Belgian National day
21 July 1831 Leopold von Saksen Coburg Gotha was sworn in as the first Belgian king, he became Leopold I king of Belgians
21 July 2013 King Albert II abdicates. Today our seventh king , King Philippe / Filip has taken his oath as the king of Belgians,
An important day for many Belgians.
But if you start digging into history , you'll find it hasn't always been like this , 21 july became the Belgian national day only in 1890, sixty years after the Belgian independance of 1830.
Didn't we have a National day for sixty years? Ofcourse we had!
From 1830 till 1880 we feasted three days on a row from 23 till 26 september, the fact of kicking out the Dutch led to this big three day feast. Over the years the Dutch have become our best pals so it was not considered very gentlemanlike to gloat over the Dutch defeat
16 august became the next National day . No historical facts to commemorate and all dignitaries on holiday out of the country made this date a meager success.
From 1890 onwards, 21 july became the next national day, as refence the day the first king of Belgians took his oath.
By the way, .......Mo's bike is still waiting for the engine to be put in by Robby & Mo, and the minerva needs the wheels to be made (but that's a winterjob,)
The S2/S6 conversion is getting on fine , frame has been put in colour and the engine is back in, next on the program is the wiring
21 July 1831 Leopold von Saksen Coburg Gotha was sworn in as the first Belgian king, he became Leopold I king of Belgians
21 July 2013 King Albert II abdicates. Today our seventh king , King Philippe / Filip has taken his oath as the king of Belgians,
An important day for many Belgians.
But if you start digging into history , you'll find it hasn't always been like this , 21 july became the Belgian national day only in 1890, sixty years after the Belgian independance of 1830.
Didn't we have a National day for sixty years? Ofcourse we had!
From 1830 till 1880 we feasted three days on a row from 23 till 26 september, the fact of kicking out the Dutch led to this big three day feast. Over the years the Dutch have become our best pals so it was not considered very gentlemanlike to gloat over the Dutch defeat
16 august became the next National day . No historical facts to commemorate and all dignitaries on holiday out of the country made this date a meager success.
From 1890 onwards, 21 july became the next national day, as refence the day the first king of Belgians took his oath.
By the way, .......Mo's bike is still waiting for the engine to be put in by Robby & Mo, and the minerva needs the wheels to be made (but that's a winterjob,)
The S2/S6 conversion is getting on fine , frame has been put in colour and the engine is back in, next on the program is the wiring