Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this file which includes the original illustrations. See 43086-h.htm or 43086-h.zip: (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43086/43086-h/43086-h.htm) or (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43086/43086-h.zip) Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/myownaffairs00louirich Transcriber's note: Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). MY OWN AFFAIRS [Illustration] MY OWN AFFAIRS by THE PRINCESS LOUISE OF BELGIUM With Photogravure Frontispiece and Eight Plates Translated by Maude M. C. ffoulkes Cassell and Company, Limited London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne 1921 I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO the Great Man, to the Great King, who was MY FATHER CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE 1. Why I Write this Book 1 2. My Beloved Belgium; my Family and Myself; Myself--as I Know Myself 7 3. The Queen 17 4. The King 27 5. My Country and Days of my Youth 36 6. My Marriage and the Austrian Court--the Day after my Marriage 54 7. Married 63 8. My Hosts at the Hofburg--the Emperor Francis Joseph and the Empress Elizabeth 82 9. My Sister Stéphanie Marries the Archduke Rudolph, who Died at Meyerling 100 10. Ferdinand of Coburg and the Court of Sofia 116 11. William II and the Court of Berlin--the Emperor of Illusion 132 12. The Holsteins 142 13. The Courts of Munich and Old Germany 154 14. Queen Victoria 165 15. The Drama of my Captivity, and my Life as a Prisoner--the Commencement of Torture 171 16. Lindenhof 189 17. How I Regained my Liberty and at the Same Time was Declared Sane 197 18. The Death of the King--Intrigues and Legal Proceedings 211 19. My Sufferings during the War 231 20. In the Hope of Rest 245 Index 253 LIST OF PLATES The Princess Louise of Belgium (_Photogravure_) _Frontispiece_ FACING PAGE