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What a pity that Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz were not present,I don't particularly care for Prince Laurent so I did not miss him
Astrid did go to a Te Deum this morning. Tonight she has another thing to go to.
Where is Claire. Laurent looks lonely on his own little stage.
It would have been easy for Astrid to attend both events, the parade in the afternoon and the folk festival in Namur in the evening - if she really wanted that. And she very well knew what kind of headlines her absence during the main National holiday event will create. It was all over the papers and she did nothing to correct this image.Princess Astrid & husband did attend the Te Deum in Arles ánd the concert on the evening before. If she wanted to protest wouldn't she have stayed absent from those occassions too? In the afternoon she and her husband had an event in Namur.
Laurent's seat - seperate from everybody else for some reason - was noted by the press too.
Opvallend: Laurent zit helemaal apart tijdens defilé - HLN.be
Never a dull moment with the Coburgs .
It would have been easy for Astrid to attend both events, the parade in the afternoon and the folk festival in Namur in the evening - if she really wanted that. And she very well knew what kind of headlines her absence during the main National holiday event will create. It was all over the papers and she did nothing to correct this image.
Regarding Laurent’s seating. That was stupid. He was seated in the lower box like all the years before but this is a sorry sight when there is just one person to take place. They should have seated him on the main stage this year.
Laurent with his nieces and nephews
http://3.t.cdn.belga.be/belgaimage:94699195:preview:watermark?v=578e4c2d&m=akpbmhnb
And here kissing his youngest niece
You can also see him greeting his nieces and nephews here: Défilé militaire du 21 juillet: absence fortement remarquée de plusieurs membres de la famille royale
That was very sweet from him...he's just a complicated man. Again, pity he was left alone in that corner...shame on whoever planned it...
HI&RH Princess Astrid & HI&RH Prince Lorenz,Archduke of Austria Este attended the Te Deum Mass at l'Eglise Saint Martin in Arlon.
Belga Image - Editorial
Interesting enough there was plenty of decorum around Princess Astrid, with all those military aides-de-camp and the civil authorities with their sashes. It did not look "lesser" than the Te Deum in Brussels.
The Prince was not really "left alone in that corner": that specific place on the dais was always for members of the royal family, but yesterday it happened to be only one person. Apparently the Court was not that flexible to fix the seating arrangements, probably it did not even cross the minds of the organisators that it would result in an unlucky photo opportunity for the media.