Isabel (Princess)
Original title: Isabel (Princesa)
Account of the 1909 stay in Madeira of Princess Elisabeth, later Queen of the Belgians, who travelled incognito as Countess of Rethy.
Queen Elisabeth of Belgium visited Madeira while she was still a princess. She arrived on the British steamer Araguaya on 28 July 1909 and left for the Canary Islands on the German steamer Kamerun on the 6th of the following August. She stayed at the Monte Palace Hotel, where her husband Prince Albert, now King of the Belgians (1921), had stayed a few months earlier. She visited many parts of the city and its surroundings and also made two journeys by sea: one to Ponta do Pargo (‘sea bream point’), landing at Madalena (‘Magdalene’), and another to Machico, where she went ashore and made an excursion to the locality (sítio) of Portela (‘mountain pass’).
The princess travelled under the name of Countess of Rethy and was greeted by the civil governor and the military commander, the former of whom accompanied her on some of her outings.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 01Place
Places mentioned · 06
Abroad
- Canary Islands
Spain. Where she sailed on leaving Madeira.
The Canary Islands are the archipelago neighbouring Madeira, with disputed accounts of their discovery. Tradition holds that their Béthencourt king sold them to Prince Henry in exchange for lands in Madeira. The Elucidário notes many contacts between the two archipelagos, including scientific visits, the Orfeão Madeirense's tour in May 1922 and the massacre of forty Jesuits in their waters.
- Machico
Destination of her second sea trip.
The parish of Machico was the landing place of the discoverers Zargo and Tristão Vaz and the seat of the captaincy of Machico; the parish was founded c. 1450. The Elucidário covers its clergy and stipends, chapels, historical events, mineral springs, localities, population and notable natives.
- Madalena do Mar
Ponta do Sol. Where she landed on the western sea trip.
Madalena do Mar is a parish on the south-west coast of Madeira, in the municipality of Ponta do Sol, founded on the estate of the legendary Henrique Alemão and made an independent parish in 1582. The Elucidário records its chapels, sugar and banana farming, its capitania-mor, damage in the 1876 floods and the 1939 flood of the Ribeira da Madalena, and it was the birthplace of António Policarpo dos Passos Sousa.
- Monte Palace Hotel
Funchal. Hotel where the princess resided.
The Monte Palace Hotel stands in the parish of Monte, Funchal, on a site roughly corresponding to the former locality of Prazeres. Princess Isabel resided there, and it hosted a lunch for the Coimbra University tuna and a lunch and a dinner in honour of the aviators.
- Ponta do Pargo
Calheta. Destination of one of her sea trips.
Ponta do Pargo is a parish at Madeira's western extremity, transferred from Porto do Moniz to Calheta municipality in 1871, where a lighthouse long demanded was first lit in 1922. It is watered by the old Rabaçal levada, grows Sercial vines, gives its name to a white cattle sub-breed, and was the birthplace of Manuel da Costa Dias and João Pestana Júnior.
- Portela
Machico. Site she visited on an excursion from Machico.
Portela is a pass in the municipality of Machico where the Ribeira de Machico rises and where the new eastern road ends. It is a viewpoint with wide panoramas over Porto da Cruz and Faial and was recommended as a viewpoint in 1850. Princess Isabel and the Coimbra students visited it.
People
People mentioned · 02-
Queen of the Belgians who visited Madeira as a princess from July to August 1909.
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Her husband, later King of the Belgians, who had stayed at the Monte Palace Hotel months before her.