courtesy of daylife

Belgian Royals celebrated The King’s Feast (Koningsfeest in Dutch and Fête du Roi in French) on November 15 – a day that has been marked by celebrations in honour of the Belgian Monarch since 1866. Crown Prince Philippe, Princess Mathilde, Prince Laurent, Princess Astrid, Prince Lorenz and Queen Fabiola were all present.

The celebrations started with a Service at Brussels Cathedral, which was attended by all members of the Royal Family with the exception of the King, the Queen and Princess Claire. King Albert and Queen Paola don’t usually attend the Service as protocol decrees it would be inappropriate for the Monarch to honour himself. Although always present at The King’s Feast Day celebrations, Princess Claire was absent this year, presumably because she wasn’t able to find anyone to babysit the children.

courtesy of daylife

Also present at the Service was Queen Fabiola – the first time she has been seen in a long time. The past few months have been marred by concerns for Her Majesty’s health and even false death announcement. Although the Queen was recovering in Spain, she insisted on attending the Service, although she did not attend the ceremony at the Parliament: the Royal Watchers were undoubtedly delighted to see Her Majesty in apparently good health.

Since 2001, the Service has been followed by a ceremony held by the Belgian Parliament in honour of the King, in the presence of members of the Belgian Royal Family and other dignitaries.

November 15 is the name day of Leopold (the feast of Saint Leopold) and Albert (the Feast of Saint Albert the Great), two names that are of great importance for the Belgian Royals: Belgium’s first, second and fourth Monarchs were named Leopold, while the third King was called Albert, as is the current king. In 1951, King Baudouin decided to honour the day, and King Albert II continued the tradition. November 15 and April 8 (King Albert’s birthday) are two days when His Majesty honours distinguished citizens by presenting them with the Order of Leopold. Although November 15 is not a public holiday, civil servants are allowed to have a day off.

To learn more about the King’s Feast, visit this thread.

Marsel Belgian Royals Archduke Lorenz, King Albert II, Prince Laurent, Prince Philippe, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Princess Mathilde, Queen Fabiola, Queen Paola, The King’s Feast

Three months ago, prince Laurent of Belgium had the dead body of his favourite dog frozen. The prince was upset by the death of the Berner Senner and wanted to wait until an appropriate time, to say goodbye to the dog.

click on image to see photo at nieuwslog.nl

The Swiss dog was his favourite for seven years, and died of cancer. After his death the prince took the body to the veterinary medicine faculty of the university of Gent. At the university they froze the body, until the prince found the time ripe to say goodbye to his dog. On thursday, a few days before all saints, the prince thought that the time was ripe, the prince told public channel VRT through the telephone.

According to professor Chiers, of the university of Gent, several limbs of the dog were deformed because the body was frozen on the flat floor.  When the prince announced that he wanted to collect the dog, the staff had to hurry to dry the hairs and bend the body in the original shape.  When the prince arrived, the staff had to leave as the prince was quite emotional and wanted to be left alone with his dog.

In a reaction on the VRT the prince said that there is too little attention for the role that pets play in our daily lives. ‘People are very attached to their pets, when they die it hurts’, says Laurent. ‘All Saints is a day to pay attention to that’.

Marengo Belgian Royals Animals, Pets, Prince Laurent

The King, the Queen, Princess Astrid, Prince Laurent and Princess Claire attended the Autumn Concert at the Royal Palace in Brussels yesterday.

courtesy of Belga

The Autumn Concert is organized in collaboration with the Festival of Flanders and the Festival of the Walloon Region.

The Festival of the Walloon Region (Festival de Wallonie) is an annual event that offers 70 concerts in 4 parts of the Walloon Region and in Brussels. The common theme of the concerts is the aspiration to tell people about the region’s architectural and musical heritage, a strong inclination towards parties and conviviality.

This year, the Festival’s main theme is “Britannia”. The concerts are dedicated, as the name suggests, to the United Kingdom, which either gave birth or welcomed four great composers, whose anniversaries are celebrated this year – Purcell (350th birth anniversary), Handel (250th death anniversary), Mendelssohn (200th birth anniversary) and Haydn (100th death anniversary).

To learn more about the Belgian Royal Family, visit this thread.

Marsel Belgian Royals Concert, Music, Prince Laurent, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Princess Claire, Queen Paola

On October 8, the royal family, including Princess Maria Laura, daughter of Princess Astrid, attended the opening of the prestigious “Son of Heaven” exhibition at the Palace of the Fine Arts in Brussels. It is the opening exhibition of the cultural festival Europalia China.

