Prince Laurent in Hospital; March 2014


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
As time goes on, I'm becoming more impressed with Philippe as a King and as a man. By all appearances (visiting Laurent in the hospital on more than one occasion), he is supporting his brother and doing the right thing when someone is ill. He's also making wise decisions regarding the handling of his parents, and standing his ground.

I wasn't so sure about him when he first took the throne, but I'm liking what I'm seeing right now.
 
leidi said:
You do know that they have a personal fortune, don't you? it's not as if they live only on their dotation ;)

And even if they didn't, I frankly really doubt Philippe is going to leave his mother to starve somewhere, they might not have the best relationship but it has been proven time and time again that he's a good man and takes care of his family in the best way he can.
Click to expand...

It seems that the Belgian royal family has not such a large fortune. King Leopold II was as rich as Midas but he left nothing to his daughters. Almost everything from his large fortune was given to the State (the Donation Royale) with the condition that certain parts of his donation remain in use for the King and his family, like the domain of Laeken with the various properties on it. Leopold II's descendants are now in the princely families Bonaparte and Windisch-Graetz.

After King Leopold II's death the fifth child of the late King's brother became the new King (Albert I). As youngest son of a junior Prince, King Albert I was not poor but by no means to be compared with his uncle Leopold II. The heritage of King Albert was distributed by his three children King Leopold III of the Belgians, Prince Charles, Count of Flanders and Queen Maria José of Italy.

The heritage of King Leopold III was distributed by his surviving second spouse (Princess Lilian) and his six children (Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, King Baudouin of the Belgians, King Albert II of the Belgians, Prince Alexander of Belgium, Prince Marie-Christine of Belgium and Princess Marie Esméralda of Belgium). All by all the original fortune of King Albert I is now very fragmented. There is no need for King Albert to worry too much but of course he is also thinking about the prestige and the status. After all he is King, his wife Paola is Queen, they have to held a certain decorum and dignity. I can imagine that -besides all worries about Prince Laurent's poor health- also the "unsecure" future of his spouse plays a role in the family "irritations".
 
Last edited:
QueenJen said:
As time goes on, I'm becoming more impressed with Philippe as a King and as a man. By all appearances (visiting Laurent in the hospital on more than one occasion), he is supporting his brother and doing the right thing when someone is ill. He's also making wise decisions regarding the handling of his parents, and standing his ground.

I wasn't so sure about him when he first took the throne, but I'm liking what I'm seeing right now.
Click to expand...
I too thought that Philippe was a bit of a nonentity, but he's certainly giving the lie to that assumption. He and his wife have behaved with grace under fire during this whole debacle surrounding Laurent's illness and subsequent hospitalisation. So too has their sister Astrid.

In the face of a veritable barrage of questions regarding the absence of their parents during Laurent's health crisis they all just "kept calm and carried on" and kept their own counsel. It is a pity that their parents did not do the same. It is an even greater pity that they felt the need to speak disparagingly about their youngest son as if that had something to do with him having fallen ill, worse again was the inference that Philippe was not treating his brother well.

Through all of this they have kept a dignified silence and I have to admit I am mysified by those witter on about Laurent's "indiscretions" as if they were a mitigating factor in this situation. It is not.
 
QueenJen said:
As time goes on, I'm becoming more impressed with Philippe as a King and as a man. By all appearances (visiting Laurent in the hospital on more than one occasion), he is supporting his brother and doing the right thing when someone is ill. He's also making wise decisions regarding the handling of his parents, and standing his ground.

I wasn't so sure about him when he first took the throne, but I'm liking what I'm seeing right now.
Click to expand...

Yes I am too,Philippe & Mathilde have really come into their own & along with Princess Astrid are the only one's who are shinning in this unsavoury mess.
 
MARG said:
I too thought that Philippe was a bit of a nonentity, but he's certainly giving the lie to that assumption. He and his wife have behaved with grace under fire during this whole debacle surrounding Laurent's illness and subsequent hospitalisation. So too has their sister Astrid.

