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

Yesterday Queen Paola of the Belgians took four of her grand children to the circus Bouglione  (near the Anatomium) in Brussels to celebrate the 50th anniversary of “L’Oeuvre des Berceaux Princesse Paola / Het Werk Der Wiegjes Prinses Paola” .

Click on image to see photo at Zimbio

The queen, accompanied by her daughter princess Astrid and her daughter-in-law princess Claire took four of her grand children along: princess Laeticia Marie (daughter of princess Astrid) and princess Louise, prince Aymeric and prince Nicholas (children of prince Laurent and princess Claire. Apart from the royals many other attended the special show,. For the event 1000 children from underpriviledged families were invited.

L’Oeuvre des Berceaux Princesse Paola (the work of the cradles of princess Paola) was founded in 1876. The original name of the charity was ‘the foundation of the blacks’. In order to raise money and save the nursery, a group of well-off gentlemen decided to create ‘African Academy’; they disguised themselves as black people to avoid recognition in restaurants they frequented as clients. They blackened their faces and put on costumes of white top hat, a black coat and bright-coloured baggy trousers. The ‘Academy’ was very successful and raised enough money to save the nursery. Over the years, raising money for charity in this way has become one of the finest (and funniest) folklore traditions of Brussels.

Click on image to see photo at gva.be

In 1959, shortly after her marriage, Princess Paola accepted the post of Honorary President of the “African Academy”, which was re-named “L’Oeuvre des Berceaux Princesse Paola”. The foundation helps children from underprivileged environment; the help manifests itself in covering medical expenses, acquiring necessary food, clothing, school supplies, etc.

A gallery of pictures is available at the website of the Gazet van Antwerpen, click here. A thread about the current events of the Belgian royal family an be found here.

Marengo Belgian Royals Circus, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Princess Claire, Queen Paola

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, Mass, Pope Benedict XVI, Queen Paola, Vatican City

 Don Fulco Ruffo di Calabria, the father of Queen Paola of The Belgians is making headlines in Belgium due to a book by Prof. Mark Van den Wijngaert, journalist Misjoe Verleyen and Lieve Beullens, that will be published this week. In the book ‘Vrouwen naast de troon’  the authors ‘reveal’ that Paola’s father was a senator from 1934 till 1944, during the time Mussolini’s fascist party was in power. Don Fulco, who was a hero from WWI, was put on trial in 1945 and found guilty for co-responsibility for the crimes of Fascism.

Click on image to see picture at finn.it

The authors presented this ‘revelation’ as big news, and they claim that it was never mentioned before in official biographies. Dutch royalty blog ‘royalblog’ however quickly pointed out that the 1999 biography of Queen paola by mario Danneels already mentions that her father was a senator during this period, as do Italian online biographies about the prince. He was named a senator by kign Vittorrio Emanuele III of Italy in 1934, the king already elevated him to the princely rank years earlier.

However, the Belgian newspaper now claim that the prince wass a senator for the fascist party and a great supporter of Mussolini. Thus far no evidence of this has been presented anywhere in the press and the authors of the book never said this in interviews either. Still, theyw ill be happy about the headlines, as most people in Belgium will know that their new book will be available for sale this week.

Marengo Belgian Royals Books, In-Laws, 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, Prince Laurent, Prince Lorenz, Prince Philippe, Princess Astrid of Belgium, Princess Claire, Princess Maria Laura, Princess Mathilde, Queen Paola

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, Mass, Queen Paola

The controversy surrounding the purchase of a new yacht by the Belgian King and Queen continues. Public opinion cries out injustice about this luxury expense in times of economic hardship, as this purchase shook up especially the southern part of the country.

RTBF journalist Cristophe Deborsu, the same journalist who asked former Prime Minister Yves Leterme to sing the Brabançonne but got the Marseillaise in return, pulled another stunt interview. During the celebrations of the golden wedding anniversary of the King and Queen on 30 August, he approached the King and Queen, accompanied by a camera crew, and simply asked them if they felt affected by the controversy surrounding their yacht purchase.

Click to see full image at Zimbio

While the King dutifully ignored the question and his bodyguards tried to get the journalists out of hte way, the Queen responded to the question anyway. “Of course we feel the criticism is not fair. We’ve always had a yacht, since our marriage, so for the past 50 years. We started out with a small boat of about 2  – no 5 meter”.

By then, the bodyguards had succeeded in getting the journalists out of the way. Palace spokesman Pierre-Emmanuel De Bauw said in a statement that he was very dissapointed with the RTBF journalist. He stated that it had been explicitly forbidden to pose any questions to the King and Queen while microphones were in front of them, as is standard following Belgian protocol rules. This breach of protocol,  according to the spokesman, is clearly a problem of deontology.

For an article, see here (French).

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Finances, Queen Paola, Yachts

On 30 August, the Belgian King and Queen hosted a garden party to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. At the same time, the wedding anniversaries of the other Belgian royals were commemorated, as this year is also the silver wedding anniversary of Princess Astrid and Prince Lorenz, as well as the 10th wedding anniversary for Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde, and the 6th wedding anniversary for Prince Laurent and Princess Claire.

Click to see full image at Zimbio

To celebrate all these festivities, the royals organized a garden party on the grounds of the Palace of Laeken, where the guests could wander around, meeting the royals and enjoying the entertainment. Many of the guests were couples with the same wedding date as one of the royal couples.

The festivities, however, were overshadowed by an accident. Two carriages collided after one horse was stung by an insect and the driver could not regain control. The people sitting in the carriages were flung out and got injured. Two were only lightly injured, but two others more severely, probably having broken bones. First aid was provided by the military medics who were on stand-by, and the injured were quickly transported to a hospital to receive further care. The festivities were not interrupted, but in a public statement, Palace officials said they regretted the accident deeply.

See here for an article.
See here for the thread about the wedding anniversaries festivities.

LadyLeana Belgian Royals Garden Party, Queen Paola, Wedding Anniversary

 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 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, Prince Laurent, Queen Paola