The Barefoot Emperor

HOW THE LAST KING OF THE BELGIANS BECOMES THE FIRST EMPEROR OF EUROPE. On his way home from a state visit to Istanbul, the KING OF THE BELGIANS suffers a gunshot wound to the ear during an unfortunate incident in Sarajevo. A few days later, he wakes up in a sanatorium on a Croatian island, once Tito’s renowned summer residence. His entourage tries in vain to protect him from the news that the recent implosion of their kingdom sparked the collapse of the European Union. The fragile King wants to return home at once to save his broken kingdom. But instead, he is condemned to a strict regime of rest and rehabilitation by the authoritarian sanatorium director, Dr. Otto Kroll. A delegation arrives from Vienna headed by the distinguished Dr. Ilse von Stroheim, one of the architects of a nationalist Nova Europa. She announces the thunderous news that the last King of the Belgians shall become the first Emperor of this new Europe. The King is fed up with others determining his destiny, so he takes matters into his own hands.