3-021-149 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Funeral of the late King of the Belgians: the body lying in state at the Royal Palace at Brussels - from a sketch by our special artist, 1865. '...the people of Brussels and other visitors were admitted to see the remains of the King [Leopold I]. One of the halls of the Brussels Palace, the grand yellow saloon, on the first story, had been transformed into a chapelle ardente. It was covered with black, and upon the tapestries were displayed the arms of Belgium and the arms of the King. The lustres were concealed with crape, and the only light which the hall received was that of thousands of tapers. The body of his Majesty, arrayed in the grand uniform of a General officer, commander-in-Chief of the army, lay on a state bed, the head of which was against the wall. On the breast glittered the insignia of the chief decorations of the late King. The other ornaments, which were very numerous, lay on a table at the side of the bed. The concourse of persons who were desirous of contemplating once more the features of the first King of the Belgians was enormous, 30,000 or 40,000 being admitted on each of those two days'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.