In the face of a veritable barrage of questions regarding the absence of their parents during Laurent's health crisis they all just "kept calm and carried on" and kept their own counsel. It is a pity that their parents did not do the same. It is an even greater pity that they felt the need to speak disparagingly about their youngest son as if that had something to do with him having fallen ill, worse again was the inference that Philippe was not treating his brother well.

Through all of this they have kept a dignified silence and I have to admit I am mysified by those witter on about Laurent's "indiscretions" as if they were a mitigating factor in this situation. It is not.
Click to expand...

Well, there are (were) irritations as well between King Philippe and his brother Prince Laurent. The same goes (went) between Princess Astrid and her brother Prince Laurent. Recently we saw a very good illustration: the eldest son of Princess Astrid and Archduke Lorenz, Amedeo, became engaged with Donna Elisabetta ('Lily') Robosch von Wolkenstein. The family gathered together at Villa Schonenberg for the happy event and gues who was too late, missing the group picture...?

This weekend the newspaper De Standaard wrote: again clumsy Prince Laurent was late, sure at last he showed his face at Villa Schonenberg. But the group picture remains for eternity and for ever it shows an empty space where uncle Laurent was expected.

Princess Astrid apparently was irritated because she felt the happy event overshadowed by the absence of her youngest brother. Soon the talk of the town was not the engagement but the absence. King Philippe was irritated because he wanted to show an united and happy family and again there was feed for rumours about rifts in the family. So the painting of Philippe/Astrid at good terms with Laurent vs Albert/Paola at bad terms is not true. The reality is much more complex. There is also a feeling of "Grow up!" and it is not at all excluded -when Prince Laurent recovers- that the King will decide on a modernizing of the royal family and directing his siblings to the sideline. This will happen anyway when the King's own children will become adults and start representing the Royal House.
 
Last edited:
:previous: Excuse me, I merely pointed out that during this health crisis that Laurent's siblings did what needed doing and felt no need to yak to the media as opposed to his parents.

And, once again I will reiterate that whatever Laurent has or has not done in the past has nothing whatsoever to do with the current health crisis and the way it was handled by the various members of the BRF. Laurent was in an induced coma and therefore not party to anything, End of Story!

This thread is called "Prince Laurent in Hospital; March 2014. What is it that is not clear, that it is about Laurent in hospital or that it refers to the specific hospitalisation in March 2014?
 
The discussion initially went about the hospitalisation of Prince Laurent indeed but because everything what has happened iince the admission into hospital, has completely outstaged the hospitalisation itself. All media in Belgium are in turbo speed discussing the state of the royal family, Prince Laurent himself is 'forgotten'. I think it is difficult to discuss the hospitalisation of the Prince without embedding it in the apparently deep and core familial problems inside the royal family. After all the discussion evolued to the questions: "Wat is going on?", "Where are the parents?" and "What does Paola's public letter mean?".
 
Last edited:
:previous: "What is going on?", "Where are the parents?" (when their son was in a coma). Relevant. "What does Paola's public letter mean?" . . . well since it addresses the event it is relevant, unfortunately the extra irrelevant and private information she released started a media firestorm the details of which do not relate to the health of Prince Laurent and his recovery.

All in all it is not a good look for the BRF although I believe that the King and the Queen of the Belgians acted with dignity as did Princess Astrid. Muck raking over years of a disfunctional family in a public forum . . . not so much.
 
MARG said:
:previous: "What is going on?", "Where are the parents?" (when their son was in a coma). Relevant. "What does Paola's public letter mean?" . . . well since it addresses the event it is relevant, unfortunately the extra irrelevant and private information she released started a media firestorm the details of which do not relate to the health of Prince Laurent and his recovery.

All in all it is not a good look for the BRF although I believe that the King and the Queen of the Belgians acted with dignity as did Princess Astrid. Muck raking over years of a disfunctional family in a public forum . . . not so much.
Click to expand...

