King Albert & Queen Paola : Current Events Part 1

[purple_platinum]

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20060523 - MARCINELLE, BELGIUM
Belgium's King Albert II and Queen Paola pictured during a visit to the new tourist infrastructures and memorial of the Bois du Cazier coal mine, Tuesday 23 May 2006 in Marcinelle, near Charleroi.

[Jo of Palatine]

King Albert ist already 72? Hm, somehow it's a pity that it took so long for the duke of Brabant to find a wife he can love. Even if the king is enjoying continous good health (which I hope) for the next 10 years, the duke's kids will still not be of any help to him and Mathilde for the first years when he becomes king.

[martha-louise]

It's just because we got used to see many active royals. But in the early years when King Baudouin was reigning, he had just prince Albert to do other duties. From 1950 till 1980-1990, the king and his brother were the only royals with public activity.So don't worry about that...

[martha-louise]

I read that the Flemish television (and perhaps the Walloon also) will broadcast a portrait of Queen Paola. I think it will be a reliable documentary, the persons who worked on it are known to be serious. It's told that the Queen herself asked to make this portrait, because there exist a lot of images of her, but the people don't know her speeking. So in the portrait she will talk. But not in the format of an interview, couse souvereigns don't do that, but she will talk to 3 friends of her (french, dutch, and I guess Italian with a youthfriend) . Well I'm very excited....

It will be broadcasted at 6th June at 'één'

[Hannelore]

VRT BRINGS HONEST PORTRAIT OF QUEEN PAOLA

On June 6th tv channel Eén broadcasts "the voice of the queen", a unique portrait of queen Paola. The documentary has been made in secrecy. "People don't know my voice", the queen regrets. She wants to do "something" about it with this documentary.

The documentary made by Jan Becaus,Jean-Pierre Coppens and Tony Verbruggen is a well kept secret. The recordings already took place on October 7 and 8, 2005 in Italy, the queen's native country.

"During research it appeared that there's a flood of images of Paola Ruffo di Calabria, but very few sound material", says VRT journalist Jan Becaus. "An interview with a member of the royal family was out of the question. That's why we went looking for a format that allows Paola to speak as much as possible. The queen chose 3 lady friends with whom she discusses various topics that intrest her."

She talks to countess Marina Emo, a childhood friend. Marianna Freddi is the friend that witnessed the meeting of Albert and Paola. A third friend is Mirjam Van Beusekom, a Dutch woman the queen met when she triend to improve her Dutch during a language course in Spa.

14 hours have been shot in total. From this a 50 minute documentary has been distilled.

Jan Becaus describes the portrait as "a self-portrait with own words". Paola talks a.o. about her not so happy childhood, her helplesness when she suddenly became queen, her marriage problems and the relation with her children and grandchildren.

(LB)

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

King Albert II and Queen Paola at the opening ceremony of the National Special Olympics for mentally disabled athletes, Wednesday 24 May 2006 at the Antwerp Sportpaleis.

belga

[alejandro_sk]

To Hannelore, Catherine and any other person from Belgium, please:
Do you know if the documentary (the sound, I mean) will be broadcast on Internet? Here, in Argentina, through France we can watch and hear king Albert every now and then but it's true, we have never heard the Queen speak!
And another question, please. Are the king's hearing aids connected to his glasses? If so, what happens when he takes his glasses off? Can he hear anything?
Thanks in advance!
Alejandro

[elisabetteke]

Originally Posted by alejandro_sk

And another question, please. Are the king's hearing aids connected to his glasses? If so, what happens when he takes his glasses off? Can he hear anything?
Thanks in advance!
Alejandro

I don't think his hearing aids(HA) are connected to his glasses. Because then he would have to get the HA out of his ears everytime he wants to take off his glasses and it is not so easy to put the HA back in. So probably the thing from his HA behind his ear is just on top of his glasses.
I think the king still hears without his HA but only not very good, and for him it is very important to understand the people very good.

