King Baudouin (1930-1993) and Queen Fabiola (1928-2014) of the Belgians

[Moonmaiden23]

No apologies royalfly...I still think it's considered a miscarriage.

Poor Fabiola became so desperate in the 60's she started doing things that compromised her health..putting her body through rigorous fasting and prayers, and during one trip to South America reportedly swimming in a lake that the locals insisted would guarantee fertility. She also visited Switzerland and Paris for painful and risky fertility treatments("A Throne for Brussels" auth. Paul Belien)

This on top of having to face weekly tabloid reports that her husband was planning to have their marriage annulled in favor of a younger, more fertile spouse.

 

[theroyalfly]

No apologies royalfly...I still think it's considered a miscarriage.

Poor Fabiola became so desperate in the 60's she started doing things that compromised her health..putting her body through rigorous fasting and prayers, and during one trip to South America reporting swimming in a lake that the locals insisted would guarantee fertility. She also visited Switzerland and Paris for painful and risky fertility treatments("A Throne for Brussels" auth. Paul Belien)

This on top of having to face weekly tabloid reports that her husband was planning to have their marriage annulled in favor of a younger, more fertile spouse.

Just by reading this, tears flowed suddenly from my eyes. I couldn't imagine such great lengths she did and be faced with all this negative press.

 

[melina premiere]

Yes, it was very sad, I remembered, I was in Germany in 1967, and I read on a newspaper, Queen Fabiola is expecting, it is officiel, King Baudoin announced the news two days ago, I rushed to read this wonderful news but one day after, I read on the same newspaper the title ' Queen Fabiola lost her baby' I was very sad for her and there was a photo of king Baudoin who received at this time the president Bourguiba and he was very sad


The couple of King Baudoin and the queen Fabiola was my prefered couple, he is still in my memories, my avartar on the royal forums is the photo of the couple

There is also an another book with the title' Fabiola, une jeune fille de 80 ans' 'Fabiola , a 80 years old Young girl' from Brigitte Balfoort and Joris De Vougt

I love to read this book

I find that king philippe looks like his uncle Baudoin

 

[maria-olivia]

Thank you so much for your posts and your love and your respect for our King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Another photo that I've not seen before,king Baudouin and Queen Fabiola of arriving at Dublin Castle with An Taoiseach the late Jack Lynch in 1968.

https://images.app.goo.gl/EN1nLLfhfF2kkHxB7

 

[maria-olivia]

Black and white pictures , I like ! The King without his glasses and the great Spanish tiara , i think we will never see anymore ?

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Another photo that I've not seen before,king Baudouin and Queen Fabiola of arriving at Dublin Castle with An Taoiseach the late Jack Lynch in 1968.

https://images.app.goo.gl/EN1nLLfhfF2kkHxB7

Fabiola looked amazing in that tiara...but I agree with maria olivia...I have given up hope that we will ever see that kind of glamour in the Belgian crown jewel collection again.

 

[Mbruno]

Black and white pictures , I like ! The King without his glasses and the great Spanish tiara , i think we will never see anymore ?

The Queen is also wearing the Wolfers tiara as a necklace in the picture.

I don't know if we will ever see the Spanish tiara again, but, most likely, we will see Queen Mathilde wearing the Nine Provinces tiara matched with the Wolfers as a necklace.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Did QF leave the Wolfers to Mathilde?

I keep hoping against hope that the Spanish Tiara was broken up and divided between Mathilde and Elisabeth....and will appear again in some form some day....

 

[Mbruno]

Did QF leave the Wolfers to Mathilde?
.

Yes, she did. Mathilde has worn the Wolfers several times as a tiara since she became queen and she wore it as a necklace alone (without a tiara) at least twice (at an award ceremony in Germany and at the Prince of Wales' 70th birthday dinner).

