Fit for a queen: two of the grandest limousines in Belgium

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We recently received this pair of quite fascinating photographs from Benny Verhulst, which depict a friend's Belgian great-grandparents, who seemed to be doing very well for themselves towards the latter end of la Belle Époque, if the society they kept and the big limousines in which they travelled are anything to go by.

The main picture is a simple family photograph, and therefore shows what must have been the family car. It's an impressive machine which looks to have been very powerful and very comfortable, not to mention supremely well-equipped. The four gleaming brass lamps add to the impression of wealth and prosperity, and there are not one but two bulb horns. There are likewise two spare tyres, which ought to have been ample precaution against the punctures which were then so common, and also a luggage rack complete with travelling trunk, which suggests that the family covered some reasonable distances on this car. The family obviously had a patriotic streak, for the car is flying Belgian flags by the radiator, although we wonder what the other standard flying from the roof might be.

The second photograph gives us a bit more information. The accompanying caption tells us it shows: "H.M. the Queen leaving the chapel of the Hospital l'Océan in De Panne." That's very handy, because it informs us that the photographs cannot predate 1914. De Panne is a town on the shores of the North Sea, close to Belgium's French border. The Hospital l'Océan was opened as a military hospital on December 18th, 1914, five months into the Great War, and was soon very busy attending to the thousands of Allied casualties. Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of the Belgians, was patron of the hospital and presided over its development. Although it was very valuable during the war, it had obviously been constructed quickly and likely was not expected to be a permanent institution. It closed following a Spanish flu outbreak in 1919 and the buildings were later demolished. We suspect the photograph was probably taken when, or shortly after, the hospital opened.

That brings us to the cars. That both owners had a patriotic interest in Belgium helps us, because it suggests they might have driven Belgian cars. The main Belgian car-makers in the Edwardian age were Pipe, FN, Métallurgique and Minerva, the last of which built cars to rival the world's best. We feel quite sure that Queen Elisabeth's car is a Minerva, for the distinctive wavy bonnet and radiator seem to match, but the other car has it's radiator largely obscured by the Belgian flag. Even so, we can see enough that we think it must be an FN.

Of course, we now defer to your more expert opinions, and if it happens that we've got the manufacturers right, you can fill in the rest: year of manufacture, chassis type, coachbuilder and so on...

Words: Zack Stiling; photographs: Benny Verhulst

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