Belgium's National Day 2005

[Hannelore]

Originally Posted by Oppie

This might be an odd question but what is a Te Deum ?

Thanks

It's a catholic thanking mass. It starts with the words "te deum laudamus" that's why it's called "te deum".

[Emily]

Catherine you mentioned the number of people in Brussels yesterday and that brought back a question I had at one point and then thought it might be silly -- is National Day celebrated only in Brussels? I thought my question might be silly because if it is called "national" day it must be celebrated all over the country, but is it?

[selminha]

Catherine where they go to pass the vacations of Summer Filip and Mathilde?

[mandyy]

More photos of the family
From newscom

[mandyy]

Photos from newscom

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

Originally Posted by Emily

Catherine you mentioned the number of people in Brussels yesterday and that brought back a question I had at one point and then thought it might be silly -- is National Day celebrated only in Brussels? I thought my question might be silly because if it is called "national" day it must be celebrated all over the country, but is it?

No it's not a silly question.

It's celebrated all over the country, but the major festivities are in Brussels. That's because the royal family lives there, the te deum that the king and queen attend is in the cathedral in Brussels (whilst there children go to mass that day in Flanders and Wallonia), the military parade is always in Brussels - in front of the royal palace.

It's also a bit symbolic. Brussels is, apart from our capital, the city which has two official languages, Dutch and French. So a place where Flanders and Wallonia 'meet' in a way and on the national day there's generally this atmosphere of "It' doesn't matter which language we speak, we're all Belgians".

There's always lots of actvities in Brussels (all the federal museums have free entrance, people can visit the federal parliament, there are games for children in the parks and streets and the fireworks at night), so a lot of people are attracted to Brussels.

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

Originally Posted by mandyy

Photos from newscom

On the second photo you can see princess Astrid with the wife of the prime minister.

[Emily]

As always, thank you for the thorough explanation!

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

Photos from clasos

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

Te Deum in the Sts Michel and Gudule cathedral in Brussels

[Danielane]

Cathérine (or the others), do you have news of princess Claire? I heard she had a little complication during her pregnancy, that would be why she and her husband weren't present yesterday.

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

What I heard on the news was that she needed some rest, nothing about a complication. Laurent stayed with her.

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

clasos.com

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

Philippe & Mathilde leaving after the prelude concert

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

at the brass band parade

[Danielane]

Originally Posted by Cathérine Bergeyck

What I heard on the news was that she needed some rest, nothing about a complication. Laurent stayed with her.

Thank you very much for the news.

[Mette2]

Thank you all for the wonderful pictures.:) The pictures with Albert and Paola from the National Day and from the festivities the days before the National Day are very sweet and romantic. They've been very sweet and romantic in the recent pictures of them from trips, visits, and the photoshoot last month, and it's a great joy to watch.:)
I too think it's great that Elisabeth, Gabriel, and Laetitia were part of the National Day, but sorry to see that Gabriel was a little disturbed, however, he seemed to get past it quickly.:)
Good to know Claire just needed some rest. It seems Mathilde didn't attend the evenings festivities either, but she's pregnant as well so it's perfectly understandably.:) Albert certainly seemed to enjoy himself at the evenings festivities. I saw on tv that he was singing along on Happy Birthday, and trying to get the Prime Minister to do the same.:)