 

[An Ard Ri]

Another wonderful photo from inside Dublin castle ,the late Jack Lynch and his wife Máirín Lynch with King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola prior to the State Banquet held in their honour. (15.05.1968).

https://irishphotoarchive.photoshelter.com/image/I0000bL5IcoRnG8Q

Queen Fabiola wore the Wolfers Tiara the night after at a visit to the Abbey Theatre in central Dublin where the royal couple met with the theatre staff and actors.

https://irishphotoarchive.photoshel...qSzMuSPPILQvPV4h2dQ2yLUxOLkjMAyCYjmg--&GI_ID=

Queen Fabiola chatting with the late President Eamon de Valera at Áras an Uachtarain in Dublin (14.05.1968)

https://irishphotoarchive.photoshel...qSzMuSPPILQvPV4h2dQ2yLUxOLkjMAyCYjmg--&GI_ID=


Eamon and Sinéad de Valera would have been in their 80's during this visit,the 1st lady died in January 1975 aged 96 and her husband the President died just eight months later.

https://irishphotoarchive.photoshel...qSzMuSPPILQvPV4h2dQ2yLUxOLkjMAyCYjmg--&GI_ID=

 

[JR76]

I might be guilty of sacrilege here, but if we have to chose between the two I'm glad that Queen Fabiola left the Wolfers tiara to her royal relatives and not the Spanish Wedding tiara. The Wolfers has some wonderful stones and strangely enough while looking daulinty as a necklace it can look quite impactful as a tiara. Queen Mathilde wears it very well. I like it very much.

 

[An Ard Ri]

I just wish the Belgian Royal Family had a foundation and the Spanish tiara was part of it,the entire mystery of who owns it is more of the palace confusion that they seemingly excel at.

 

[theroyalfly]

This is so true. Nobody really knows exactly its whereabouts. I am also hoping. The Spanish Wedding Gift Tiara is a very beautiful one and there's a lot of ways to use it as seen on Queen Fabiola's photos of the past.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Its nice to reminisce on the Golden Age of the Belgian Monarchy and the Golden Couple especially when you see a spoiled sulky Prince Laurent on his phone on National Day.

 

[Dalriada]

.

https://irishphotoarchive.photoshel...qSzMuSPPILQvPV4h2dQ2yLUxOLkjMAyCYjmg--&GI_ID=[/QUOTE]



Thank you Ard Ri for posting these old photos of the Belgian state visit. Looking at the Golden Couple alongside the very elder statesman President De Valera and his wife, it is very reminiscent of the recent state visit from The Netherlands to Ireland and the age gap between those two couples too! I think the visit from Baudouin and Fabiola had better weather!

 

[theroyalfly]

Its nice to reminisce on the Golden Age of the Belgian Monarchy and the Golden Couple especially when you see a spoiled sulky Prince Laurent on his phone on National Day.

Indeed. Looking back on that Golden Era is very heartwarming. I will always be a Golden Couple fan!

 

[An Ard Ri]

We shall never see the likes of King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola again and he was the last Belgian king to die whilst still on the throne.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

I admired them for seeming simple, yet very regal all at once.

The common touch combined with regal dignity is what defined them. They were part of an era that seems very, very long ago now ...but it was actually quite recent.

Baudouin died suddenly 26 years ago next week.

 

[Osipi]

I'm not too overly informed about King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola other than what I've read here about them but the more I read, the more I've come to realize just how special this couple was. Baudouin and Fabiola both come across to me as gentle souls that had deep and abiding love for each other and very strong faith in their God and lived what they believed.

I did catch a whiff here of the rumor of Baudouin going to divorce Fabiola in order to marry someone that could give him an heir but after reading what I have about this couple, I can sum that rumor up in one word. Preposterous! These two took their marriage vows seriously and although Fabiola went through many miscarriages, I don't believe Baudouin would pull anything like doing a Henry VIII for an heir.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

According to Guy Michelland , Fabiola offered to divorce Baudouin in the summer of 1966 after the stillbirth of their baby girl. She was going to retire to her native Spain and live in anonymity in a convent of nursing Sisters and she would not oppose any attempt by Baudouin and the Vatican to nullify their marriage.

She felt as if she had failed Belgium and especially her husband, and she loved him enough to let him go.

Baudouin stopped her by telling her that if she left , he would abdicate and go with her.

