King Philippe, Q. Mathilde and Family, General News, Part 1 (July 2013 - Sept. 2017)

[Princess Xenia]

In my opinion, the four of them as a group are the most beautiful royal children of this generation, a perfect combination of their parents' looks (and is not a wonder, considering how good looking the King and Queen are).

Eleonore might end up being more "stereotypically" beautiful than her sister but I find Elisabeth quite interesting to say so, like an old painting, her features have a lot of character, does that even make sense?

I totally agree, it makes sense to me. Élisabeth is like the grand lady, her beauty is combined with regality. Emmanuel is just like his father when he was at Emmanuel's age, so he'll be a dashing Prince when he gets older. Eléonore looks very much like her mother so I guess we will see a beautiful woman with a lovely face.

 

[Blue_]

I worked the whole day in this rainy and windy weather ang knowing the King and his family are in Bali and that we have to pay his private flight and al its costs .. I won't listen the King's Speach . Na!

But then again, so do we pay for all the ministers, and we have +80, right?, (they don't fly with any low-cost company... ) and no one seems to bother...
I read somewhere that he has no choice but flying with the army's jets because it's in the law he cannot fly with a normal flight, which is somehow to understand. Imagine any terrorist group would want to kill the king, would you feel safe to be in the same plane?

 

[leidi]

Funny anecdote of the day: my youngest son caught me watching these pics and asked who they were, I explained and we kept looking at them, then he said that he thought Elisabeth was pretty (he's completely age appropiate for her, don't worry ).

You can imagine my face at the time, a total Kodak moment

Next thing you know, he's going to join TRF and be her #1 fan

Family who bonds over royalty watching stays together

 

[maria-olivia]

Our Cour des Comptes/Rekenhof pointed out the problems of the naoorw budget of our National Defence .
Using them for 10 days for holiday reasons is unacceptable for 90 % of the Belgians.

 

[Princess Xenia]

Our Cour des Comptes/Rekenhof pointed out the problems of the naoorw budget of our National Defence .
Using them for 10 days for holiday reasons is unacceptable for 90 % of the Belgians.

I'm not a Belgian, my opinion doesn't count, I just want to write my opinion about this.

If there is only one thing that I can say about King Philippe is that he is a responsible man, he would never throw away the budget or money given to him by the state. If he wants to fly somewhere, what are his options? So first I think the law should change. Then I think he's done enough this year to earn a good holiday with his family.

Again my opinion doesn't count, just a thought that I liked to share.

 

[Daria_S]

Funny anecdote of the day: my youngest son caught me watching these pics and asked who they were, I explained and we kept looking at them, then he said that he thought Elisabeth was pretty (he's completely age appropiate for her, don't worry ).

You can imagine my face at the time, a total Kodak moment

Next thing you know, he's going to join TRF and be her #1 fan

Family who bonds over royalty watching stays together

Your son has very good taste in ladies. Elisabeth is very pretty, and appears to have good manners, and class. It's great that you guys can bond over royalty watching. Good hobby, and you learn quite a lot about other cultures.

 

[leidi]

I'm not a Belgian, my opinion doesn't count, I just want to write my opinion about this.

If there is only one thing that I can say about King Philippe is that he is a responsible man, he would never throw away the budget or money given to him by the state. If he wants to fly somewhere, what are his options? So first I think the law should change. Then I think he's done enough this year to earn a good holiday with his family.

Again my opinion doesn't count, just a thought that I liked to share.

100% agree with you, if he was able to book private planes or something it would be different but the law itself states it has to be military planes so he's caught between a rock and a hard place

And for the record, Belgium is not Iraq or Syria, it's not as if they are in a massive amount of danger so that every penny for the defense department is needed

 

[*Mara*]

I'm not a Belgian, my opinion doesn't count, I just want to write my opinion about this.

