Figure 1.--Prince Leopold in this portrait looks to be about 12 years old. While the imagevis undated, his age suggests that it was taken about 1913. Note the matching wrist trim.

Most of the available portraits of Prince Leopold wearing fancy blouses are unfortunately undated. Thus we do not know at what age Leopold wore these blouses. They began wearing them at quite early ages. Many portraits were taken of them and several fdifferent ages. It is apparent that he wore them to a fairly advanced age. The boys look to still be wearing them at about 13 or so. We have no information as to what Leopold thought as an older boy wearing these outfits. Nor do we know to what extentbother boys whim whom he came in contact wore similar syules--other than the Bavarian princes. While the images are undated, it does look like Leopold may have been wearing them as late as 1914. That would mean he was weating them in 1914, the year the Germans invaded Belgium lauching World War I. Perhaps 1913 or 14 was the last year, as the War may have call for more austere attire. We note that by 1916, Leopold is wearing an army field uniform. Quite a contrast to these fancy blouses he appears to have been wearing in 1913 or even 14--the year the War broke out.

Created: May 16, 2002
Last updated: May 16, 2002