No room at the Inn for Belgian queen

March 27, 1920

Queen Elisabeth of Belgium arrived tonight in Fontainebleau, France, "to arrange the opening of her villa," on the outskirts of the city.  She decided that it "would be more practical" to spend the night in a hotel, and head to her villa tomorrow morning.

The New York Times reports that the wife of King Albert rented a cottage in Fontainebleau for several weeks.

Unfortunately, all available hotel rooms were already booked, and Queen Elisabeth "was forced to drive to her villa." She will spend the night on a camp bed, as the staff had not yet readied a bedroom her her.

Fontainebleau hoteliers are "desolate with the thought that they denied hospitality to the Queen."   The good-natured Elisabeth told one of her ladies-in-waiting: "It reminds me of the Autumn of 1914, when we were really homeless."