75 years after the beginning of the regency… The archives of Georges Holvoet, Chief of Staff to the Prince Regent

At the end of November 2019, the family Holvoet donated to CegeSoma the archives created by Baron Georges Holvoet in his position as Prince Charles’ Chief of Staff.

After completing his studies in law, Georges Holvoet (1874-1967) joined the Brussels public prosecutor's office, first as a substitute (1899), then as a prosecutor (1911). In 1922 he became Advocate General at the Court of Cassation and in early November 1923 he was appointed Governor of the Province of Antwerp.

In September 1944, at the request of Prince Charles who had been an intimate acquaintance of the family for a long time he became head of the Regent's cabinet. He remained Head of the Cabinet until the end of the Regency in 1950. He also held positions at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, the University Foundation, the Institute of Tropical Medicine, etc.

The donated archival documents stretch about 1.2 running meters and approximately cover the Regency period (1944-1950). They contain not only information on the day-to-day functioning of the cabinet or on its protocol and the representative position of the Prince Regent but also include relations with ministers and governments, the royal question, post-war repression, etc. This collection also includes all sorts of documents that belong to the personal archives of Georges Holvoet (among others a number of 'political notes').

The fund which is not yet available for consultation will be packaged and described as soon as possible. There is an archival list made by his granddaughter, Colette Gevers-Holvoet, in 2003.