The Swiss voice in the world since 1935

Belgian queen commemorated 90 years after Swiss car crash

Küssnacht and Belgium commemorate Queen Astrid on the 90th anniversary of her death
Küssnacht and Belgium commemorate Queen Astrid on the 90th anniversary of her death Keystone-SDA

Representatives of the Belgian embassy, the Swiss district and the local population are honouring Queen Astrid at a ceremony on Friday. She died 90 years ago at the age of 29 in a car accident between Küssnacht and Merlischachen.

+Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox

On August 29, 1935, King Leopold III, Queen Astrid and their chauffeur set off on a trip along Lake Lucerne. At the wheel was the king, who was on holiday in Central Switzerland with his wife. They were staying at the Villa Haslihorn in St Niklausen, casnton Lucerne.

+ How Queen Victoria transformed the Swiss tourism industry

On the wet road, the Packard convertible skidded and crashed into a tree. Queen Astrid was thrown out of the car. She died at the scene of the accident. The king escaped without serious injury.

Just ten months later, the Astrid Chapel was completed at the site of the accident. The annual memorial service has been held there ever since. Representatives from the Belgian embassy and the district of Küssnacht also take part.

In 2015, the current monarch King Philippe was also present to commemorate his deceased grandmother.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.  

Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.

If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch

Popular Stories

News

Excavation in Ticino provides new insights into aquatic reptile

More

Research frontiers

Fossil uncovered in southern Switzerland of prehistoric aquatic reptile

This content was published on During excavations in Meride, southern Switzerland, researchers from the Ticino natural history museum discovered for the first time an aquatic reptile of the genus Lariosaurus with preserved skin.

Read more: Fossil uncovered in southern Switzerland of prehistoric aquatic reptile
Swiss Post sends gifts to the USA again

More

Trade policy

Swiss Post to re-start shipping some packages to US

This content was published on From Thursday, private customers will once again be able to send packages with a value of up to $100 (CHF124) to the United States via Swiss Post.

Read more: Swiss Post to re-start shipping some packages to US

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR