The King
1875–1934
King of the Belgians – Roi Alpiniste
He was a great man, a great king, and a great mountain climber. When Prince Albert was pronounced King of Belgium on 23 December 1909, he had already had an impact on his own country and on the Alps. He travelled incognito throughout the industrial regions of Belgium to get an impression of the workers’ situation. And in 1907, he and his wife were the first to successfully climb the northeast ridge of Piz Caral in the Engadin. Until WWI broke out, King Albert I used his very spare time to continue his alpine career, but for the next four years he fought as commander-in-chief of the Belgian army to successfully free his country from the enemy – an achievement for which he is still honoured in Belgium today, as he is for his modesty, which he was especially able to express when mountain climbing, far from his duties as a monarch.
The Rock Climber
Albert I’s great passion was rock climbing, especially in the Dolomites, but also in the Wilder Kaiser and Bregaglia Range. There he undertook significant expeditions – first roped to guides, but later increasingly in guideless parties – that are still admired today. He climbed – up to grade VI – until age 58. And he was rightly proud of his membership in the Club Alpino Accademico Italiano, which admitted only climbers who had independently completed major ascents. On 17 February, 1934, the Roi Alpiniste fell from the Rochers du Vieux Bon Dieu in Marche-les-Dames near Namur (Belgium), while he was solo climbing.
In many places throughout the world, Albert I lives on in the names of streets and parks, hotels and huts, peaks and ridges. For example, one of the most popular alpine huts in the Mont Blanc massif is still called Refuge Albert 1er – inaugurated on 30 August, 1930, by the king himself.