On this day, a century ago, the Belgium-Luxembourg Economic Union's treaty was signed in spite of national opposition to it, which was expressed in the form of a "no" vote during a referendum on the topic.
I suppose the fact that the people didn't want it, and they got it anyway, is a lesson in more than one way.
The treaty united the economies of the two countries.
Princess Fatima of Afghanistan secured an audience with President Harding through the offices, oddly enough, of notorious imposter Stanley Clifford Weyman.
The princess, her family, and Weyman, in Naval uniform, with another imposter, in top hat, we discussed recently.
Well, in actuality nobody was who they seemed to have been, except President Harding. And as we've discussed before, even Harding wasn't completely who he seemed to be in some ways.
Anyhow, Fatima wasn't really a princess. In spite of her best efforts to secure an audience with Harding, she hadn't received one, which is no surprise as Afghanistan, at that time, was far from an American concern. The distant country had just received its independence and was of very little interest to the distant United States.
Fatima wanted, apparently, to be a princess and secure positions for her three sons. Weyman took note and posted as a Naval officer and actually secured an audience for her. Be that as it may, it didn't achieve anything for her or anyone in this photo, except perhaps for Weyman who secured some notoriety.
Weyman went on to sting of later such false flag type of acts before being shot to death attempting to stop a robbery in 1960. The police detective at the time noted that he knew Weyman's history, but what he actually did in his final act was brave.
Of note, one of the things that the New York Times reported on, regarding the would be Princess Fatima, is that she had a diamond stud in her nose, which was regarded as very exotic at the time.
