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Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant

Laeken, 12 Jun 1859 – Brussels metropolitan area, 22 Jan 1869

8 facts3 sources

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 12 Jun 1859

    Born in Laeken

  2. 22 Jan 1869

    Dies in Brussels metropolitan area, aged 9

Family

See the tree

Parents

During his lifetime

He lived through 2 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Laeken.

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

The 1850s · Prince is born in Laeken

In the news1851

First Belgian banknotes introduced

The National Bank of Belgium issued its first banknotes in 1851, changing how people handled money.

What people wore

Black became the standard rural color

During the second half of the 19th century, black became the dominant color for everyday clothing in the Flemish countryside, replacing the colorful styles of previous eras. Typical daily attire for rural men included trousers, vests, smocks, and hats, while women wore skirts, aprons, blouses, and shawls.

Getting around

A Long Journey to the Coast

To travel from Brussels to Ostend, one had to take a stagecoach to Ghent in the middle of the night, ride a canal boat to Bruges, and transfer to another canal boat to reach Ostend by evening.

The Crimean War. Britain, France and the Ottomans fought Russia in Crimea; Florence Nightingale’s nurses changed how the wounded were cared for.In Europe · 1853–1856

The Crimean War. Britain, France and the Ottomans fought Russia in Crimea; Florence Nightingale’s nurses changed how the wounded were cared for.

William Simpson, artist (1823-1899) E[dmond]. Morin, lithographer (1824 - 1882), · public domain

In the news1845–1850

Flemish potato blight and subsistence crisis

In 1845, potato blight caused devastating harvest losses of up to 95% in Flanders, triggering a severe subsistence crisis that lasted until 1850.

Music

Fashionable dance: The Troïka

Around 1850, a dance figure known as the Troïka—a type of Schottische—became very fashionable, involving dancers performing polka steps in large circles.

Daily life

Life on floating barge homes

Children often played at home on the hatches of colorful, long barges where their entire families lived, worked, and died. These floating homes were commonly decorated with pretty curtains in the deck-cabin windows.