The Palais d’Egmont, venue of the glitzy dinner for Sir Keir Starmer and EU leaders, has hosted British prime ministers before – but it didn’t go well.
Sir Keir is meeting EU leaders for dinner at the Brussels venue to discuss plans for a new defence pact between the EU and UK.
However, talks are also expected about EU access to UK fishing waters, a proposed “youth mobility scheme” allowing people under 30 to come to the UK or to EU countries, and Donald Trump’s plans to impose trade tariffs on the EU.
Ted Heath arrived at the palace on January 22, 1972 to sign the treaty taking the UK into the Common Market, the EU’s forerunner. However, proceedings had to be delayed after a protester sprayed Heath with ink on his arrival.
It took an hour for a new suit to be found for the British prime minister, leaving the assembled European leaders twiddling their thumbs.
Eventually, the signing went ahead, ushering in 48 years of membership, which ended on January 31, 2020.
Some mystery has always surrounded the woman who ruined Heath’s big moment. She gave her name as Karen Cooper but turned out to be Marie Louise Kwiatkowski.
Rather than objecting to the UK joining the Common Market, she appeared to have felt slighted over plans to redevelop Covent Garden, which she believed were based on proposals she drew up herself.
The meeting of EU leaders, with Sir Keir only invited for the final dinner, had originally due to take place in Limont Castle, a 13th-century keep in Berlgium’s Liège Province, but was moved to the fortified Palais d’Egmont for security reasons.
The palace was originally built between 1548 and 1560 for Countess Françoise of Luxembourg and Count Lamoral of Egmont but has been substantially renovated more than once, including after a major fire in 1892.
Today, it is described as “richly furnished and decorated with tapestries, marble and a hall of mirrors”.
It was bought by the Belgian government in 1964 for 99million Belgian Francs and is now used by the foreign ministry as a venue for conferences and international events.
Egmont Park, an English-style garden created alongside the palace, is open for Brussels residents and the city’s many tourists to enjoy a stroll.
The venue was particularly busy last year when Belgium assumed the presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months and hosted a series of summits including a meeting between EU leaders and United Nations secretary-general, Antonio Guterres.
EU energy, health, education and transport ministers also held meetings there.
