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

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Ruler of Dubai, met with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Belgium, Prince Philippe.

Prince Philippe is currently visiting the country for two days on an economic mission. Sheikh Mohammed and Prince Philippe discussed economic and investment ties between the UAE and Belgium.

View the economic mission thread here.

dazzling Belgian Royals, UAE Royals Economic Mission, Prince Philippe, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid

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

Click to see belga gallery

Yesterday, 09 Sept., Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde of Belgium and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden officially opened the exhibition “It’s our Earth 2. From Kyoto to Copenhagen” at Tour & Taxis in Brussels. This is the new edition of the exhibition “It’s our Earth”,  which focused on sustainable energy and development. Because of the great demand, the original exhibition was reopened, under the new name and with new emphasis on the influence of the human presence on the Earth, biodiversity, global warming and other contemporary issues.

The royals want to show their support for the efforts that are being undertaken to make people conscious of the need to change their habits, to counter global warming, climate change, and everything entailed in it.

In the afternoon, Prince Philippe and Princess Victoria attended the conference “Climate and Jobs – The EU’s Global Agenda”. The conference was organized by Sweden. The country is currently President of the Council of the European Union.

For more information on the exhibition, see here.
For pictures and a discussion of the visit, see here and here.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals, Swedish Royals Climate Change, Exhibition, Prince Philippe, Princess Mathilde, Princess Victoria

 Prince Philippe returned from his holiday in France to visit the nursing home which was struck by a terrible fire last Thursday evening. Nine of the residents died in the fire, which was probably caused by a short circuit in a television or an electrical fan. 

Click to see Belga picture gallery

First, the Prince went to the mortuary to greet the bodies of the nine victims. He sympathised with the families, who were also present. 

Prince Philippe also talked to the emergency services and the numerous volunteers, many of them neighbours of the nursing home, who had helped the residents to escape the fire. Special attention was given to two teenagers who happened to pass by, and who helped three of the elderly residents to a safer place.

The commander of the fire fighters explained that the visit of Prince Philippe was mostly a morale boost for his men. He explained that in such difficult times, with nine lives lost, it was good to see they were supported by the Royal family.

See here for a small article in English.
See here for a discussion of Prince Philippe’s activities.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Prince Philippe

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 to see full image at Belga

 Today, Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde kept a their yearly appointment with the press for a summer photo shoot with their family. This year, they took their children to an animal park called Parc Paradisio.

Princess Elisabeth, Prince Gabriel, Prince Emmanuel and Princess Eléonore enjoyed seeing the animals from close up, which of course brought about a load of cute pictures of the young Princes and Princesses with birds, monkeys and even a goat.

Click to see full image at Belga

Also, in line with tradition, the princely family was dressed similar: the two boys were wearing the same short trousers and sweaters, and the girls had T-shirts in the same pattern. Princess Mathilde and Prince Philippe were also wearing the same colours, which gives all pictures an extra touch of cuteness…

For the pictures and several film captions, please see here.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Photo Session, Prince Emmanuel, Prince Gabriel of Belgium, Prince Philippe, Princess Eléonore, Princess Elisabeth, Princess Mathilde

Click on image to see photo at Belga

  The last few days all member states of the European Union organised elections for the European parlament. Belgium’s royal family set a good example and all adult members of the royal family were pictured while visiting the polling stations. The duke and duchess of Brabant voted at a polling station in Laeken, as did princess Astrid, her husband Lorenz and their two eldest children prince Amedeo and princess Maria Laura. Prince Laurent and his wife princess Claire went to a polling station in Tervuren to vote.

Click on image to see photo at AP

The king and queen however were unable to vote, as the constitution prohibits that. Apart from elections for the European parlament the Belgians yesterday also voted for the regional parliaments. In Luxembourg Princess Alexandra and her brother prince Félix of Luxembourg went to the polling station in Luxembourg city. Click here to see a picture.

In Hungary archduke Georg and archduchess Eilika voted in Soskut, some 30 kms south of Budapest. The archduke is a member of the junior opposition conservative party, the Hungarian Democratic Forum. He was also one of their candidates for the European parlament, but according to the first reports his party did not get enough votes to get him there. In Turin, prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, son of the pretender to the Italian throne, voted for the first time in Italy. Like archduke Georg, Emanuele Filiberto tried to get elected into European parlament but failed. Click here to see a picture.

Marengo Austrian Royals, Belgian Royals, Italian Royals, Luxembourg Royals Archduchess Eilika, Archduke Georg, Elections, European Union, Prince Emanuele Filiberto, Prince Felix of Luxembourg, Prince Philippe, Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg, Princess Mathilde

 Today, June 7, is Election Day in Belgium. People have to elect representatives for the European Parliament and the regional Parliaments (Flemish, Wallonian, Brussels Parliaments). In Belgium, everybody is obliged to turn up at the polling station, even though we are not obliged to vote. But since we actually have to be there, most of us vote anyway. It would be quite the waste of your Sunday Morning, if you didn’t…

Click to see Belga gellery

The members of  the Belgian Royal family are not exempt from this civil duty, all have to come to one of the Laeken polling stations to vote. All except the King, who may choose not to vote, as he is supposed to be above politics. Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde enjoyed a lively chat at their polling station this morning.

For more information about Princess Mathilde and Prince Philippe, see this thread.
For more pictures, see this belga gallery.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Elections, European Union, Parliament, Prince Philippe, Princess Mathilde

In a new book about King Albert and Queen Paola and their 50-year long marriage, Belgian Royalty-watcher (and -presenter) Kathy Pauwels claims that Prince Philippe feels like his father does not prepare him enough for the throne. In neighbouring countries, we see the monarchs taking their heirs along when they have functions to perform, such as Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Prince Willem-Alexander, or Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince of Wales, but such combined outings of King Albert and Prince Philippe are pretty rare.

From the TRF avatar gallery

From the TRF avatar gallery

The Prince is also said to be unhappy with the influence the Cabinet Chef of the King has. It is also known that Prince Philippe had been prepared by his uncle Baudouin to follow in his footsteps, but after the unexpected death of the late King, it was not Philippe, but his father Albert who succeeded to the throne.

The troubled relationship between Albert and Philippe is no secret. It probably began in the earliest years of Philippe’s childhood, when there were very big relationship troubles between Albert and Paola.

Kathy Pauwels’ book will appear this weekend, it is entitled “Albert & Paola, 50 jaar lief en leed” (Albert & Paola, 50 years for better and for worse). It is only published in Dutch at first.

For more information about Prince Philippe, see this thread.
For more information about King Albert, see this thread.
For an articla bout this subject, see here for French and Dutch.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals King Albert II, Prince Philippe