Belgian Royalty: Hair Styles of Albert I's Children


Figure 1.--Princess Albert and Princess Elizabeth are seen here in 1907 with princes Leopold and Charles. The portrait was published in 1907, it may have been taken a year or so ealier. This was two years before Albert became king. Note the difference in the clothing and hair styles of the two princes.

The princes hair was styled differently at various ages. Some of the younger styles appear quite fanciful. Presumably Queen Elizabeth was the one who decided on these styles. We do not know for sure why the children, especially the boys had such elaborate hair styles. We can only asuume that their mother, Queen Elizabeth, like the idea. She also dressed them in very fancy outfits. I doubt if King Albert had anything to do with it or even liked the idea. We do not know just what the Queen's fashion inspiration was. She grew up in Bavaria where the princes weeealso elaborately dressed, but we do not see hair styles like these, The hair styles seem rather unique for the day, I'm not sure who she may have discussed or if she consulted with the King. The Queen oftem styled the boys hair identically. The only exception to this was when Prince Charles was very young and had not yet had his hair cut while his older brother did have his curls cut. As younger boys they wore bangs and cuurly hair over their ears, but not to shoulder length. She seems to have had their hair cut shorter at about 6 years of age.

Age Differences

The princes hair was styled differently at various ages. When they were all little, all of the children had fancy hairdos. But as they got older, about 6 years of age the boys got shorter cuts. But even the shorter cuts could be elaborate. This was a common device used by parents in the late 19th and early 20th century, making small differences in the hair styles and clothing styles. Clearly it was considered appropriate for younger boys to wear their hair longer than older boys. The boys even at a young age did not wear long curls or shoulder length hair. Apparently the boys had their hair cut short, but with bangs at about 6 years of age. They still, however, wore rather juvenile clothes for many years after their hair was cut,

Styles

Some of the younger styles appear quite fanciful. They did not wear ringlets, but did wear a rather frizy style. As younger boys they wore bangs and curly hair over their ears, but not to shoulder length. The Queen seems to have had their hair cut shorter at about 6 years of age. They continued wearing bangs with their short hair. The many styles we see are so elaborate that we are not sure how to describe them stylistically, but there were both fancy long and short styles or we might sy long sides. .

Long hair

Prince Charles (Karl) here wears long uncut hair. If the 1907 date for this portrait is correct, Charles would have been 3-4 years old. He looks somewhat younger. It looks, however, amazingly frizzy. HBRC is unsure if this was a natural style oe in fact the result of hair styling. HBRC has not noted a lot of children wearing hair that is naturally so frizzy. While the hair is long, it is not shoulder length.

Long sides

Prince Leopold, the older brother, wears a hair style which HBRC does not know how to describe. It is short on top, but frizy like his younger brother on the side. HBRC has no details, but you would like that this hair do almost certainly was styled. It is not a style which would have occurred natuarally. Leopold would have been 5-6 years old.

Bangs

Older photographs of the boys show them with short hair worn with carefully cut bangs.

Queen Elizabeth

Presumably Ptincess Elizabeth (before 1909) was the one who decided on these styles. I'm not sure who she may have discussed or if she consulted with the King. The younger hair styles of the princes are so elaborate that certainly she must have discussed them with her confidents. We do not know for sure why the children, especially the boys had such elaborate hair styles. We can only asuume that their mother, Queen Elizabeth, like the idea and wanted to make the children beautiful. She also dressed them in very fancy outfits. I doubt if King Albert had anything to do with it or even liked the idea. We do not know just what the Queen's fashion inspiration was. She grew up in Bavaria where the princes weeealso elaborately dressed, but we do not see hair styles like these, The hair styles seem rather unique for the day, At the time Fauntleroy ringlet curls were going out of style and in any case were not as popular in the Continent as in America. Some French boys had long hair, but we see very examples of the styles that te Queen did for the boys. Not do we know just how the styling was done. Presumably she instructed the staff, but the hair styles are so elaborate that you might think that she was involved in the styling. She was clearly interested in hair styling. She had long beautiful hair, but commonly wore it in in a huge, emaculately styled bun.

Identical Styles

The Queen oftem styled the boys hair identically. The only exception to this was when Prince Charles was very young and had not yet had his hair cut while his older brother did have his curls cut. Once Peibce Charles was about 7, both boys wore the same short hair styles.







HBRC








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Created: June 16, 2001
Last updated: 12:44 AM 5/17/2011