Abdication of Albert II and Oath of Philippe, 21 July 2013


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Thank you, the size is not bad, though I wish it were HQ, but I appreciate!
 
A good article I want to share with from the italian newspaper La Stampa. I hope Google can help you translate the whole thing
 
There is a new king on the Belgian throne. May god grant him strength during his reign.

:: Belgium flags :: :: royal standard ::
 
Why was Queen Paola so devastated ?
Is the King very ill ?
Is She ill ?
Does She regret not being Queen Consort anymore ?
 
Why was Queen Paola so devastated ?
Is the King very ill ?
Is She ill ?
Does She regret not being Queen Consort anymore ?

I guess just because she's relieved and it's very emotional! :)
she was queen during 20 years... that's a huge change in her life, she's "free" now :)
I cried too, so I think it's just the intense emotions
 
Why was Queen Paola so devastated ?
Is the King very ill ?
Is She ill ?
Does She regret not being Queen Consort anymore ?

probably she realized how much belgian people loves the royal family, despite part of the Flemish would like to get rid of the monarchy. in fact she cried during the applause the congregation did at the Te Deum and after Albert signed the act of abdication.
 
Can someone please tell me: will Albert & Paola become princes now? What titles will they have? Isn't Paola supposed to be the Queen Mother?
 
Can someone please tell me: will Albert & Paola become princes now? What titles will they have? Isn't Paola supposed to be the Queen Mother?

I think they are now King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium. Phillippe and Mathilde are King and Queen of the Belgians. They are the King's parents but I don't know if Queen Mother (or the male equivalent) is a title in Belgium.
 
No, in Belgium there isn't the title of Queen Mother/Queen Dowager or so. Just the former Kings and Queens cease to be HM the King/Queen of the Belgians and become HM King X/Queen Y of Belgium.
So Albert and Paola are now King Albert II of Belgium and Queen Paola of Belgium and they will be referred to as "HM King Albert II" and "HM Queen Paola", just in the same way that Fabiola is "HM Queen Fabiola".
Philippe and Mathilde are instead "HM the King" and "HM the Queen".
 
I noticed him at the Te Deum/Mass wearing sunglasses (even inside the Cathedral) and he didn't look too happy!

Eveline said:
Astrid is going to lead the next two economic missions. After that, it could be one of her children like Amedeo, press said. It is not known who it will be officially. I doubt they'll let Laurent do it though, with all his scandals and stuff :)

I think that may be one of the reasonsindeed. However, since the prince is something of a loose canon, it would be better if they find him something to do. If only to prevent him from getting into new trouble.
 
Great Phots of the new King and Queen but I was just wondering how come Mathilde didn't wear a Tiara and Sash like Maxima did in her offical portraits when she became Queen?....
 
Great Phots of the new King and Queen but I was just wondering how come Mathilde didn't wear a Tiara and Sash like Maxima did in her offical portraits when she became Queen?....

because the protocol didn't require it. it is a morning ceremony, so no evening dresses for ladies and for man just suits, without morning coat. it is a far less formal occasion than the one in the Netherlands
 
Thank you both Esmerelda and Mafan, for replying and explaining all this! :flowers:
I totally understand what you mean, but I do find it so not reasonable. This small country has got 3 Queens & 2 Kings now!
I'd also like to say that Mathilde looked every inch a Queen on Sunday! I like her modesty.
 
Oh , l really like belgian royal family!
I 'm so glad to see the new King and Queen and their children:flowers:
 
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Thanks for sharing the video! IloveCP.:flowers:
 
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Jochim and Luisa Maria attended the evening celebration as well
 

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Jochim and Luisa Maria attended the evening celebration as well

This picture Prince Joachim and Princess Luisa Maria are very seems a like
their papa Prince Lorenz.
Very attractive Prince and Princess.:flowers:
 
Now (I think) 17 persons will sign the document. King Albert just did that, so he is not king anymore.

Other than King Albert II, who are the people who signed the abdication document? :articles:


 
It was interesting to learn from Majesty magazine:

As Belgium is the only European kingdom where the heir does not succeed automatically on the death or abdication of the sovereign, Philippe was still a prince when he walked into the Parliament building shortly before noon, but left it as a King after having sworn his oath to the Constitution. :crown5:
 
It was interesting to learn from Majesty magazine:

As Belgium is the only European kingdom where the heir does not succeed automatically on the death or abdication of the sovereign, Philippe was still a prince when he walked into the Parliament building shortly before noon, but left it as a King after having sworn his oath to the Constitution. :crown5:

but when he entered the Parliament he was announced as King in the three languages of the kingdom (French, Flemish and German - le roi/de koning/der König)
 
Former PM Di Rupo had secret deal with King Albert

King Albert II announced on 3 July 2013 that he would abdicate on 21 July, on the Belgian national holiday. However, Albert had taken this decision in April, with Di Rupo among the very few people who were informed. Di Rupo next approached Albert to ask him to keep the news quiet, which also happened. [...]

