Well, I couldn´t resist the temptation and watched it just now, though i actually had to study the 3 Persian-Greek wars. Anyway, I can recommend all video´s to everybody, even for those who do not understand Dutch or French. So many new film material and they showed a lot of old pictures to.
Some comments:
Part 1: deals with the actual birthday celebration. Nice to see the RF interaction. Several things struck me, first of all the modesty and even shyness of the Queen. She seems to feel embarrased when somebody pays her a compliment about her involvment in child protection. When the Queen was receiving the compliment the King looked very tenderly and proud at his wife and put his hand on her back. Another thing that surprised me is how the guests behaved. One lady refused to sit down while the King was standing. As she had just fallen the King and a courtier tried asked her to sit down several times but to no avail, int he end the King decided to sit on a chair himself so the lady finally could sit down too.
Another thing that was nice to watch is how surprised Mathilde was to see the King walking so well. She asked him if he walked all the way here. Her awnsered with a joke that he hitchhiked.
The Belgian royal children were absolutely adorable btw.
Part 2: deals with the youth in Italy, her marriage and the birth of her children. Her 3 San Germano cousins start. They give some background information about the family. That the mother of Paola had more the role of a grandmother. Maria-Cristina (Paola´s eldest sister) took more of a mother role. Two of the nieces resemble her somewhat btw, Emanuela and Antonella. As a child she always wanted to know everything, something she never lost. She loved to be outdoor, not really a studyhead. They talk about the death of one of her sisters, her brother Augustino and her father Don Fulco, within four years. Continue about her teenage years. Two friends from that period have nice pictures and anecdotes to share. And they all speak about her beauty, She was shy, and Albert was shy too, so when they met it was difficult but he was totally in love, as was she. Then an old Italian paparazzi was talking about her, in a way that only an Italian can. Paola was only 22 and had no idea what her role would be. She actually first expected to be a wife and a mother and didn´t understand the public part of her role yet. She immidiately liked Belgium as she was received with so much enthausiasm everywhere (really a lot, as we can see in film clips). Some anecdotes of the wedding, for example that Queen Elisabeth of Belgium had tears in her eyes.
Part 3: starts with the death of Baudouin. Continues on how the Queen is privately, how she accepted her role. The continued with the causes she is involved in, then about the heart problems of the King and it ended with Paola´s role as a grandmother.
First the death of Baudouin, it was a real shock and it changed her life completely. She never wanted to be Queen, she liked her role as Princess of Liege. But in the end she and her husband adapted very well but were still able to do things their own way, and be themselves. They show the horrid period of the Dutroux affair. The Queen was very sad about it, a friend says that she had never seen her aunt so angry as in that time, and a niece says that the Queen was literally ill from it. The King was devastated by it all. They show the meeting the King and Queen held at the Palace for the parents of the missing children, which I still remember from 11 years ago myself. After that Paola became the honorairy chairman of Child Focus, an organiusation that protects childen. She was apparently already a member in the early days, when the organisation just started (I believe they started in Belgium after Dutroux). With her help the organisation resulted in what it is now, other ´first wives´ joined in and a milestone was the meeting for the worldpress at the Elysee Palace where even Mrs Putin and Mrs Bush attended and where Bernadette Chirac paid compliments to Queen Paola explicidly. It continues witht he Queen Paola award for teachers, as HM wanted to support teachers and this was a way that it could be done. Some images of her work in the country. She seems to be much more at ease with the public when it is less official IMHO, she relaxes and makes some funny remarks even (a disabled person introduced himself. His name was Albert and the Queen called him Albert III, much to Alberts delight). They cotinue with her passion for gardening, because of which she likes the Belgian weather, rain is good for the gardens. And then they focus on her interest in modern art. After that they talk about Delhine Boel (much to my surprise), Alberts illegitemate daughter. The firends and nieces don´t say much about it except that every marriage has difficulties and they overcame them and now they are stronger then ever. Continued with the kings heart operation in 2000 and how afraid Paola was that anythuing would happen. During this entire episode a lot of clips where you can see the two being affectionate towards each other, openly. Albert seems alway to look for his wives arm, he takes her hand, holds her arm, puts his own arm around her etc.
The last scene showed Paola in the car, taking her husbands hand and giving a kiss on it.
Final remarks: I am impressed by the documentairy and the people they were able to interview. And Albert and Paola almost seem in love (check your self). And my goodness, what a gorgeous woman....! I know that they interviewed friends etc. but after seeing this docu I think even more that the rumours about bad relationships within the Belgian RF is based on very little, or they are very good actors (which I doubt).
btw: Eduard Natan was also interviewed, very appreciative of HM, but I think she was the first royal to use his services and now he seems to be so popular that he provides half the european royalty with simular closets.
