Berliner Boersenzeitung - Princess calls for Belgium to 'apologise' for colonial past

EUR -
AED 4.161776
AFN 79.313772
ALL 98.038445
AMD 435.959679
ANG 2.02785
AOA 1039.608416
ARS 1310.384256
AUD 1.758131
AWG 2.040961
AZN 1.925883
BAM 1.955171
BBD 2.289663
BDT 138.465433
BGN 1.957617
BHD 0.427228
BIF 3375.328491
BMD 1.13308
BND 1.46083
BOB 7.836478
BRL 6.392793
BSD 1.134035
BTN 96.803842
BWP 15.222101
BYN 3.711205
BYR 22208.373881
BZD 2.277867
CAD 1.566302
CDF 3246.274944
CHF 0.936434
CLF 0.027725
CLP 1063.917283
CNY 8.16305
CNH 8.144898
COP 4660.359274
CRC 576.909221
CUC 1.13308
CUP 30.026628
CVE 110.229521
CZK 24.914196
DJF 201.945001
DKK 7.456779
DOP 66.827901
DZD 149.732053
EGP 56.414709
ERN 16.996205
ETB 154.164619
FJD 2.560138
FKP 0.839184
GBP 0.838716
GEL 3.104569
GGP 0.839184
GHS 11.737222
GIP 0.839184
GMD 81.581905
GNF 9823.881378
GTQ 8.701199
GYD 237.61352
HKD 8.881452
HNL 29.537232
HRK 7.534761
HTG 148.173616
HUF 403.398683
IDR 18470.228663
ILS 4.00702
IMP 0.839184
INR 96.676901
IQD 1485.521861
IRR 47731.007455
ISK 143.992087
JEP 0.839184
JMD 180.38035
JOD 0.80331
JPY 163.282583
KES 146.412118
KGS 99.087716
KHR 4539.538877
KMF 492.32387
KPW 1019.736333
KRW 1553.385577
KWD 0.347788
KYD 0.944996
KZT 580.503156
LAK 24505.112639
LBP 101608.395719
LKR 339.990569
LRD 226.806999
LSL 20.296867
LTL 3.345691
LVL 0.685389
LYD 6.179011
MAD 10.468131
MDL 19.544709
MGA 5178.333271
MKD 61.557885
MMK 2379.041788
MNT 4052.394461
MOP 9.156053
MRU 44.860165
MUR 51.691016
MVR 17.517164
MWK 1966.367093
MXN 21.853131
MYR 4.789562
MZN 72.415214
NAD 20.296867
NGN 1797.031828
NIO 41.736751
NOK 11.509785
NPR 154.884781
NZD 1.897544
OMR 0.435675
PAB 1.134035
PEN 4.147165
PGK 4.653461
PHP 62.843465
PKR 320.928404
PLN 4.243675
PYG 9061.083546
QAR 4.144966
RON 5.053087
RSD 117.245488
RUB 90.226659
RWF 1609.367796
SAR 4.250095
SBD 9.46209
SCR 16.10909
SDG 680.417883
SEK 10.889321
SGD 1.459169
SHP 0.890423
SLE 25.743821
SLL 23760.127594
SOS 648.085684
SRD 41.734713
STD 23452.474531
SVC 9.922806
SYP 14732.126753
SZL 20.290469
THB 36.961248
TJS 11.430921
TMT 3.971446
TND 3.38591
TOP 2.653791
TRY 44.253607
TTD 7.714517
TWD 33.847152
TZS 3056.47491
UAH 47.282581
UGX 4137.668226
USD 1.13308
UYU 47.19481
UZS 14674.27685
VES 107.468729
VND 29414.764589
VUV 137.20511
WST 3.1223
XAF 655.745938
XAG 0.033948
XAU 0.000341
XCD 3.062207
XDR 0.815538
XOF 655.745938
XPF 119.331742
YER 276.301899
ZAR 20.260733
ZMK 10199.074424
ZMW 30.647136
ZWL 364.851394
  • RBGPF

    65.5600

    65.56

    +100%

  • CMSD

    0.2400

    22.13

    +1.08%

  • BTI

    0.0400

    45.26

    +0.09%

  • BCC

    2.9800

    89.54

    +3.33%

  • SCS

    0.4100

    10.5

    +3.9%

  • GSK

    0.7800

    39.44

    +1.98%

  • RELX

    0.2200

    55.66

    +0.4%

  • RIO

    -0.7800

    60.8

    -1.28%

  • CMSC

    0.1900

    22.13

    +0.86%

  • RYCEF

    0.3700

    11.57

    +3.2%

  • NGG

    -0.0900

    74.7

    -0.12%

  • JRI

    0.1300

    12.82

    +1.01%

  • AZN

    0.5500

    70.96

    +0.78%

  • BP

    0.0600

    29.15

    +0.21%

  • VOD

    0.0300

    10.5

    +0.29%

  • BCE

    -0.0500

    21.48

    -0.23%

Princess calls for Belgium to 'apologise' for colonial past
Princess calls for Belgium to 'apologise' for colonial past

Princess calls for Belgium to 'apologise' for colonial past

Belgium's Princess Esmeralda has repeated her call for Belgium to "apologise" for its colonial past and not simply express regret.

Text size:

Her comments, made in an interview with AFP this week, come as the royal palace announced that King Philippe will visit the DR Congo, a former Belgian colony, next month.

Two years ago, he expressed regret for his country's colonial abuses, but Esmeralda says Belgium must go further to help repair the damage.

"Belgium must apologise," she told AFP.

"As in a couple, apologies are important to restart a balanced relationship."

The princess first made the call in 2020 on the back of the Black Lives Matter movement.

A great-grandniece of King Leopold II, a monarch who has gone down in history for his violent conquest of the Congo at the end of the 19th century, she also advocated the removal of statues of her ancestor and their dispatch to museums.

That stance earned her "a lot of mail" and criticism, she admitted.

"I was not attacking my current family. We are not responsible for our ancestors," but "we have a responsibility to talk about it".

She said she "understands the expressions of rage" against these colonial symbols.

- Prison cell -

The 65-year-old princess has made a name for herself over the years for weighing in on sensitive issues.

For 16 years, she worked as a journalist in Paris under the pseudonym Esmeralda de Rethy. More than aware of the "extra weight" her royal name conferred, she again became Esmeralda of Belgium to propel her activism.

Her battles: women's rights, indigenous peoples' rights, and denouncing the environmental damage caused by mining and oil industries.

"I wanted to go further than just reporting the facts," said Esmerelda.

In 2019 she made headlines when she was dragged away from a climate change demonstration in Trafalgar Square by police and thrown into a London jail cell.

She was participating in a sit-in organised by Extinction Rebellion and defied an evacuation order by the police.

She spent five hours behind bars with no favour given to her royal status.

"Shoes taken off. Front and side photos. DNA and fingerprints taken," said the princess, who presides over the Leopold III Fund for the study and conservation of nature.

"I thought it would help the cause a bit because it would be talked about in the media, that's why I chose to do it."

But "I was very privileged, I knew that if I was arrested I wouldn't lose a job or be prevented from picking up my children".

King Philippe's visit, his first to the DRC, will take place from March 6 to 10.

It will also be the first Belgian royal visit to the country since Albert II, Philippe's father, travelled there in 2010 for the 50th anniversary of the former colony's independence.

(A.Berg--BBZ)