King Albert and Queen Paola were received in a private audience by Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday.

more pictures at Getty Images

As customary for a Catholic Queen, Paola wore a white veil (in contrast to other women, who have to wear black veil), while King Albert kneeled before the Pope.

A note published by the press office of the Holy See reported: “In the course of the cordial discussions issues concerning Africa, international politics, respect for human rights and the development of peoples were treated. Recalling the history of the Church in Belgium, they then reflected on the importance of the canonization of Blessed Damien Jozef De Veuster and his exemplarity for Belgium and the whole world”.

The meeting took place the day before the canonization ceremony of Father Damien. Father Damien, a Belgian missionary priest, left for Molokai to provide medical and spiritual care for the people affected by leprosy there. He was infected while taking care of his patients.  The King and Queen had already attended a Mass in honour of Father Damien in Tremelo – the place he was born as Jozef Damian de Veuster.

Marsel Belgian Royals Audience, King Albert II, Mass, Pope Benedict XVI, Queen Paola, Vatican City

Click to see Belga gallery

King Albert and Queen Paola attended a mass in honour of the canonisation of Father Damien (Pater Damiaan, Père Damien) in Tremelo, the village where Father Damien was born as Jozef De Veuster. The canonisation is for next week, 11 October, but the village of Tremelo is taking the opportunity to celebrate it’s most known inhabitant all week. Father Damien left for Hawaii on missionary work, and asked to be transferred to Molokai to provide some basic medical and spiritual care for the leprosy on the island. Despite strong opposition within the Church, and even a direct command to leave the place, he remained on Molokai.

The mass was in open air, and attended by a large number of people. Cardinal Danneels lead the service. Apart from the King and Queen, it was also attended by the American ambassador to Belgium, the Belgian Prime Minister and the Flemish Minister-President. A group from Molokai was also present.

Queen Paola, King Albert and a delegation from the Belgian government will also attend the canonisation in Rome next week.

For more information, see this thread.
See here for an article in Dutch.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Canonisation, King Albert II, Mass, Queen Paola

Click to see the full image

On 31 July, Queen Fabiola attended the memorial mass for her late husband, King Baudouin I of Belgium. The mass is always organised at the special request of Queen Fabiola, on the anniversary of the King’s death, at the Church of Our Lady in Laeken. Queen Fabiola was accompanied by Prince Nicolas of Liechtenstein, the husband of her niece, Princess Margaretha.

The Queen attended the mass in a wheelchair, and looked very fragile, far from the energetic woman who waved an apple at her would-be assassins on the National Day, little over a week ago. The Palace emphasised that the Queen used the wheelchair simply because of severe fatigue.

For more information about Queen Fabiola and her activities, see here.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals King Baudouin, Mass, Queen Fabiola

Click on image to see photo at rpc.com.br

 Members of the imperial family of Brazil attended a mass in Rio de Janeiro in the memory of those who lost their lives in the Air Flace plane last week. One of the passengers was prince Pedro Luís of Orleans-Bragança. His parents, prince Antonio, princess Christine and his siblings prince Rafael, princess Amélia and princess Gabriela were seated on the first row in the church of Nossa Senhora do Carmo da Antiga Sé  in Rio de Janeiro. Behind them were other members of the imperial family like prince Alberto, princess Isabel and princess Teresa with her husband Jan Hessel de Jong. The mass was led by the archbisshop of Rio de Janeiro and prince Antonio was one of those who spoke during the service.

On June 8th the official memorial mass will be held in São Paulo and on June 10th a service will be held in Rio de Janeiro. On both occassions members of the Imperial family will be in attendance. The head of the Vassouras branch, prince Luíz Gastão, will attend the service in São Paulo, as is said on the website of the Brazilian imperial family.

This weekend there was also a mass in Belgium, in the memory of prince Pedro Luís. The mass was held at Belouil, the caste of the de Ligne family, as the mother of prince Pedro Luís is a princess de Ligne. The mass was attended by various members of the de Ligne family and other relatives like prince Amedeo and princess Maria-Laura of Belgium.

Marengo Brazilian Royals Mass, Memorial, Prince Pedro Luís

 On 17 February, the Belgian Royal family gathered at the Church of Laeken to attend the annual Mass in honour of all deceased family members. Not only the King and Queen were present, but also Prince Philippe, Princess Mathilde, Princess Astrid, Prince Lorenz and Princess Claire. This year, the mass was held especially in commemoration of King Albert I, who died 75 years ago. They also visited the Royal Crypt of Laeken to pay their respects. Before and after the Mass, the Royal family took their time to greet the people who had come down to the Church to meet them.

The three Princesses had probably agreed amongst themselves what to wear: their clothes were all black or grey, and all three Princesses wore bandeaux in their hair. Discussions vary about which Princess’s hairdo was most successful (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3).

Between all this black and sober dress, the Queen certainly stood out in a soft burgundy coloured hat and coat. (photo 4)

Prince Laurent, on the other hand, was conspicuous by absence. The Court has – as yet – not released any statement to explain why he did not attend. Amusing note: on the official website of the Belgian Royal Family, the announcement of this event initially said that Prince Laurent would attend. On 17 February, the announcement was nowhere to be found (not in current events, not in the archive), and one day later, only Princess Claire was mentioned as attending the event.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Albert I, Mass, Prince Laurent, Prince Lorenz, Prince Philippe, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Princess Claire, Princess Mathilde, Queen Paola, Royal Crypt