Chapter I: Front Matter

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Transcriber's note:

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

MY OWN AFFAIRS

MY OWN AFFAIRS

by

THE PRINCESS LOUISE OF BELGIUM

With Photogravure Frontispiece and Eight Plates

Translated by Maude M. C. ffoulkes

Cassell and Company, Limited London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne 1921

I DEDICATE
THIS BOOK TO
the Great Man, to the Great King, who was
MY FATHER

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

1. Why I Write this Book 1

2. My Beloved Belgium; my Family and Myself;
Myself--as I Know Myself 7

3. The Queen 17

4. The King 27

5. My Country and Days of my Youth 36

6. My Marriage and the Austrian Court--the Day
after my Marriage 54

7. Married 63

8. My Hosts at the Hofburg--the Emperor Francis
Joseph and the Empress Elizabeth 82

9. My Sister Stéphanie Marries the Archduke
Rudolph, who Died at Meyerling 100

10. Ferdinand of Coburg and the Court of Sofia 116

11. William II and the Court of Berlin--the
Emperor of Illusion 132

12. The Holsteins 142

13. The Courts of Munich and Old Germany 154

14. Queen Victoria 165

15. The Drama of my Captivity, and my Life as a
Prisoner--the Commencement of Torture 171

16. Lindenhof 189

17. How I Regained my Liberty and at the Same
Time was Declared Sane 197

18. The Death of the King--Intrigues and Legal
Proceedings 211

19. My Sufferings during the War 231

20. In the Hope of Rest 245

Index 253

LIST OF PLATES

The Princess Louise of Belgium (_Photogravure_) _Frontispiece_

FACING PAGE

Queen Marie Henriette of Belgium 22

King Leopold II of Belgium 32

The Countess Lonyay (Princess Stéphanie of Belgium) 48

Prince Philip of Saxe-Coburg 70

Princess Victor Napoleon (Princess Clémentine of Belgium) 86

The Archduke Rudolph 102

Duke Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein 150

The Duchess Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein 234

My Own Affairs