[Maxie]

That's great news, Marengo! I definitely want to see that one. Let's hope I don't forget to watch it, since I normally tend to forget about these things...:)

[alejandro_sk]

Originally Posted by elisabetteke

I don't think his hearing aids(HA) are connected to his glasses. Because then he would have to get the HA out of his ears everytime he wants to take off his glasses and it is not so easy to put the HA back in. So probably the thing from his HA behind his ear is just on top of his glasses.
I think the king still hears without his HA but only not very good, and for him it is very important to understand the people very good.

Thank you, Elisabetteke! :)
Sorry I couldn't answer before but I was "grounded".
On the other hand, it may be a good idea for a king to say:"Sorry, I can't hear you." when he's been asked a question he doesn't want to answer.
Take care!
Alejandro

[dianafan]

Does anyone know when Queen Beatrix comes to belgium and where that is in Antwerp, Brussels or Gent and comes prince philippe and princess mathilde to? And how late come and where? Thank you

Sorry for my english

[purple_platinum]

Originally Posted by dianafan

Does anyone know when Queen Beatrix comes to belgium and where that is in Antwerp, Brussels or Gent and comes prince philippe and princess mathilde to? And how late come and where? Thank you

Sorry for my english

dianafan, Queen Beatrix will come to Belgium on 20-22 June 2006. You can follow the news of the state visit here : http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...06-a-9094.html

The whole Belgian Royal Family is expected to participate.

[Marengo]

Good news. On June 6 VRT and RBTF will show a portrait of HM Queen Paola. It was recorded in Italy where she was with 3 friends.

Today I read a nice article about it in a dutch newspaper (with a lovely picture of a relaxed Paola). Some nice anecdotes: on their first dinner-dates Albert didn't eat anything else then Spagetti, even as entrer! She also said that in her marriage she had to reach for her handkerchief several times, but in the end she and the king know that they were made for one another :)
She also states that she didn't know anything about belgium bedfore her marriage, except Tintin and she shows some private pictures, for example of her as a child in traditional (dutch) Volendam-costume.

I must say I am rather excited about this as I do not think she has done anything like it before.

[Marengo]

Me to Maxie! But this time I wrote it down in my agenda :)

[Marengo]

From the RBTF website:

20:20 Paola: paroles de Reine

Et pourquoi pas un film consacré à la Reine Paola ? Paradoxalement, en effet, nous possédons de notre Souveraine de nombreuses photos, maints extraits de film. Pourtant, elle n'y apparaît pas comme une figure centrale. Elle s'y exprime peu surtout. La Reine, d'ailleurs, en convient elle-même : les Belges ne connaissent pas le son de sa voix. Le regrettant, elle souhaitait briser le mur du silence. Dans ce contexte, l'initiative de Jan Becaus et Jean-Pierre Coppens venait tout simplement au bon moment, puisqu'ils ont donné à notre Souveraine l'occasion de s'exprimer là où elle le désirait, avec qui elle le voulait. Jan Becaus et Jean-Pierre Coppens ont ainsi accompagné la Reine à la Biennale de Venise et, plutôt que de réaliser un film axé sur sa vision de l'art, ils ont laissé libre cours aux conversations qu'une femme avec d'autres femmes. Au départ de Venise, la Reine Paola va ainsi à Padoue à la rencontre d'une amie d'enfance, la comtesse Marina Emo. Puis, elle croise la fille de l'ancien ambassadeur belge Poswick auprès du Saint-Siège, Marianna Freddi. Celle-ci, grande amie de la Reine, a notamment été témoin de sa première rencontre avec le Prince Albert. Enfin, notre Souveraine retrouve Mirjam Van Beusekom, un Néerlandaise vivant et travaillant en Belgique?

