kathia_sophia
Heir Apparent
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2008
- Messages
- 3,156
- City
- South
- Country
- Portugal
Thank you, the size is not bad, though I wish it were HQ, but I appreciate!
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 ?
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 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
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?....
Jochim and Luisa Maria attended the evening celebration as well
Now (I think) 17 persons will sign the document. King Albert just did that, so he is not king anymore.
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.
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."
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.