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Princess Anne d'Orléans

Born Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, 4 Dec 1938

6 facts1 source

Living person. The family sees only the name, dates and photo; everything else stays private unless they choose to share it.

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 4 Dec 1938

    Born in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre

  2. 5 Apr 1967

    A daughter is born

Family

See the tree

Parents

Partner

Children · 1

During her lifetime

She has lived through 10 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Woluwe-Saint-Pierre.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1930s · Princess is born in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre

In the news1935

First electric railway line opened

On May 5, 1935, the national railway company opened Belgium's first electric line between Brussels-Nord and Antwerp-Central.

Daily life

Memorable Survival Tactics and Tools

To save money and ensure winter food supplies, families bought potatoes in bulk, sometimes 1000 kg at once, which were stored in specially prepared cellar bins lined with straw. To carry heavy water buckets from public pumps, people used a 'reep', a modified bicycle wheel without spokes that helped balance the weight and kept the buckets away from their legs.

Work

Standardizing the Working Day

The eight-hour workday and 48-hour workweek became standard in 1921, though many domestic workers often labored for longer hours without fixed schedules.

The Great Depression. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 set off a world depression: banks failed, work vanished and coffee prices collapsed in Brazil.Around the world · 1929–1939

The Great Depression. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 set off a world depression: banks failed, work vanished and coffee prices collapsed in Brazil.

Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided · public domain

What people wore

Frugal clothing maintenance habits

People often wore clothing until it was heavily mended; it was not considered shameful to wear a pant with a patch or a sweater with mended elbows. For special occasions, some men would still wear the black jacket and striped trousers they had first worn at their wedding twenty years earlier.

Music

Radio listening became immensely popular

By 1939, radio listening became a widespread habit in Belgium, with the number of radio sets soaring to over 1.15 million.

What it cost

Decline in food budget share

By the late 1940s, food expenses accounted for approximately 45 percent of a worker household's budget, a significant decrease from about 58 percent in 1929.