Royal Family of Belgium Part 2
 

Welcome to the second thread of pictures and news on the members of the royal family of Belgium.

You can find the first thread here:

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=432&page=1&pp=20

Happy posting!

A few images to start off this thread:

DIEST, BELGIUM - OCTOBER 28: Queen Paola and King Albert arrive at Diest Townhall as part of a Polish State Visit to Belgium, on October 28, 2004 in Diest, Belgium. (Photo by Mark Renders/Getty Images)

and:

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - OCTOBER 27: Queen Paola (R) and Jolanta Kwasniewska (second from left) visit Val Saint Lambert, famous for its glasswork, as part of Kwasniewska's State Visit with her husband, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, to Belgium on October 27, 2004 in Liege, Belgium. (Photo by Mark Renders/Getty Images)

and:

LIEGE, BELGIUM: From L-R, Belgium Queen Paola, Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and his wife Jolanta Kwasniewska, and Belgium's King Albert II pose at Liege province palace, 27 October 2004. Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and his wife Jolanta Kwasniewska arrived yesterday in Brussels for a three-day state visit to Belgium. AFP BELGA PHOTO POOL MICHEL KRAKOWSKI (Photo credit should read MICHEL KRAKOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Brussels - September 28, 2004. The royal family receives presidents and minister-presidents of the various Belgian governments for a lunch at Laken castle.

Brussels - October 25, 2004 Belgian Sovereigns received Romano Prodi and his wife Flavia at the Royal Palace of Laeken for a farewell rendez-vous.

I just read an interesting article in the newspaper La Dernière heure (from a few days ago).

The king of the Belgians gets an annual dotation that's fixed for the whole duration of his reign. It's not a salary, but an amount of money to cover his costs. In the case of Albert II it's 6.048.602 €.

67,4% of it goes to the salaries of all his staff, 11,8% to the maintenance of his buildings and furntiture; 5,8% to his professional activities such as state visits etc., 5% to the heating, the gas, electricity, water etc. ; 2,7% to the administration. And 1,8 % to hoshold costs; 3,8% to the cars and 1,7% to various costs (ensurances etc.)

In comparison, some of the annual dotations of other monarchies:

Juan Carlos of Spain receives 7,2 million €
Queen Elizabeth II receives 11,88 million €
The grandduke of Luxemburg receives 7.470.687 €

1. Paola and Albert with their 3 children

2. Paola and Albert with Filip, Astrid and her children

3. Albert and his brother, the late king Boudewijn.

1. King Albert at the Belgian embassy in Berlin, with a portrait of his ancester, king Leopold I of the Belgians.

2. Albert and Paola at Laken.

3. the Benelux royals and heirs in 2000.

1950. Abdication of king Leopold III and enthronement of king Boudewijn.

1960. Belgium' colony, Congo, gets it's independance and king Boudewijn is present at the ceremonies.

Albert and Boudewijn

1. Leopold and Boudewijn

2. Leopold III

1. King Leopold II, 2nd king of the Belgians

2. his wife, queen Marie Henriette.

5. Leopold II on his death bed.

do you know by anychance how much that is in Us dollars?

is he dead in thatpicture? *shivers*

Yes he is. It's the way he was laid out so people could come to pay their respects a last time.

11/11/2004

King Albert at the monument of the unknown soldier in Brussels, for the armistice commemorations.

King Albert II of Belgium (L) attends an Armistice Day ceremony , 11 November 2004, at the 'Unknown Soldier Monument' at the Congress Column in Brussels.

Polfoto 12-11-2004 Belgium's King Albert II, right, and Queen Paola arrive prior to Giuseppe Verdi's "La Traviata", the opera that opens La Fenice theatre season, in Venice, Italy, Friday, Nov. 12, 2004.

Whoa, do they still do that when Royals die nowadays?

Yep, but they're in a coffin, and you have to keep a certain distance.

This is the custom in Belgium, maybe in other countries it's different (closed coffin etc.)

King Baudouin

1. with queen Juliana
2. with his brother Albert
3,4. with his father Leopold III
5. with Albert and Philippe

1. with Juliana and Beatrix

2. with Rainier and Grace of Monaco

3. King Albert II as a young prince

4. king Albert I

Happy Royal Family
 

the Belgian Royal Family seem like a happy loving down to earth Family, which is good to see that Royalty can be normal and not cold and frosty like the Windsors.