It was a very dark period for them both. I am convinced that the key to the answers as to why Baudouin chose to behave as he did during the abortion controversy in Belgium in 1990(abdicate rather than sign the Bill) can be found in the deeply painful trials suffered by the Royal couple in the 1960's.

 

[theroyalfly]

Moonmaiden, this brought me to tears again. I can't help myself but feel the weight of their sorrow.

 

[maria-olivia]

I am not sure about that...
But 30 years ago they started welcoming people after the Defile Militaire at the Parc Royal. I was there at the good place. When King Baudouin shake my hand , he looked as he knew me, Queen Fabiola said to me "Comment allez-vous " le Prince est avec nous and it was Prince Philippe.

I want to tell a nice story about King Baudouin. A French Lady had to visit him, she was so nervous that she broke her glasses. She went to the King Office with Sun glasses. When she arrived in His office , the closed the curtains because he tought she had an eye Operation....

 

[Osipi]

According to Guy Michelland , Fabiola offered to divorce Baudouin in the summer of 1966 after the stillbirth of their baby girl. She was going to retire to her native Spain and live in anonymity in a convent of nursing Sisters and she would not oppose any attempt by Baudouin and the Vatican to nullify their marriage.

She felt as if she had failed Belgium and especially her husband, and she loved him enough to let him go.

Baudouin stopped her by telling her that if she left , he would abdicate and go with her.

It was a very dark period for them both. I am convinced that the key to the answers as to why Baudouin chose to behave as he did during the abortion controversy in Belgium in 1990(abdicate rather than sign the Bill) can be found in the deeply painful trials suffered by the Royal couple in the 1960's.

I am not sure about that...
But 30 years ago they started welcoming people after the Defile Militaire at the Parc Royal. I was there at the good place. When King Baudouin shake my hand , he looked as he knew me, Queen Fabiola said to me "Comment allez-vous " le Prince est avec nous and it was Prince Philippe.

I want to tell a nice story about King Baudouin. A French Lady had to visit him, she was so nervous that she broke her glasses. She went to the King Office with Sun glasses. When she arrived in His office , the closed the curtains because he tought she had an eye Operation....

These stories exemplifies the kind of people both Baudouin and Fabiola were. They cared enough to put the one they love first and foremost and always thought of the other person first to put them at ease.

This couple did face a lot of trials and tribulations but, to be honest, through them all, its what tested their mettle and made them stronger and their love for each other deepen. Perhaps it *is* true that God never hands us anymore than we can handle. I needed that reminder in my life today.

 

[An Ard Ri]

I want to tell a nice story about King Baudouin. A French Lady had to visit him, she was so nervous that she broke her glasses. She went to the King Office with Sun glasses. When she arrived in His office , the closed the curtains because he tought she had an eye Operation....

What a lovely story Maria Olivia it does not surprise that there was such an outpouring of grief when the king died as the Golden era of the Belgian monarchy was over .

 

[theroyalfly]

We shall never see the likes of King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola again and he was the last Belgian king to die whilst still on the throne.

This is on point. There won't be anybody like them. Not in this lifetime.

Baudouin and Fabiola have touched the hearts of many. It still pains me how Fabiola's funeral was handled.

As a Queen Dowager, wife of the most well-loved Belgian monarch, I thought she deserved better.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

What bothered you about her funeral? She had an astonishing and impressive turnout from her peers...and they all seemed very moved.

The liturgy was simple, personal and reverent as she would have wanted it to be.

I found her committal ceremony at Our Lady of Laeken online. It was beautiful and haunting.

 

[An Ard Ri]

King Baudouin with Queen Fabiola,King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia at the Vatican in September 1978.

https://images.app.goo.gl/DuRLTm3V4HX53hYw9

 

[Tatiana Maria]

An informative blog about King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola:

Baudouin and Fabiola | Honoring King Baudouin I and Queen Fabiola

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Yes...the site was founded and run by our wonderful poster and my sweet friend lellobeetle who passed away a year ago this month.

I miss her so much...thank you for calling attention to her BF site.