On l'aura compris. Ce document n'est pas fait de questionnements. Il tient en une succession de conversations, en italien, en français, en néerlandais, au cours desquelles la Reine Paola évoque ses souvenirs, anciens et récents, douloureux ou heureux, comme la naissances de ses petits-enfants. Et les images d'archives, notamment celles des Joyeuses Entrées à Liège ou Bruxelles, viennent fort à propos compléter ou illustrer les propos de notre Souveraine. Ni biographie, même si le cours du temps y a son importance, ni portrait officiel, même si la Reine y est omniprésente, ce film constitue avant tout un témoignage profondément humain et salutaire d'une femme timide, anxieuse et fragile qui parle avec franchise et émotion de sa vie et de son destin royal.

http://www.la1.be/rtbf_2000/bin/view...&api_year=2006

VRT:

21:10 de stem van de koningin

De stem van de koningin is een boeiend portret waarin Koningin Paola tijdens gesprekken met drie vriendinnen ongedwongen praat over thema's die haar nauw aan het hart liggen. De opnames werden gemaakt in Italië, onder meer tijdens de Biënnale van Venetië. De programmamakers mochten ook foto's uit het familiealbum van de koningin gebruiken. Passende archiefbeelden, soms nooit eerder vertoond, illustreren de gespreksonderwerpen.


http://www.een.be/televisie1_master/...ipt/dag6.shtml

[Hannelore]

In this week's new issue of Humo (most important magazine in Flanders) there's an interview with Jan Becaus, who made the documentary on queen Paola. I'll translate the parts on Paola. I'll just add that Jan Becaus works for the Flemish national tv, he's a newpresenter and very serious journalist, a very trustworthy man IMO, very professional.

Something else. On June 6th the docu will be aired on een and la une, and around June 21st a DVD will come out with this documentary on it.

[Maxie]

Thanks for the info, Marengo and Hannelore! I'll be in front of 'een' the 6th of june! :)

[Hannelore]

If she could, she'd love to be princess Paola again

HUMO why did the palace ask you to make a movie on queen Paola? Did her negative image in Flanders need to get a positive twist?
JAN BECAUS (58) The program has not been made on the palace's request. We've got good archive footage on queen Fabiola for a worst case scenario - if she should come to pass. On queen Paola we've got a lot of images, but not one bit of usefull sound material. So director in chief Leo Hellemans ordered me to shoot a film in which we can hear her talk.
In an audience last year I asked her for an interview. She was willing to do it, but her advisors (haar entourage) didn't and so we had to start searching for an alternative. In the end we asked Paola to travel to Venice with 3 friends for the Biennale. The queen was enthusiastic about it "But", she said, "when I go to Venice I want to be able to talk about all kind of things and not just art." Those friends are Marina Emo, a friend from her youth with whom she only speaks Italian; Marianna Freddi, a flamboyant liberal lady that she talks French with - it was through her that she met Albert in Rome at the end of the 50s; and Mirjam Van Beusekom, a Dutch woman she met in Spa when she took a language course there. She talks Dutch to her.

HUMO Will we get to know more from this interview than from the legendary interview Lutgard Simoens had with queen Fabiola, and where the most interesting bit was that king Boudewijn was fond of sorbet?
BECAUS Luckily we will, although of course the ladies prepared what they would talk about and what not. You can sense they most of all rehearsed the parts in Dutch: it's the language Paola feels least comfortable in. It's the language in which she's most stressed out.
Paola realizes that, because of her weak knowledge of Dutch, she has an image problem in Flanders. Once she spoke a bit of Dutch in a new years speech that was aired on TV, and she still has horrors thinking back on it: the Dutch was just awful. This film was a chance to step out like she's never done before. And most of all: to show people how she thinks and feels.