Click to see Belga picture gallery

The King and Queen opened the exhibition in the presence of the Vice President of China, Xi Jinping. Prince Philippe, Princess Mathilde, Princess Astrid, Prince Lorenz, Prince Laurent, Princess Claire and Princess Maria Laura were also present.

The Vice-President is on an official trip to Belgium, and was welcomed to the country by Prince Philippe upon his arrival in Brussels, on October 7. Earlier on Thursday, the Vice President already met the King and Queen during a lunch at the Laeken Palace.

The exhibition shows some very exclusive pieces which have never travelled outside of China before, like a priceless kimono worn by the Chinese emperors. To honour this special gesture from China, the entire royal family turned up for the event. Princess Maria Laura, the eldest daughter of Princess Astrid, probably attended because the exhibition features Chinese artifacts. The young Princess has lived in China for 6 months, and currently studies Oriental languages in Paris.

For more information about the exhibition, please see this website.
For more information and pics from this event, please see this thread.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Exhibition, King Albert II, Prince Laurent, Prince Lorenz, Prince Philippe, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Princess Claire, Princess Maria Laura, Princess Mathilde, Queen Paola

Prince Laurent causes much controversy again in Belgium with his decision to send his 6-year old daughter Louise, who charmed the media this summer on the National Day, to a French state school.

Click to see article at deredactie.be

This action causes negative comments in whole of Belgium. Not only is the Princess apparently raised without learning Dutch in school, she is now also sent to a French school, not even a Belgian one. According to the article, the Prince could no longer afford the school fee for the private school in Tervuren where the Princess used to go to school, which amounts to about €25.000 per year. The costs of sending her to the Lycée Français would come down to €500 per year.

Both sides of the language barrier think this is a bad move of the royal family. On the Flemish side, people wonder why the Prince would not send his daughter to a school which doesn’t teach her any Dutch, a language which is important in the Brussels job market, as the Princess will have to earn her living later on. In her school in Tervuren, the Princess was also educated in French and English, not in Dutch. On the Francophone side of the language barrier, people wonder why the Prince is sending her to a French school and not a Belgian one. “Aren’t Belgian schools good enough then?” one politician wonders aloud.

The decision is sure to make the Prince less popular in both parts of the country.

See here for an article in Dutch.
See here for a thread discussing Prince Laurent’s current events.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Education, Prince Laurent, Princess Louise of Belgium

Prince Laurent has been admitted to the Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, in Brussels, since last Sunday, due to pneumonia. The Prince was on holiday in Sardinia, visiting friends, when he suddenly realized he was getting feverish. Fearing that he had the H1N1 variant of the flu, he insisted on being treated in Belgium as soon as possible. The family was flown back to Brussels and the Prince was admitted to a Belgian hospital upon his arrival.

Claire leaving the hospital - click to see article (French)

The doctors soon saw he had pneumonia, and are giving him the appropriate treatment. The prince was contaminated by his daughter, Princess Louise, who has already recovered from her pneumonia. The Prince has left the hospital today.

For a discussion, see this thread.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Health, Prince Laurent, Princess Claire, Princess Louise of Belgium

The Belgian royal family was out in full force to celebrate this year’s National Day. On the evening of June 20, King Albert, Queen Paola, Queen Fabiola, Prince Philippe, Princess Mathilde, Princess Astrid, Prince Lorenz, Prince Laurent and Princess Claire attended the concert “Preludium to the National Day”, organized at the Palace of Fine Arts by the National Belgian Orchestra. The royal ladies were at their best, as usual. Princess Mathilde looked splendid in bright white (see pic), while Princess Astrid was wearing a black dress (see pic). Queen Paola wore a black and white ensemble (see pic), but it was Princess Claire who really caught everyone’s eye in her pink top and red trousers (see pic). At the concert, the royals enjoyed music played by the Belgian National Orchestra, as well as several opera arias sung by soprano Hélène Guilmette.

Click to see full image at belga

On the morning of the National Day, the royals attended several Te Deum masses around the coutry. King Albert, Queen Paola, Queen Fabiola, Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde went to the St. Michael and St. Gudule Cathedral in Brussels, while Prince Laurent and Princess Claire attended the Te Deum in Mons, and Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz went to Antwerp. They all took their time to talk to the people who had turned up to greet them, despite the security measures, which were higher than usual due to the murder threats to Queen Fabiola.

Click to see full image at Belga

In the afternoon, King Albert inspected the troops which would take part int he military parade, after which he and the rest of the family went to the royal stands. Prince Laurent and Princess Claire had brought their daughter, Princess Louise, with them to watch the parade, but the girl was more interested in her father’s shiny sable throughout the parade. She didn’t remain seated on her own chair either, but sat on her father’s or mother’s lap most of the time. Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz had brought their two eldest children, Prince Amedeo and Princess Maria Laura, and their youngest daughter, Princess Letizia Maria along.

