordre de Léopold across his chest. The thousands of cheering people and his heavy guard of honor plainly embarrassed him. Entering the Chamber of Representatives, he had difficulty managing his sword in its gold scabbard, and fumbled the salutes.

Baudouin was about to take the oath of allegiance to the constitution when a piercing cry rang through the hall: “Vive la République!” The cry had been voiced by Julien Lahaut, white-maned president of the Belgian Communist Party. His shocked fellow deputies (who wanted to get rid of Leopold, not of the monarchy) broke into hurried applause for Baudouin. The prince blushed furiously, his eyes downcast. Finally order was restored and Baudouin managed to say: “I swear to observe the constitution and the laws of the Belgian people . . .”

There were cries of “Vive le Prince Royal.” Baudouin walked woodenly out of the chamber. That evening, the new regent got down to work, accepted the resignation of the government and began consultations with political leaders to select a Premier. Social Christian Paul van Zeeland accepted. Baudouin’s father, meanwhile, who had so stubbornly and desperately wanted to be King of the Belgians, stayed in gloomy Laeken palace, a virtual prisoner at his shadow court. This week, Leopold flew to Geneva, brought back his wife, the beautiful Princess de Rethy, to brighten the shadows.

Friends recalled pointedly that two years ago at a New York dinner party, Baudouin had remarked: “I shall never forget what the Belgians have done to my father.”