HUMO You know Paola personally. She's, as you say,not a cold woman with a disdain for everything that goes on outside the circles of the high aristocracy.
BECAUS Paola is timid, nearly freightful. In public she doesn't know very well how to hold herself. When she came to view the first version of the film she literally said "I'm scared". in the film she also tells that she cramped when she suddenly became queen in 1993.
Albert was incertain as well at the time, but by now he's accepted for a 100 % by the political scene. He'll blindly sign what his ministers agree. If they give him his own abdication tomorrow, he'll dutyfully sign it (laughs).
Crownprince Filip is more like his mother. He's also got something cramped about him.

HUMO Does Paola talk about the succession?
BECAUS She talks about her children and grandchildren, but she doesn't discuss the functions of the crownprince or prince Laurent. We know they both had an unhappy childhood at boarding school, when Albert and Paola went through a turbulant phase in the 70s.

HUMO Is the name Delphine mentioned?
BECAUS No. Once, in a restaurant, there was a short chat about "private problems". That painful chapter has been closed completely for Paola.
She now talks about Albert with a lot of warmth and sympathy. You feel very well that the troubles have been sorted out. The lion has been tamed. Albert had a few serious operations and has to take things easier now. Paola stands a bit higher in the private hierarchy now. Like in a lot of homes where the husband lost his wild hairs and returned peacefully to the wife and mother.

HUMO But the wife and mother also took a lot of liberties in her younger years.
BECAUS Oh well, there are so many stories about that, but what is true? As a prince, Albert travelled the world for 33 years on economic missions. He got to know the wild life there, far away from the strict protocol. I heard stories that someone had to be put outside his bedroom door at night to be sure he would arrive at the meeting the next morning. I would be surprised if Paola behaved differently in those years.

HUMO What's true about the rumor that Albert stays king because Paola so dearly wants to be the queen?
BECAUS I highly doubt it. For the constitution Paola doesn't even exist. I think that if she'd have the choice, she'd love to go back to her hidden life as a princess. She became queen overnight, she was forced into the job. She felt hopeless, who could she turn to for advice?

HUMO Her sister in law, queen Fabiola?
BECAUS Are those two on speaking terms then? We gave Paola the DVD on queen Fabiola. After she'd seen her own film, she said "Well this is of a totally different order". I concluded from that that she was very satisfied with the result (laughs).

HUMO Is it true you have been teaching her Dutch?
BECAUS After the shooting in Venice, the queen asked me to, yes. In the meantime I've been to the palace about 5 times. I do it for free, because I can't garantee a result. The queen is nearly 69 and she doesn't really have a skill for languages, but she's very stubborn about wanting to learn Dutch, and that deserves some admiration. I mean that.

HUMO What kind of method do you use "Aap, noot, mies"?
BECAUS I tought Dutch and English for 11 years: I know how to do it. I started of a little as a traditional teacher: with newspaper clippings, but she quickly made it clear that she didn't like that way of working. She really wanted to practice her conversation skills in Dutch, with someone who dares to correct her mistakes.

HUMO What do you talk about with her?
BECAUS She hasn't told me a single palace secret yet (laughs). We watch newsitems together and then we talk about it. That works a lot better for her than a classical teaching lesson.

HUMO Are you a monarchist?
BECAUS The monarchy is a relict from the Middle Ages. As an intelligent person you can't agree with this form of government. I agree with Willy Claes who says that he's a monarchist for as long as our country exists. The day Belgium doesn't exist anymore, I'll become a republican.

HUMO So it's not your biggest ambition to have your own royalty show?
BECAUS Not at all. 'Royalty' from VTM isn't bad in it's genre, although the palace doesn't always agree. Laurent is even mad with them: "VTM is sh*t" I heard him say once. The queen doesn't watch that kind of programs either she says, she rather wtaches the news, on RTL.

Jan Lippens & Jan Anthonissen

[Hannelore]

the photos accompanying the article + cover of Humo:

[Emily]

Hannelore, thank you so much for all your work translating this article. It is very interesting and makes me wish I understood French so that I could see the interview. Would you please pass along interesting tidbits from it? I would be so grateful.