Belgium's constitution is hard on the King's ministers. It specifically states that the ministers shall be held wholly responsible for the King's actions, good or bad. Two weeks ago, 21-year-old King Baudouin announced that he would snub the funeral of Britain's King George VI, and would send his younger brother, Prince Albert, to London in his stead. Why? Well, Baudouin is his father's son, and his memory still smarts at the British attitude towards his father Leopold over Belgium's surrender to Germany in 1940.
But Belgians are independent cusses. At Baudouin's announcement, there...
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