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King Philip 1st and queen Mathilde... cheers!
Although this happens in summer, a mysterious force seems to make it rain most of the time on that day and it was the case this Monday, while the days before and after were sunny. That's what we call in Belgian French la drache nationale ("National downpour" more or less).
People gathered around the Royal Palace with Belgian flags, hoping to be approached by the royal family, and... some of them sang the "Brabançonne", our national anthem, as they probably did two weeks before when the Red Devils were playing at the World Cup (see previous article)!
The Brabançonne was actually written by a French actor, Jenneval, in 1830, and was changed across time because it was formerly against the Netherlands (the country we used to be part of) and the music was made by Belgian composer François van Campenhout.
Although a Dutch version of the anthem was only officialised in 1938, it is sung nowadays in three languages (sometimes four, if you count Walloon) and there is no official version of it. This is probably one of the reasons why, let's face it, not a lot of Belgians actually know the lyrics (I can't think of anyone that know the whole of it in my friends)... although a vast majority can hum the tune of it...
In 2007, former PM Yves Leterme mistakenly sang the French anthem (La Marseillaise) at the national day while being interviewed by the RTBF, embarrassing himself. But I don't think it's really surprising when the only moment we hear the Brabançonne - and only an instrumental version of it - every year is for the National Belgian day, whereas the French anthem and the American one are known to most people because it is played a lot on TV.
Most people I know only know the last line "Le Roi, la Loi, la Liberté" (The King, law, and liberty) or "Voor vorst, voor vrijheid en voor recht" (For the king, for freedom and for law). In addition, Flemish people often know the first two first lines "O dierbaar België, O heilig land der Vad'ren" (O dear Belgium, O holy land of our fathers)... Anyway, the lyrics aren't that long (only 8 lines to remember for each language), so it shouldn't be too difficult to memorise for once...
Here is the trilingual version of it:
O dierbaar België, O heilig land der Vad'ren,
Onze ziel en ons hart zijn u gewijd.
À toi notre sang, ô Patrie!
Nous le jurons tous, tu vivras!
So blühe froh in voller Schöne,
zu der die Freiheit Dich erzog,
und fortan singen Deine Söhne:
Le Roi, la Loi, la Liberté!
Het woord getrouw, dat g' onbevreesd moogt spreken,
Voor Vorst, voor Vrijheid en voor Recht!
Gesetz und König und die Freiheit hoch!
Le Roi, la Loi, la Liberté!