"My [Di Rupo's] biggest fear was that the N-VA would destabilise the country. The king already had a date in mind for his abdication: 21 July. I didn't want several months between his announcement and the abdication itself. If you know the political state of affairs in Belgium, and the N-VA's attitude, you understand why."
 
Video:

Video:
 
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A curiosity: I did a word search in the Belgian constitution (English version) and the words abdication or abdicate did not show up anywhere in the document. However, nobody in Belgium seems to dispute that King Albert II or King Leopold III before him had the prerogative to abdicate the throne and that this could be done unilaterally (keep in mind that, in other countries like the UK or Spain, an abdication requires that special legislation be passed).


I guess my question is where the authority of a Belgian monarch to abdicate comes from and how a post-abdication succession is reconciled with the normal order of succession as laid out in the constitution. My conjecture is that, for succession purposes, an abdication is considered equivalent to the demise of the former king, but I can't find the legal basis to back that interpretation.
 
:previous:
I dare not claim that I have any expertise in this matter, I am not Belgian, I am not a lawyer.
However, I don't think that King Leopold III really abdicated voluntarily, but forced because of politics and circumstances.
This may also have set a precedent.
As I understand, King Albert II consulted with the then Prime Minister of Belgium about his wish to resign.

And can you require someone to remain in office until he or she dies?
 
A curiosity: I did a word search in the Belgian constitution (English version) and the words abdication or abdicate did not show up anywhere in the document. However, nobody in Belgium seems to dispute that King Albert II or King Leopold III before him had the prerogative to abdicate the throne and that this could be done unilaterally (keep in mind that, in other countries like the UK or Spain, an abdication requires that special legislation be passed).


I guess my question is where the authority of a Belgian monarch to abdicate comes from and how a post-abdication succession is reconciled with the normal order of succession as laid out in the constitution. My conjecture is that, for succession purposes, an abdication is considered equivalent to the demise of the former king, but I can't find the legal basis to back that interpretation.

In the Belgian Constitution there is no abdication indeed. They solved it by making a special Act of Abdication, signed by King Albert II and contraseigned by Prime Minister Elio di Rupo. With that contraseign the PM covered the King with his ministerial responsility and became accountable for Parliament.

While the Act of Abdication in the Netherlands is a beautiful calligraphed document with the Great Seal of Realm, the Belgian one is a simple A4, like the difference in the Abdication and Investiture Ceremonies in both countries.

Belgian Act of Abdication, there is no picture of the signed version:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PRuQMgwk974/UevmtRrHn_I/AAAAAAAAImk/E7V33Vgga-w/s1600/belgie4.jpg
 
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ACT OF ABDICATION OF THE THRONE BY HIS MAJESTY KING ALBERT II
In the year Two-thousand-and-thirteeen, on July the Twenty-first, at 10.30 o'clock.

Today We, Annemie Turtelboom, Minister of Justice, went to the Royal Palace in Brussels on invitation of His Majesty King Albert II, to confirm the Act which determines and enables that His Royal Highness Prince Philippe, Prince of Belgium will accede to the throne.

His Majesty King Albert II, having made his entrance in the presence of His Royal Highness Prince Philippe, having held an address and having heard a reply by the Prime Minister, requested Us to construct an Act involving His solemn declaration whereby He ends His Government and definitively abdicates the constitutional prerogatives which He owns, based on Article 85 of the Constitution.

From all as prescribed here, We have made two originals, of which one will be stored in the Archives of the Royal House and the other in the Federal Archives of the Justice Department.

Have signed with Us:

His Majesty King Albert II

Contraseign by Annemie Turtelboom, Minister of Justice

Signs by 15 witnesses.
 
The difference with the Dutch Act of Abdication is that this is an own decision which needs no ministerial backing. The only royal prerogative without a necessary contraseign, that is. (Ministers did co-sign anyway, but as formal witnesses of the solemn event, not as an Act of Parliament). While the Belgian text is written from the viewpoint of Annemie Turtelboom, the Minister of Justice, the Dutch text is written from the viewpoint of Queen Beatrix herself:

To date at present, the thirtieth of April in the year MMXIII, at ten o'clock before Noon, have I,

Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Etc. Etc. Etc.,
In the presence of My eldest son the Prince of Orange and his spouse,
summoned to the Royal Palace in Amsterdam:

[Authorities are named]

To establish in their presence and in a solemn declaration the intention I publicly made on January Twenty-eighth: to abdicate the kingship.

I solemnly declare that I hereby abdicate the kingship of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with which the kingship is now transferred to My eldest son and successor;

Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange,

According to the provisions in the Statute and the Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

This declaration, formalized by My signature and that of My eldest son and his spouse, as well by all authorities I have summoned here, will be stored in the Royal House Archives, with the Great Seal of the Kingdom attached to it.

B e a t r i x
 
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