Belgium is a complicated situation of political entities and levels of government. What is clear is that on July 21 the banks and such are all closed, as are most stores. Since this day always falls in the summer during one of our Bible camp weeks, the group that is at camp that week has to be sure to have done their shopping before this day comes.
I remember the day that the king passed away. It was also during a week of camp, so we didn’t get the news until we were going home. He had passed away on July 31, 1993, during our Benjamin camp (for 8-11 year-olds). We had only been in Belgium for 2 years and this was only the third time I was helping with camp. But the death of this king really touched the country. He had been a remarkable king in many ways.
Modern Belgian kings don’t really have that much power or authority. Not like Leopold II who made Congo his play ground and private zoo in the latter half of the 19th century. Baudouin became king in 1951, married the Spanish countess Fabiola in 1960 and tried his best to rule his country in modern times. It was his reign that made it clear to the government that there needed to be clarity about who was actually in charge - the king or the government.
All came to a head in 1990 when in April of that year Baudouin made clear that he could not agree with a law that had been passed by the government allowing abortion. Baudouin had always been very clear about his faith and he and his wife were sticklers about morality - even among government ministers.
The contraceptive pill had been designed in 1961 by a Belgian, Ferdinand Peeters. This was already further than the king would have liked to have gone. But the law now presented was allowing abortion itself. Still the constitution only allows the king to be informed, to warn and to encourage concerning laws. And yet, all laws must be signed into law by the king.
Baudouin could not in good conscience sign the law allowing abortion when he himself considered abortion immoral and against the will of God. In order for the law to be signed, the king would need to be found “unable to govern”. So for 36 hours, he was technically not king - as the law was passed and signed by the government ministers.
Many people in the country considered the king’s principled stance very encouraging - even those who might have disagreed with him. And yet, in the period that he was king, even as his faith became stronger, the normal Belgian became more and more unchurched. The government realized that they needed to restrict the power of the king even more, making it more symbolic and simply representative of the country.
That summer in 1993, the whole country mourned. We found out at the end of our camp week as we went home with the radio on in the car. This year, Belgium will celebrate 10 years of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde on July 21. In the meantime, much has changed around abortion laws and what people think of them. King Baudouin was one of those in power willing to use that power to make his views known.
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