Paola, côté jardin - Interview with Queen Paola; Feb. 2022

[JR76]

what reasons really? THey were unhappy themselves, I suppose but even so, it seems there was a level of ignoring the children that wasn't just bad moods here and there.

I agree. There's no excuse for abandoning (physically or emotionally) your children for whatever reason.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

the children have clearly made an effort to forgive their parents and the parents I assume are trying to do better.
Philip was indeed an insenstive father to Charles at least, in many ways. But I have never heard any story that the queen's children were left alone at Christmas so that servants ended up taking them home for some kind of care.

There are always at least a two dozen of staff at the Royal Romain of Laeken (Albert & Paola's Château du Belvédère is located opposite Baudouin & Fabiola's Château de Laeken). The story that Philippe, Astrid and Laurent were left alone at the Belvédère until a member of the Household saw these and decided to took them under his/her wing is most unlikely.

One only needs to watch Downton Abbey to see the dynamics in a big house with staff all and everywhere. That three princes were left alone, no matter the security, or the master of the house (domus maior) of service or the maids, is most unlikely indeed.

 

[Marchesina]

There are always at least a two dozen of staff at the Royal Romain of Laeken (Albert & Paola's Château du Belvédère is located opposite Baudouoin & Fabiola's Château de Laeken). The story that Philippe, Astrid and Laurent were left alone at the Belvédère until a member of the Household saw these and decided to took them under his/her wing is most unlikely.

One only needs to watch Downton Abbey to see the dynamics in a big house with staff all and everywhere. That three princes were left alone, no matter the security, or the master of the house (domus maior) of service or the maids, is most unlikely indeed.

Not physically alone, but being left alone with the staff only on Christmas day may be hard for the kids and that guy felt like taking them home to play with his kids.

To be honest, knowing what kind of parents they were, I find it very likely instead that they felt ok leaving the kids alone at home on Christmas day because they had staff at home caring for them.

 

[RosieStroud]

what reasons really? THey were unhappy themselves, I suppose but even so, it seems there was a level of ignoring the children that wasn't just bad moods here and there. When told that his child might get sick if he was not more affectionate with him, Albert just walked away.

Is it significant that Philippe ended up marrying some who had studied psychology?!

 

[Denville]

Not physically alone, but being left alone with the staff only on Christmas day may be hard for the kids and that guy felt like taking them home to play with his kids.

To be honest, knowing what kind of parents they were, I find it very likely instead that they felt ok leaving the kids alone at home on Christmas day because they had staff at home caring for them.

Of course they were not left physically alone... but I think you're right that it seems quite possible that A and Paola did think it was Ok to leave them with th servants and not make any better arrangements for Christmas

 

[An Ard Ri]

Obviously they were but it beggars belief IMO that the 3 children were left alone by Alber and Paola at Xmas.. and youd think that Baud and Fabiola would have them to stay

Truly shocking but perhaps the king and queen were unaware and on holidays when it happened?

 

[Denville]

At Christmas? Seems more likely that they would be celebrating at home.. . tho I dont know how the Belgian royals spend Christmas.

 

[Prinsara]

Is it significant that Philippe ended up marrying some who had studied psychology?!

Or that she’s a speech therapist? No, not surprising. Mathilde also seems like a particularly soothing and gentle person.

what reasons really? THey were unhappy themselves, I suppose but even so, it seems there was a level of ignoring the children that wasn't just bad moods here and there. When told that his child might get sick if he was not more affectionate with him, Albert just walked away.

Albert is from a rather significantly traumatic background, from the time he was less than eighteen months old. It does affect your ability to make better choices, especially if you never deal with it and just try to ignore it and go on. (Before anyone says “well Baudouin and Josephine-Charlotte didn’t behave that way”, they were older when their mother was killed and during the war, and it did affect them, just differently.)

Paola losing her own father at a very young age probably has something to do with it, too.

They are reasons and explanations, not excuses. Two different things.

 

[An Ard Ri]

At Christmas? Seems more likely that they would be celebrating at home.. . tho I dont know how the Belgian royals spend Christmas.

The king and queen had a holiday home in Spain they could have spent Christmas there with Fabiola's family.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Truly shocking but perhaps the king and queen were unaware and on holidays when it happened?

My understanding of this heartbreaking story-and I have read it many times from more than one source-is that Baudouin and Fabiola were not spending Christmas at Laeken that year. I don't remember if they were in Spain with the Mora y Aragon or if they had gone to Switzerland but they had left Belgium in anticipation of spending the holidays elsewhere, and this was not unusual for them.

But I agree that with everything we know about them it is HIGHLY unlikely that the king and queen would have countenanced leaving those children to the servants at Christmas.

It's one of the saddest and most shocking stories I have ever heard about any modern Royal family.

 

[An Ard Ri]

It's one of the saddest and most shocking stories I have ever heard about any modern Royal family.

Utterly shocking and very sad for the 3 children at Christmas time!

 

[Prinsara]

“Well, kids, what do you want for Christmas?” “Parental abandonment.”

We keep defining the things in the BRF that aren’t normal by any parameters, and this is one of them.

However physically safe they were, they were clearly unhappy enough for the kind staff member to not only offer to take them, but for the kids to accept. It’s not like they were thrilled without their parents and running around. (Even in “Home Alone”, Kevin only does that for an hour or so and then gets very sad he’s been left.)

It’s one of those situations where you wish you could time travel and give them hugs (although I’d give a hug to young Albert, Baudouin, and Josephine-Charlotte as well).

 

[Moonmaiden23]

I hope their parents at least left gifts for them to open.

 

[cdm]

The documentary aired last night.