If there is only one thing that I can say about King Philippe is that he is a responsible man, he would never throw away the budget or money given to him by the state. If he wants to fly somewhere, what are his options? So first I think the law should change. Then I think he's done enough this year to earn a good holiday with his family.

Again my opinion doesn't count, just a thought that I liked to share.

Your post is pretty much in line with the opinion piece in the Flemish newspaper Het Belang van Limburg.

Wat zijn we toch weer zuur - Het Belang van Limburg
https://translate.google.com/transl...wat-zijn-we-toch-weer-zuur&edit-text=&act=url


Btw the flights cost 75.000€ and the destination is Delhi and not Bali.

 

[SydneyLux]

The military labotr union is upset with the king. On saturday the king, queen and their children went left for Indonesia for a 10-day holiday. They are upset that the staff of the airplaine needs to stay in Indonesia in the christmas period too.
Privéreis Filip en Mathilde maakt legervakbond boos - HLN.be

It is forbidden for a Belgian king to use regular flights, he needs to travel by military plane.

They are in India now...

Luxarazzi : Luxembourg and Belgian Royals Spent Indian Christmas

 

[Mbruno]

Our Cour des Comptes/Rekenhof pointed out the problems of the naoorw budget of our National Defence .
Using them for 10 days for holiday reasons is unacceptable for 90 % of the Belgians.

The King cannot by law travel on a commercial flight, nor can he and his family travel without a security detail. Based on your reasoning, the Royal Family could never go on vacation overseas, which is absurd.

 

[leidi]

Your post is pretty much in line with the opinion piece in the Flemish newspaper Het Belang van Limburg.

Wat zijn we toch weer zuur - Het Belang van Limburg
https://translate.google.com/transl...wat-zijn-we-toch-weer-zuur&edit-text=&act=url


Btw the flights cost 75.000€ and the destination is Delhi and not Bali.

You know people are being complete unreasonable when even flemish newspapers are advocating for the King

And I think the syndicate that cried foul first needs a geography lesson, Indonesia and India are not the same thing

 

[Princess Xenia]

And for the record, Belgium is not Iraq or Syria, it's not as if they are in a massive amount of danger so that every penny for the defense department is needed

I agree. And since the formation of NATO, european countries have reduced their budgets for ministry of defense.

Your post is pretty much in line with the opinion piece in the Flemish newspaper Het Belang van Limburg.

Wat zijn we toch weer zuur - Het Belang van Limburg
https://translate.google.com/transl...wat-zijn-we-toch-weer-zuur&edit-text=&act=url

thank you for the article.
I have got to confess that a flemish newspaper is actually defending the king

You know people are being complete unreasonable when even flemish newspapers are advocating for the King

Totally agree

 

[tommy100]

Its also worth remembering that if they traveled by regular planes with the public somebody would still have to pick up the bill for the bodyguards etc to travel with them, would not surprise me at all if it actually ends up costing less to travel by military plane.

 

[MAfan]

I'm not sure that travelling by military plane costs less than travelling by commercial planes. I mean, they keep one military plane and its necessary staff busy for the whole time of their travel, and all this has some costs. By travelling using a commecrial plane it's true that they have to pay for seats for the bodyguards, but what happens to the plane and its costs after the landing isn't their business.

 

[tommy100]

its depends how you work out what the costs are for the royal family travelling, should they be charged, for example, with maintenance of the military plane that would have to be carried out anyway?
It would also be a massive logistical and security nightmare to get the King, Queen, their 4 children, bodyguards and I imagine some other staff all to and from one place using normal flights.

 

[maria-olivia]

The King now in India has to shorten his Holidays.
He will return on December 30th as He was to sign importment new goverment documents whose application will start on 1/1/2015.

He will not ask a new air force plane which will travel only with the documents to sign!!

 

[Blue_]

The King was asked to come back earlier from his vacations. New laws have to be signed and published before the end of the year. If he didn't came back, militaries would have travelled to India, and came back. Because of the polemic, it was judged better to ask the king to come back .

