pier by Julie Penrose. The count later said that they had received protection through the Spanish Minister at Brussels and that, while they went unharmed, their horses and automobiles were taken away from them for military use. Shortly after their arrival, the 4½ year old Pauline, with brown hair like her mother and brown eyes like her father, was seen wearing her Belgium peasant costume during a street parade for returning soldiers in Colorado Springs. Pauline Chapel was dedicated as part of the hotel on May 28, 1919. Julie named it after her beloved granddaughter, in thanksgiving for her safety. It was rededicated as a parish church in 1925 and served in that capacity until the much-larger St. Paul’s Church opened nearby in 1959.
MIC GAROFOLO (2)
Anne remembered that, on Julie’s visits to Belgium, it felt like someone very important, like a queen, was visiting. The story of the chapel is a wellknown part of Colorado Springs and The Broadmoor’s history. However, not much was known about Pauline herself until recently. One of her six children, Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps of Belgium, returned to The Broadmoor in 2017 after a nearly 50-year absence, followed by her younger sister, Baroness Anne de Selys Longchamps, in 2018. Those visits provided a unique opportunity to learn more about their mother Pauline, their grandmother Gladys, and their much-loved greatgrandmother Julie. Pauline de Selys Longchamps married the Baron Michel François de Selys Longchamps in 1937. Besides Sybille and Anne, their children are Michel, Patrick, Daniel, and Nathalie. The eldest children spent a good deal of time with their greatgrandmother at The Broadmoor growing up. When they weren’t in Colorado, Bonne, as they called her, wrote to them and their nanny frequently to hear about school and their hobbies and to plan visits. She referred to them as her “darling children” and sent gifts of soap, jeans, books, Jell-O, Rice Krispies, money, and even cameras. Sybille recalled Julie fondly. “She never
BARONESS SYBILLE DE SELYS LONGCHAMPS
used to lose her temper or anything. She always seemed to be smiling. And everyone was always coming to say hello to her.” Anne remembered that, on Julie’s visits to Belgium, it felt like someone very important, like a queen, was visiting. “She was so full of fun, so generous with us,” Anne said. “She was not very tall. She would sit at the table and never have her feet touch the ground, so we thought that was so funny.” When the children were young, their father was stationed in Washington, and Sybille recalls that they were able to visit The Broadmoor quite regularly during that period. Pauline would often come, too. Julie’s daughter Gladys, on the other hand, spent much of her time in Belgium at the Chateau de Ways Ruart, which Sybille
said has now been torn down. “She came to Belgium, and she redid all the castles, and she certainly had the same type of character of building that Julie had,” Sybille says. “That’s where we were brought up all our childhood—spent the war there.” During World War II, Gladys escaped to France shortly after Germany invaded Belgium, and then regained her U.S. citizenship. Meanwhile, Pauline and her children remained in Belgium. “We lived in that chateau during the whole war, and my mother was remarkable,” recalls Sybille. “She looked after so many families with children, feeding them.” Julie also noted in a 1952 letter to Pauline how impressed she was with her daughter. “When you think of all those years your mother has just stayed in that house with no change, and always so cheerful and gay,” she wrote. “It really is an extraordinary thing.” Pauline died in 1953 of complications from an operation on a brain tumor. Shortly before her own death, Julie dedicated the Pauline Memorial School (now St. Paul’s School) in her honor. Julie’s passing on January 23, 1956, was just months before a planned visit to Rome and Belgium to visit her daughter and great-grandchildren. Gladys died in 1967. Today, as Julie Penrose’s great-grandchildren return to a place that meant so much to them, Sybille recalls her joy at what she has found. “I’m stunned by how The Broadmoor keeps Julie and Spencer Penrose alive. Stunned.”
PAULINE CHAPEL
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