Rocking horse Keizerstraat

Are you sitting comfortably and enjoying the view? Perfect! Then allow me to introduce myself! My name is Charles, Prince Charles actually. I spent my boyhood in Mechelen and so I know the city like the back of my hand. I was born in 1500 and grew up on Keizerstraat at the court of my aunt Margareta of Austria. That’s the palace with the beautiful inner garden.

Here in Mechelen and all over the world they know me as Emperor Charles V. My empire that was so vast that the sun never set on it. I reigned over more than 27 kingdoms, 13 duchies and 22 counties in Europe, Central America and North Africa. Sadly, I was unable to enjoy them for long. I was just 58 when I died in Yuste in Spain.

Where you rock, I tell stories about the city and in particular about the places I have fond memories of.

Rocking horse Keizerstraat

A little further along, is the municipal theatre, also known as the palace of Margareta of York, my step great-grandmother. The outside is magnificent as you can see for yourself, but inside the palace is even more beautiful. And I should know, because I lived there from the age of 6 to 16. I was not an only child. I have four sisters and one brother. My father died when I was six and my mother was so ill – some said she was mentally ill – that she couldn’t look after us.

Our family situation meant that three of my sisters and I lived with my aunt Margareta, a little further along the street. She is so famous here that she has a statue overlooking the Grote Markt. Anyway, back to this palace. My teachers were really strict. One of them even slept in my room with me so that I always had someone to speak to on nights when I couldn’t sleep. I learned to read and write in this building.

I studied public administration and diplomacy. “What bliss, the life of a prince!”, they say, but I’d much rather have been outside playing than stuck inside with my nose in a book. Fortunately, I also learned to ride and hunt. And sometimes we were allowed to dress up and act. Appropriately enough, the municipal theatre is now located on this street.

My sisters and I also liked playing in our large garden, where we had our own mini-zoo. One day our ostrich escaped. Aunt Margareta asked the city trumpeter to catch the beast. Don’t ask me how he did it, but he did and he was well rewarded.

• You will also find this walk in the Visit Mechelen app. That way you can follow the horses on a map without having to scan the QR code each time. Download the app here.

• Free
• Available in 4 languages: Dutch, French, German & English.