Ile d’Yeu prefecture’s controversial allowance for the Belgian King & Queen
One February 2nd we noticed the increased traffic to the Île d’Yeu article on our e-magazine website and thought “Wow! People are really shopping around for their summer holiday today.” We hadn’t noticed the news that the Belgian Royal family had requested and received a permit to build an annex to their home on the island, to the protest of some islanders, in particular the local butcher. King Phillipe and Queen Mathilde are, despite rising republicanism of the Flemish population in Belgium, quite a beloved royal pair in their country. They are gentle and kind, and just like his uncle King Baudouin and aunt Queen Fabiola back in the day (Boudewijn died in 1993 and was succeeded by his brother, Phillipe’s father Albert II for 20 years before retiring in 2013), their hearts seem to genuinely beat among the Belgian constituents. But even a hard working king and queen need …