Click to see full image at Belga

As usual, the King and his children were dressed in their uniforms, Prince Philippe as Air Force officer, Princess Astrid in her uniform of Colonel of the Medical Division and Prince Laurent as Marine officer. Prince Amedeo also wore his uniform of reserve officer of the land forces. The ladies vied again for the best outfit. While Queen Paola wore again a demure black and white suit (see pic), Princess Mathilde wore an eye-catching pink dress and a matching pink fascinator (see pic). Princess Claire, on the other hand, wore a stunning blue dress and beige fascinator (see pic).

Despite the murder threats, Queen Fabiola was also present at the parade (see pic). She had some very animated conversations with Queen Paola and Princess Mathilde. Rumour had it she was wearing a bullet proof vest, but the Palace formally denied this.

After the parade, the King and Queen, and the Princes and Princesses visited several sites all over Brussels where the National Day celebrations were taking place. In the evening, they will attend the fireworks display.

For a discussion of the National Day celebrations, see this thread.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals King Albert II, National Day, Prince Laurent, Prince Lorenz, Prince Philippe, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Princess Claire, Princess Mathilde, Queen Fabiola, Queen Paola

Click on image to see photo at gva.be

Flemish newspaper ‘Het Gazet van Antwerpen’ reports that king Albert II and queen Paola of the Belgians are following a diet together. Pictures of the state visit to Romania, earlier this week, showed that the king and queen already lost weight. It is not a very strict diet, according to the palace they just eat a bit less and pay more attention to their health. During the state banquet on the first day of the the state visit to Romania some in the press already noticed that king Albert II did not touch the desert of chocolate mousse, that he usually is so fond of.

According to VTM royalty journalist Kathy Pauwels, the king and queen are not the only members of the royal family to pay attention to their food. Prince Laurent does that too, says Pauwels: ‘Laurent always says he is dieting at least, though that isn’t always obvious’. ‘The prince likes cola, and only the real stuff, he doesn’t want Cola light. He is also fond of brown sugar, and he always jokes that he buys his uniforms and suits a size too small, so he is forced to lose weight’.

Marengo Belgian Royals Health, King Albert II, Prince Laurent, Queen Paola

 The Belgian government had appointed a parliamentary commission to discuss the dotation system of the Belgian royals. Every now and then, word came out that the commission wanted to strip Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent of their dotation, but up until now there had been no formal declaration regarding the matter.

From the TRF Avatar Gallery

On July 2, the commission finally came up with a final compromise. The current system of dotations will be kept in place until Prince Philippe succeeds his father as King of the Belgians. From then on, only the reigning monarch and the first in line to the throne will receive a dotation, as well as their spouses and the spouse of a deceased monarch. In reality, this means that of all Prince Philippe’s children, only Princess Elisabeth will receive a dotation from the moment that she is a legal adult. The dotation is, however, bound to certain rules. Members of the Royal Family who receive a dotation may not hold any commercial or other paying  position. This rule applies already to those who currently receive a dotation.

From the TRF Avatar Gallery

From the TRF Avatar Gallery

Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent, who are each currently receiving a dotation of over 300.000 EUR a year, will not lose their dotation, not even when their brother becomes King. The commission decided to would be unfair to them to sustain them for so long, and then suddenly take a way their income. They will remain in the old system for life.

The commission also decided that the costs and expenses of the Royal Family must be published each year. This will aid the transparency of the costs of the Royal family. This was not only the wish of the current government, but also of the King himself. After there have been many criticisms of the misty finances of the Belgian court, the King has urged the government to do something about it, so as to avoid further criticism.

For a discussion of the Belgian royals and their finances, see this thread.
For an article about the matter, see here (Dutch).

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Finances, Government, Prince Laurent, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Princess Elisabeth

King Albert and Queen Paola of Belgium attended the inaugurationof the opening of the Magritte Museum. The museum collected over 250 works of the Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte, and can present the largest collection of Magritte’s works in the world. the museum is part of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Brussels, and will be open to the public from 2 June onwards.

Prince Laurent and Princess Astrid also came into action today. Prince Laurent visited a school in Diksmuide, while Princess Astrid and her husband attended the opening ceremony of the  Special Olympics Belgium at the Charles Tondreau-stadium in Mons.

For a discussion of the activities of King Albert and Queen Paola, visit this thread.
For a discussion of Prince Laurent’s activities, see here.
For a discussion of the activities of Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz, see here.

There is also a belga picture gallery of the visit to the Magritte Museum here, and an article in French here.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals King Albert II, Prince Laurent, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Queen Paola