Click to see full image at Belga
The Royal Palace of Laeken was nominated third in a list of ugliest buildings of Belgium. Groep Jan Stallaert, a building/demolishing company, organised the contest in which people could nominate the ugliest buildings in Belgium. The group would then offer to demolish the winner for free.
The Royal Palace of Laeken came out third in the list. However, the first two nominees are suspected of cheating, so it is still possible the Palace ends up first. The company, however, does realize it is highly unlikely they will be allowed to tear it down.
Check this thread for more info on the Royal domain in Laeken and all buildings there.
Check this article in Dutch for more info about the contest.
LadyLeana Belgian Royals Palaces, Royal Palace of Laeken
Three months ago, prince Laurent of Belgium had the dead body of his favourite dog frozen. The prince was upset by the death of the Berner Senner and wanted to wait until an appropriate time, to say goodbye to the dog.
click on image to see photo at nieuwslog.nl
The Swiss dog was his favourite for seven years, and died of cancer. After his death the prince took the body to the veterinary medicine faculty of the university of Gent. At the university they froze the body, until the prince found the time ripe to say goodbye to his dog. On thursday, a few days before all saints, the prince thought that the time was ripe, the prince told public channel VRT through the telephone.
According to professor Chiers, of the university of Gent, several limbs of the dog were deformed because the body was frozen on the flat floor. When the prince announced that he wanted to collect the dog, the staff had to hurry to dry the hairs and bend the body in the original shape. When the prince arrived, the staff had to leave as the prince was quite emotional and wanted to be left alone with his dog.
In a reaction on the VRT the prince said that there is too little attention for the role that pets play in our daily lives. ‘People are very attached to their pets, when they die it hurts’, says Laurent. ‘All Saints is a day to pay attention to that’.
Marengo Belgian Royals Animals, Pets, Prince Laurent
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, met with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Belgium, Prince Philippe.
Prince Philippe is currently visiting the country for two days on an economic mission. Sheikh Mohammed and Prince Philippe discussed economic and investment ties between the UAE and Belgium.
View the economic mission thread here.
dazzling Belgian Royals, UAE Royals Economic Mission, Prince Philippe, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid
courtesy of WAM
Her Highness Sheikha Fatima hosted a banquet in honour of Crown Princess Mathilde of Belgium. Among dignitaries present were Her Highness Sheikha Salamah bint Hamdan (wife of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces), Her Highness Sheikha Shama bint Zayed (wife of His Highness Sheikh Surur bin Mohammed Al Nahyan) and Her Highness Sheikha Shamsa bint Hamdan (wife of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Representative of Ruler in Western Region).
Before the banquet, Sheikha Fatima and Princess Mathilde exchanged views on a number of issues connected with women’s rights. Sheikha Fatima briefed the Crown Princess about the UAE national women empowerment and the role they play in the development process in the country. Sheikha Fatima, who is the Supreme Chairwoman of the Family Development Foundation and Chairwoman of the General Women’s Union, has always been actively involved in women’s rights issues.
courtesy of WAM
Princess Mathilde highly praised the Sheikha’s role in the empowerment of women in the community and her efforts regarding the issues of childcare, environment and social development. The Crown Princess also lauded Sheikha Fatima’s humanitarian contributions both on local and international levels.
Later in the day, Princess Mathilde paid a visit to the Khalifa Fund for Development of Enterprises. The Princess was given a presentation on the Fund’s objectives, programmes and achievements in the promotion of the culture of entrepreneurship among the UAE citizens. The Princess was very impress by the achievements of the Fund since its founding two years ago and praised its important role in promoting development of entrepreneurship among various sectors of the UAE society.
Today was the final day of Crown Prince Philippe and Crown Princess Mathilde’s economic mission to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
To learn more about economic mission, visit this thread.
Marsel Belgian Royals, UAE Royals Economic Mission, Princess Mathilde, Sheikha Fatima, Women's Rights
The King, the Queen, Princess Astrid, Prince Laurent and Princess Claire attended the Autumn Concert at the Royal Palace in Brussels yesterday.
courtesy of Belga
The Autumn Concert is organized in collaboration with the Festival of Flanders and the Festival of the Walloon Region.
The Festival of the Walloon Region (Festival de Wallonie) is an annual event that offers 70 concerts in 4 parts of the Walloon Region and in Brussels. The common theme of the concerts is the aspiration to tell people about the region’s architectural and musical heritage, a strong inclination towards parties and conviviality.
This year, the Festival’s main theme is “Britannia”. The concerts are dedicated, as the name suggests, to the United Kingdom, which either gave birth or welcomed four great composers, whose anniversaries are celebrated this year – Purcell (350th birth anniversary), Handel (250th death anniversary), Mendelssohn (200th birth anniversary) and Haydn (100th death anniversary).
To learn more about the Belgian Royal Family, visit this thread.
Marsel Belgian Royals Concert, Music, Prince Laurent, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Princess Claire, Queen Paola
click on image to see photo at hln.be
As has been reported in the Flemish press, queen Fabiola left Castle Stuyvenberg and stayed at Villa Astrida in Spain. According to Spanish website ideal.es the Queen arrived in Motrtil on October 15th and left for Belgium two days ago. Last week the palace announced that queen Fabiola would not have any official duties in the near future as she is recoverning from a pneunomia.
Villa Astrida was bought by the queen and her late husband, king Baudouin, in the sixties. The villa is located in Motril, near Granada. Villa Astrida is named after king Baudouin’s mother, queen Astrid. In 1993 king Baudouin died in the villa from a heart attack.
