Charles unveils Waterloo memorial

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla arrive in Waterloo for the inauguration of the ‘Ferme d’Hougoumont’ (The Hougoumont farm) memorial site, a part of the commemorations of the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo. The royal couple yesterday unveiled a memorial to the allied soldiers who defeated French emperor Napoleon’s forces at the Battle of Waterloo two hundred years ago.

AFP/Waterloo

Prince Charles yesterday unveiled a memorial to the soldiers who defeated Napoleon at Waterloo, kicking off days of commemorative events to mark the 200th anniversary of the battle. Descendants of the generals who led the French, British and Prussian armies that fought on the plain south of Brussels on June 18, 1815, joined Charles and his wife Camilla for the ceremony. The new memorial stands at the Hougoumont Farmhouse, where allied forces fought off a bloody French advance two centuries ago, marking one of the most decisive moments in a battle that shaped modern Europe. Charles, who is heir to Queen Elizabeth II, unveiled a statue of two life-size soldiers closing the renovated farm’s north gates to pay tribute to the British, Prussian, Dutch and Belgian soldiers who died. “Closing the gates on war,” said the words carved into the marble base of the statue. In a symbol of reconciliation, relatives of the troops’ commanders shook hands: the Duke of Wellington, descended from the famous British general of the same name; Prince Nikolaus Bluecher von Wahlstatt, whose ancestor Field Marshal Bluecher led the Prussians; and Napoleon’s descendant Prince Charles Bonaparte. The event is the opening salvo in a series of commemorations of the Battle of Waterloo, including a ceremony on the formal anniversary today and two days of battle re-enactments tomorrow and Saturday. Historians say up to 2,500 men died in the fighting at Hougoumont, where 7,000 troops led by Napoleon’s brother General Jerome Bonaparte launched wave after wave of attack.  But the British and Prussian forces held their ground and played a pivotal role in winning the day-long battle at Waterloo that crushed the French emperor’s dreams of European conquest.