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Princess Hedwige de Ligne

4 May 1877 – 22 Sep 1938

6 facts1 source

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 4 May 1877

    Born

  2. 20 Apr 1899

    A son is born

  3. 22 Sep 1938

    Dies, aged 61

Family

See the tree

Partner

Children · 1

During her lifetime

She lived through 7 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like.

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

The 1870s · Princess is born

In the news1879–1883

Arrival of the telephone

The telephone arrived in Belgium between 1879 and 1883, transforming communication in the Belle Epoque.

Getting around

The traditional horse-drawn barge

Known as the barge, a horse-drawn tow canal boat was a common and punctual way to travel between towns like Bruges and Ostend until the late 19th century.

At the table

Cheap mussels for the poor

In working-class neighborhoods, mussels were a cheap staple, costing only 2.5 cents for one hundred at the time.

Italy is unified. Garibaldi, Cavour and Victor Emmanuel joined the Italian states into one kingdom, with Rome its capital from 1871.In Europe · 1859–1871

Italy is unified. Garibaldi, Cavour and Victor Emmanuel joined the Italian states into one kingdom, with Rome its capital from 1871.

Baldassare Verazzi (1819-1886) · public domain

What people wore

Festive Sunday attire for rural Belgians

Rural residents typically owned one set of festive Sunday clothes used for both church services and mourning. Men often wore a shiny blue smock on Sundays, while women wore a traditional regional cap.

Music

Children sang carols on Christmas Eve

In some towns, poor children sang Flemish carols like "Blyden nacht" on Christmas Eve, hoping to be rewarded with bread, fruit, or nuts.

Daily life

Crowded worker housing near Brussels

In some workers' homes near Brussels, a family of nine lived and slept in a small room barely larger than the space occupied by their two looms. They kept their food and live rabbits in a tiny adjacent space, where the family also slept on a mattress suspended above a loom.