To learn more about Queen Fabiola’s current activities, visit this thread.
Marengo Belgian Royals Health, Queen Fabiola, Spain
Yesterday Queen Paola of the Belgians took four of her grand children to the circus Bouglione (near the Anatomium) in Brussels to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “L’Oeuvre des Berceaux Princesse Paola / Het Werk Der Wiegjes Prinses Paola” .
Click on image to see photo at Zimbio
The queen, accompanied by her daughter princess Astrid and her daughter-in-law princess Claire took four of her grand children along: princess Laeticia Marie (daughter of princess Astrid) and princess Louise, prince Aymeric and prince Nicholas (children of prince Laurent and princess Claire. Apart from the royals many other attended the special show,. For the event 1000 children from underpriviledged families were invited.
L’Oeuvre des Berceaux Princesse Paola (the work of the cradles of princess Paola) was founded in 1876. The original name of the charity was ‘the foundation of the blacks’. In order to raise money and save the nursery, a group of well-off gentlemen decided to create ‘African Academy’; they disguised themselves as black people to avoid recognition in restaurants they frequented as clients. They blackened their faces and put on costumes of white top hat, a black coat and bright-coloured baggy trousers. The ‘Academy’ was very successful and raised enough money to save the nursery. Over the years, raising money for charity in this way has become one of the finest (and funniest) folklore traditions of Brussels.
Click on image to see photo at gva.be
In 1959, shortly after her marriage, Princess Paola accepted the post of Honorary President of the “African Academy”, which was re-named “L’Oeuvre des Berceaux Princesse Paola”. The foundation helps children from underprivileged environment; the help manifests itself in covering medical expenses, acquiring necessary food, clothing, school supplies, etc.
A gallery of pictures is available at the website of the Gazet van Antwerpen, click here. A thread about the current events of the Belgian royal family an be found here.
Marengo Belgian Royals Circus, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Princess Claire, Queen Paola
80 years ago the engagement was announced between HRH Prince Umberto of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, and HRH Princess Maria José of Belgium.
The union between the 25-years-old son and heir of King Vittorio Emanuele III and Queen Elena of Italy and the 23-years-old daughter of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians was planned since the two Princes were only children – probably during the First World War the two Courts began to think about their marriage; according to what Maria José remembered years later, she grew up thinking to marry Umberto and imagining him as the fairytale prince; on the other side, Umberto knew that if he would have married, he surely would have married Maria José, as their families had planned.
Umberto and Maria José on their engagement day - from reumberto.it
The two Princes met for the first time in 1918 for a visit to Venice, together with their families; at that time, Umberto was 14 and Maria José 12; she was studying in Italy, in the Istituto Statale della Ss. Annunziata, a very exclusive girls’ boarding school in Florence.
In the following years they met several times, at the wedding of Prince Amedeo, Duke of Apulia and Princess Anne d’Orleans in 1927 and on vacation in Tuscany in the summer 1928. In the winter of the same year, Umberto visited Bruxelles, and he was expected to ask Maria Josè to marry him, but nothing happened, as well as nothing had happened between them when they met before; the main reason is that both Umberto and Maria José felt forced to marry, and in that period they didn’t want to do; in particular Umberto didn’t want to marry a woman that he didn’t love and he knews only a bit. Read more…
MAfan Belgian Royals, Historical Royals, Italian Royals Anniversary, Engagement, Queen Maria José, Savoy, Umberto II
The Palace announced that Queen Fabiola will not attend any of the activities of the Royal Family in near future.
View the image at Hello!
This, as the announcement reads, is because Her Majesty is currently recovering from pneumonia; she feels exhausted and needs rest. The Palace spokesman hastened to add that there is nothing wrong with the Queen: “She walks and moves, but she is tired and needs rest. She cannot take long walks”.
Queen Fabiola hasn’t been seen in public for a while now; the last public event she attended was a Mass in honour of her husband, the late King Baudouin, which took place on July 31 at Notre Dame de Laeken in Brussels; the mess is an annual event and the Queen has never yet missed one.
Her last appearance was far from reassuring: Her Majesty was in a wheelchair, which, according to the Palace, was because of severe fatigue. It was in stark contrast with her energetic appearance during Belgian National Day on July 21: bravely refusing to be intimidated after receiving death threats just days earlier, the Queen mocked her would-be assassins by waving an apple – a reference to Swiss folk hero William Tell.
The next chance to see Queen Fabiola will be on November 15, the King’s Day: she is still expected to addend the celebrations.
To learn more about Queen Fabiola’s current activities, visit this thread.
Marsel Belgian Royals Health, Queen Fabiola
click for picture from Yahoo! News
King Albert received Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko at Laeken Royal Palace in Brussels on October 15.
During the meeting, a great number of questions were discussed, including cultural and economical cooperation, bilateral relations, as well as European and Euro-Atlantic ambitions of Ukraine.
President Yushchenko gave an interview, where he stressed Belgium’s importance for Ukraine, noting: “Belgium as a representative of an Old Europe is a special partner. Cooperation with Belgium enables us to solve considerable part of Ukrainian issues in Europe”.
Yushchenko is on 2-day visit to Belgium – the first ever official visit by a Ukrainian President since the countries established diplomatic contact.
The President will hold meetings with Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barrose, President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek and others.
Marsel Belgian Royals Official Visit, President Yushchenko, Ukraine
