Customer Reviews

A Throne in Brussels

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This book comes in three layers: it is about the Belgian royal family of Saxe-Coburg, but also about Belgian political history and about European integration. The message that the author brings is that a federal Europe will go the same way as Belgium: a state without a real national identity, held together by opportunism, corruption and the cultivation of a non-identity. But don't expect a long philosophical treatise: this is a book packed with facts, anecdotes and stories about politics, about royal love stories and about royal business and financial ventures. The moral lesson is explained in the preface and in the last paragraphs of the book.

The author is a Eurosceptic and a proponent of the secession of Flanders from Belgium. But even if you are not a Eurosceptic nor a secessionist, you will find this unauthorized history of Belgium and its royals very interesting and amusing. You will learn from this book how a monarchy can sustain an artificial state and what the drawbacks and dangers of this type of government are.

This book is the most honest history of Belgium I have read. For once things that are taboo to the Belgian establishment - the role of Lafayette in the establishment of Belgium; the coup by radical refugees from France that established this artificial state; the scandals around King Leopold I of Belgium (and his successors); etc. - are finally exposed. This is history that reads like fiction. And it is the history necessary to understand the current issues between the Flemings and the Walloons. The pace is fast but the scholarly detective work (and thorough citations) also make this a ready reference tool. The title is a bit of a misnomer because in fact this is truly a revisionist history of Belgium.

why is luc van braekel writing reviews of his colleagues book...?
they work together at the brussels journal a very political organisation.
the book is more politics than history with a thinly veiled point.. belgium's failed experiment (country not yet broken up) is the future for eu attempts at statehood. though is the eu a state? some of the assertions made about politics in 19c belgium are a little simplistic so yes the royal family intrigue is laid on thick. its a polemic though not an appraisal and poor really.

from the brussels journal
Who We Are
Editor:
Paul Belien
Webmaster:
Luc Van Braekel
Writers:
Chresten Anderson, Copenhagen
Ernest Baert, London
Alexandra Colen, Brussels