Figure 1.--Charles is seen here with his Bavarian cousins, Luitpold and Albrect. Charles looks to be about 9 years old, meaning this would have been about 1912.
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Figure 1.--Charles is seen here with his Bavarian cousins, Luitpold and Albrect. Charles looks to be about 9 years old, meaning this would have been about 1912. |
I do not know if Charles and his brother wore Belgian folk costumes. Somehow I rather doubt it. They did wear Bavarian folk costumes when visiting their Bavarian cousins. One photograph shows both Charles with his Bavarian cousins, Luitpold and Albrecht. The boys wear Alpine caps, Bavarian jackets, and lederhosen. The photograph here is one of the few available snapshots of Charles. All the other photographs appear to be rather formal studio portraits. We assume that Prince Leopold also visited with his Bavarian cousins and wore similar folk outfits. There are many images showing the Bavarian princes wearing folk outfits like these. This image shows the close family relationship between the two families, as Queen Elizabeth was a Bavarain royal, and it is not surprising that many of the outfits worn by these boys were so similar. We only seeing Charles wearing this folk outfit in Bavaria. Apparently he did not take it home and wear it. Perhaps that would not have been politically correct for a Belgian prince to be seen wearing German folk costumes--even before Germany invaded neutral Belgium in 1914 launching World War I.
I do not know if Charles and his brother wore Belgian folk costumes. Somehow I rather doubt it. I know such costumes existed, but have never seen imges of Belgian princes wearing them. The Belgian court, presumably Queen Elizabeth and her advisors, controlled the images relaeased to the public. There was no paparazi taking unauthorized photographs at the time. (I'm not sure to what extent their father was involved in such matters.) Apparently it was not felt that it was either appropriate or advantageous for the boys to wear Belgian folk costumes.
Interesting the situation in Bavaria was very differently. Apparently the Bavarian monarchy saw it as good public relations for the Bavarian princes to wear local folk costumes. There was great interest in Bavaria and Germany ar large in folk culture. This was a particular interest of the Wandervogel. Perhaps the boys' liked these outfits and this was a factor, but we have no information on this. We also do not know to what extent the boys were allowed to pick their clothes--even at this age. Given some of their outfits, we suspect that they did not have a great deal of say in the matter.
Charles did wear Bavarian folk costumes when visiting his Bavarian cousins. One photograph shows both Charles with his Bavarian cousins, Luitpold and Albrecht. The boys wear Alpine caps, Bavarian jackets, and lederhosen. The photograph here is one of the few available rather informal photographs of Charles. All the other photographs appear to be rather formal studio portraits. We assume that Prince Leopold also visited with his Bavarian cousins and wore similar folk outfits. There are many images showing the Bavarian princes wearing folk outfits like these.
We only seeing Charles wearing this folk outfit in Bavaria. Apparently he did not take his Bavarian outfit back home and wear it. Perhaps that would not have been politically correct for a Belgian prince to be seen wearing German folk costumes--even before Germany invaded neutral Belgium in 1914 launching World War I.
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