This.
Honestly, Albert & Paola managed this badly and it reflects in the opinion of most people about the issue, while Philippe, Mathilde and Astrid did what they should and came out stronger imo.
 
leidi said:
This.
Honestly, Albert & Paola managed this badly and it reflects in the opinion of most people about the issue, while Philippe, Mathilde and Astrid did what they should and came out stronger imo.
Click to expand...
Oh yes you are right.
I wonder if Laurent's popularity won't soar now....:flowers:
 
Did anyone watch Royalty yesterday? I think they were going to talk about the issue.
 
MARG said:
.. He and his wife have behaved with grace under fire during this whole debacle surrounding Laurent's illness and subsequent hospitalisation. So too has their sister Astrid.

...
Click to expand...

Quite the definition of royalty, even...
 
The latest developments are that Prince Laurent is making good progress, his health is improving. The Royal Palace has denied claims by several Belgian media that King Albert still has not visited Prince Laurent in hospital. The Royal Palace stated that King Albert has already visited his son and that all claims of the opposite are untrue.
 
Laurent left the hospital today. It will take a few weeks before he will reappear in public.

Sent from my HTC Desire C using The Royals Community mobile app
 
cdm said:
Laurent left the hospital today. It will take a few weeks before he will reappear in public.

Sent from my HTC Desire C using The Royals Community mobile app
Click to expand...

Good to hear he is well enough to leave the hospital, always better if you can recover in your own place..
 
I think we will be surprised when we see him again.... happy to know him well enough to leave !
 
Good to hear that the Prince has recovered enough to go home. Wish him and his family all the best.
 
Hopefully King Philippe will succeed in finding a proper niche for Prince Laurent to work and represent the royal family.
 
King of Belgium's brother Prince Laurent 'tried to kill himself' | Mail Online
The King of Belgium’s younger brother tried to kill himself during a bout of depression last month, it was claimed yesterday.
Reports in Belgium said Prince Laurent’s suicide attempt had been covered up by the royal family as an attack of pneumonia.

The La Capitale newspaper referred to 'persistent rumours' that the 50-year-old prince was on March 21 rushed first to see a psychiatrist in a Brussels hospital before being moved to intensive care, where he was placed in an artificial coma. He was discharged this week.

Publications in Flanders, the Dutch-speaking northern half of the country where the royal family is not popular, say Laurent suffers from a form of depression, possibly manic depression.

Yesterday the royal household continued to deny the story.

'The prince was not hospitalised as the result of a suicide attempt but for pneumonia,' said Pierre De Baow, communications director at the royal palace.
Click to expand...
 
cdm said:
Laurent left the hospital today. It will take a few weeks before he will reappear in public.

Sent from my HTC Desire C using The Royals Community mobile app
Click to expand...

This is wonderful news and I am sure it's a relief for his family. But I am a little surprised that Laurent is being released so soon after being in a coma, even if it was induced by his doctors:ohmy:.
 
Thanks for the post !
The photo is lovely.
 
At last it is proof that the twitter account is really hers.
Very impressed with his face. He has really aged during this ordeal. I am sure he will recover after a while. Like we say in French (I don't know how to translate that) Il est très marqué par cette épreuve.
 
What a nice gesture from Claire, Laurent lost a lot of weight (which could actually be seen as a good thing) and still has that "just out of hospital" look but I think he'll be much better now with the support of his family.

The kids in the Belgian Royal Family are always so cute :lol:
 
I'm so glad to hear the news.
I hope prince Laurent is recover soon....
Anyway Laurent and Claire's children are sooooo beautiful and handsome! :in_love:
 
rominet09 said:
At last it is proof that the twitter account is really hers.
Very impressed with his face. He has really aged during this ordeal. I am sure he will recover after a while. Like we say in French (I don't know how to translate that) Il est très marqué par cette épreuve.
Click to expand...

Try: "He has been very affected by this trial".
 
I am so relieved that Laurent is recovering well and to see the picture posted on Twitter. It is heartening to see Claire and the children surrounding him like that, giving him love and support and I don't think there could be any better therapy/medication than that!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom