The Royal Institution of Messines
In 1057 Countess Adele of France (1017-1079), daughter of King Robert I and wife of Count Baldwin V of Flanders, founded a convent at Messines. The legend around this event states that three young girls were saved by Mary, Mother of God, who buried them alive to protect their purity and virginity. Adele, guided by a vision, found the site and disinterred the girls. This was months after they had disappeared but their bodies were unharmed. From gratitude to the Holy Virgin and her miracle, Countess Adele built the convent and the Church of St Nicholas. Mathilde, one of Adele's daughters, married William the Conqueror and became Queen of England. Adele spent her last years in Messines and was buried in the crypt at St Nicholas. A number of miracles have since been credited to her. The abbesses and nuns who joined the convent over the centuries were all from noble families. As a dowry to God, they brought the right to grounds to the abbey and each time there was a new arrival the convent's wealth grew accordingly. 
The convent remained until 1776 when Empress Maria-Theresa of Austria, who ruled Belgium at the time, founded the Royal Institution of Messines to provide education for the children of military officers who had been killed or maimed in action. The girls learned how to teach or keep house while the boys stayed until they were 12 and then went on to the Military School.
Fled to France
When World War One began in 1914, the staff and pupils of the Royal Institution fled to France. Returning after the Armistice, they discovered that the buildings had been virtually demolished - damaged beyond repair. They moved to Lede in East Flanders, but the name remained the Royal Institution of Messines.
The Royal Institution together with the Government bought the property in Lede and continued its work of educating military orphans in French, in those days the upper class language of Belgium. From 1944 children from civilian families were also admitted.
From 1952, however, the gradual partition of Belgium into what are today's Flemish and French speaking regions meant that French-speaking schools were in an increasingly precarious situation in Flanders, a situation which culminated in the withdrawal of Government subsidies after 1963. At the same time there were fewer and fewer officers' children being enrolled, a welcome reflection of enduring peace.
In September 1969 the Government decided to close the school and sell the property. Proceeds would be invested and the income used to provide scholarships, vocational support and other assistance to children of officers killed in action, thereby continuing the wish of the founder, Empress Maria-Theresa.
By 1972 the process was complete and the Royal Institution began its new role as a foundation disbursing funds instead of running a school.
In 1984 pieces from the Institution's preserved treasury were returned to Messines and can now be seen at the museum.