In a time of pandemic restrictions, people in Brussels seek open spaces, often ending up in crowded urban parks where social distancing is impossible. But there is a family that this does not affect.
The royal family has a huge, lush garden right in the center of the city, almost the size of Monaco and including a massive palace and a colony of rare herons.
In that context, is it surprising that more and more people are calling for King Philip to open the doors and allow the public access to at least part of the garden during the biggest global health crisis in a century?
Yet so far no walls have fallen, no iron gates have been opened.
“Come on! They barely go, those gardens are simply empty,” said exasperated Brussels historian and former member of the European Parliament, Luckas Vander Taelen.
What’s more, the gardens in Laeken, a Brussels municipality, are surrounded by some of the most densely populated, run-down and impoverished neighborhoods in the country, filled with families who don’t have the means to travel to greener areas.
“The greenery conveys a zest for life, especially when you are crammed into a small apartment with your extended family,” said Saliha Mahdi, a social worker from Laeken. “So local people want a park right here because they don’t have the means to pay for transportation.”
Palace gardens are becoming a parable of royal privilege in a time of intense need and change.
The monarchy has made mistakes in its public messages. Last year, at the beginning of the pandemic, King Felipe made a failed attempt to convey closeness by allowing a drone to fly over the sprawling orchard to show that his family, like all Belgians, was confined to their home.
In the middle of the vegetation, surrounded by venerable trees and shrubs arranged around the perfectly cut grass, the family had written in large letters “Courage, strong together.”
Together? Not much.
The issue had been playing in the background for years in the political debate, but the COVID-19 pandemic has left it on the table this spring. The governing parties in Brussels, and even some members of the opposition, have supported a proposal to open the gardens to the public.
“People really need space, public spaces where they can relax, get some air, play, get together,” said Brussels lawmaker Hilde Sabbe.
And while the south of the capital has plenty of green spaces for its resident diplomats, Eurocrats and the wealthy, the central and northern areas of Brussels, where the King’s Garden is located, are very different, without the stately trees that flank it. the more affluent streets.
“In Brussels, most people don’t have a garden. It does not have a terrace. It does not have a balcony. So they have to go to the park, if there is one, ”Sabbe said.
In that sense, opening part of the royal park to the public would make a huge difference. “Couldn’t I just let them pass?” Sabbe asked the king.
But as in many seemingly simple things, the matter is much more complex.
When it comes to royal estates, there is a tangle of legal details that affect both the state and the royal family. The intricate Belgian institutional structure, where local, regional and national competences sometimes overlap, would make the management of an open park even more complex.
In a more practical sense, the palace has to remain safe, not only because the head of state lives there, but also because other heads of state and government visit the place when they pass through Brussels for NATO or European Union related trips. .
And a century of isolation from the outside world has turned the park into a fragile ecosystem with unique plants and animals that require protection.
That remains an argument for some, even though Celine Vandeuren, who lives nearby, has to walk her cat Hector on a leash along the park’s brick wall without being able to enjoy the beauty and tranquility of the interior.
“I am afraid that if we open up this space, our presence, perhaps a little too inopportune, will disturb nature,” Vandeuren said.
Sabbe disagrees, saying it would be easy to open part of the 186-hectare (460-acre) park. And he has confidence in King Philip, 60, who is making a name for himself as one of the most progressive in a line of monarchs dating back to 1830.
The Royal Palace has not commented on the matter, declining to respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
For historian Vander Taelen, however, the solution should be simple.
“It would be very positive if the Royal Household shows that there is a link with the city,” he said. “Perhaps the most important thing is whether they would show solidarity with the needs of their people, of their city.”