 

[tommy100]

So he needed a military plan after all?!

 

[Stefan]

The King was asked to come back earlier from his vacations. New laws have to be signed and published before the end of the year. If he didn't came back, militaries would have travelled to India, and came back. Because of the polemic, it was judged better to ask the king to come back .

This could also have been avoided if the laws would have been ready before Christmas. The he could have signed them before leaving.

 

[*Mara*]

Unlike his father Philippe never had the intention to sign laws abroad during holidays. This was mentioned around the abdication in 2013 already. So this is nothing new at all. There never were plans to transport documents by plane.

Btw the persons in charge need to take their dictionary and look up the true meaning of discretion. How can they claim they discreetly asked the king to return when its all over the papers. But then again everything has to be turned into a polemic these days, mission completed I guess.

 

[Blue_]

This could also have been avoided if the laws would have been ready before Christmas. The he could have signed them before leaving.

We have a lot of problems here with our government They took a long time to discuss over the matter.

Btw the persons in charge need to take their dictionary and look up the true meaning of discretion. How can they claim they discreetly asked the king to return when its all over the papers. But then again everything has to be turned into a polemic these days, mission completed I guess.

Sadly, you are right But making the King look bad is a national sport here.

 

[maria-olivia]

Next year i hope He will spend his Christmas in Europe like his predecessors to avoid what has happen now.

I don't agree that our National sport is making the King look bad.
It is his first faux pas since more than 500 days.

 

[Princess Xenia]

HM was not asked to shorten his holidays He decided himself.
Next year i hope He will spend his Christmas in Europe like his predecessors to avoid what has happen now.

I don't agree that our National sport is making the King look bad.
It is his first faux pas since more than 500 days.

What was his faux pas exactly? I can't find anything.

 

[MarNoe]

Taking your family on a Christmas holiday is a faux pax?

 

[maria-olivia]

"Faux pas " means a mistake that should have been avoided. (going to Bali or India for 10 days)
The Army did not want to send a second flight so far away with only documents to sign as they did for Kings Baudouin or Albert Ii who stayed in Europe for their Christmas holidays.

 

[*Mara*]

Again, there never were plans to send documents by plane. Albert caused costs of 60.000 € per year for these flights who transported only documents. Philippe never intended to do that. So far he signed all laws in Brussels or Ciergnon, also during holidays in August for ex.

 

[Princess Xenia]

"Faux pas " means a mistake that should have been avoided. (going to Bali or India for 10 days)
The Army did not want to send a second flight so far away with only documents to sign as they did for Kings Baudouin or Albert Ii who stayed in Europe for their Christmas holidays.

Why is it considered to be his faux pas? Why not the parliament's??!! I think the king has the right to travel to any country he and his family like, it's a holiday, specially that he couldn't go on a real holiday in summer.

 

[Blue_]

Next year i hope He will spend his Christmas in Europe like his predecessors to avoid what has happen now.

Why can't he spend his Christmas vacation abroad? I don't get it... it's not like any other royals don't go on vacation abroad?

I don't agree that our National sport is making the King look bad.
It is his first faux pas since more than 500 days.

Not ours, the newspapers, the politics. The minister who started the polemic admitted he agreed with the King leaving. (because the King also has no choice...) And I don't think this counts as a faux-pas

 

[Blue_]

The palace just said that the king already planned to leave earlier, because he knew that there would be documents to sign.
Earlier this month, some politicians talked about making it possible for the king and ministers to sign documents with an electronic signature (with the ID-card). They are showing this case as an exemple where the e-signature would have been possible.

 

[maria-olivia]

The Palace tries to save the Situation .
The whole Government was still working on new laws and the King and his Staff knew about the Documents to sign before the end of the year!

Thanks for your post Blue, foreigners don't know our political situation. ea the Parlament's fault...
I think at Belvedere Castle and at Villa Clémentine they must laugh !