This seemed to me as the last chapter of Paola giving insights in her live as a Belgian royal through interviews.

I particularly liked that we got to see her 3 beautiful residences and gardens. She does have great taste IMO.

 

[Mbruno]

The documentary aired last night.

This seemed to me as the last chapter of Paola giving insights in her live as a Belgian royal through interviews.

I particularly liked that we got to see her 3 beautiful residences and gardens. She does have great taste IMO.

Is there any way to watch the documentary outside Belgium (or outside Europe for that matter)?

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

The documentary aired last night.

This seemed to me as the last chapter of Paola giving insights in her live as a Belgian royal through interviews.

I particularly liked that we got to see her 3 beautiful residences and gardens. She does have great taste IMO.

I haven't seen it yet. I assume the three residences were the Château du Belvédère (Brussels), the former presbytère in Villers-sur-Lesse (Namur, Belgium) and their villa Le Romarin in Châteauneuf-de-Grasse (near Nice, France)?

Near Villers-sur-Lesse are also the Château & Manoir Jaune and the Château de Ciergnon but I believe these are not used by King Albert and Queen Paola.

 

[cdm]

Yes indeed. The presbytere was renovated with natural materials à l’ancienne.

Eén broadcasts it on Sunday.
I don’t think the online apps of Vrt or Rtbf are available abroad.

 

[Marengo]

If people have VPN they could get around it but otherwise it is difficult indeed.

The documentary aired last night.

This seemed to me as the last chapter of Paola giving insights in her live as a Belgian royal through interviews.

I particularly liked that we got to see her 3 beautiful residences and gardens. She does have great taste IMO.

Indeed she does. All gardens were exceptional and the interiors were very tasteful. She herself commented on it, something along the lines of: what good is a beautiful Louis XV cupboard if the house does not have any atmosphere? She clearly loves gardening and we even saw her with a toolkit going out into the garden.

Princess Astrid got emotional while talking about her mother and Pss Claire clearly has a great bond with her, even enjoying to tease a little here and there.

I liked the images of the grandchildren & Elisabetta together, for example playing pétanque in France. And there was a [very] short clip of them attending a mass in the garden of their French house with several grandchildren.

 

[leidi]

Are we allowed to upload some screencaptures if they are in links?

 

[maria-olivia]

We belgians are so grateful to Nicolas Delvaulx .
He showed Donna/Princess/Queen Paola with honesty, authenticity , vulnerabilty, sincererity and such lot of sweetness and hope in her old days.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

In De Morgen the author Mario Danneels told that Paola did not want to go down in history as the unloved and unpopular Queen. There has been a documentary in three parts on King Philippe in which Queen Paola was portrayed as a cold and distant mother. In the recent documentary about Delphine more or less the proud Italian nonna, the chef of the famiglia, was a big blockade towards "accepting" Delphine.

This was highlighted with the unlucky photo in which Queen Paola had her bag around her neck, as if she was scared it would be stolen. In reality Queen Paola has already welcomed James O'Hare and Delphine's children.

Mario Danneels claims the documentary Paola, côte jardin confirms the idea he had about Queen Paola. He has never spoken her but interviewed around 60 people, what he has seen was in accordance with the image he had in his head.

Mario Danneels told that Queen Paola was reluctant to become Queen in the first place. When she was one of Europe's most stunningly beautiful princesses (picture), she was always hunted by paparazzi, even with extreme intrusions that Prince Albert almost had to engage in fights to set his beleaguered Paola free.

When King Baudouin died, Princess Paola was dreading the history would repeat: never a moment for herself, always the paparazzi outside.

Mario Danneels also told Paola was a "victim" of her "Italian spontaneity" while Albert was through-and-through kneaded in "typically Belgian" pretending. He gave the example of Albert and Paola visiting Les Marolles (a neglected neighbourhood in Brussels) and there, on market, a lady offered escargots (snails). While Albert ate these snails, Paola honestly reacted to the lady offering the snails "Oh no, how disgusting!". Probably this did not always helped Paola.

Mario Danneels claims that after the more political Queen Elizabeth, Queen Fabiola took the monarchy to a more serious and religious side. Queen Paola on her turn had an eye for how the monarchy presented itself. She saw neglected palaces, sloppy workings, and made sure that the monarchy became more "presentable" with tasteful surroundings.

According to Mario Danneels especially the relationship with King Philippe has vastly improved. There is a real love between Paola and Philippe. But first and foremost, Paola is a deeply beloved nonna for her grandchildren.

Source: https://www.demorgen.be/nieuws/biog...na-op-de-vuist-ging-met-fotografen~b7c6ef2a0/

 

[maria-olivia]

Thank you Duke to share the article of th Dutch newspaper Morgen as I have only french newspapers. This evening on Dutch TV EEN at 21 h 30

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Snails! I would have reacted the same way as poor Paola. I love French cuisine, but no escargots

Ever.

 

[Denville]

Snails! I would have reacted the same way as poor Paola. I love French cuisine, but no escargots

Ever.

You can't do that if you are royal. You dont have to eat the snails but you react politely and refuse them politely

 

[Moonmaiden23]

You have a point, I agree. Paola being a young, "spontaneous" woman not trained in the Royal way to decline simply didn't know any better.

 

[Mbruno]

In De Morgen the author Mario Danneels told that Paola did not want to go down in history as the unloved and unpopular Queen. There has been a documentary in three parts on King Philippe in which Queen Paola was portrayed as a cold and distant mother. In the recent documentary about Delphine more or less the proud Italian nonna, the chef of the famiglia, was a big blockade towards "accepting" Delphine.

This was highlighted with the unlucky photo in which Queen Paola had her bag around her neck, as if she was scared it would be stolen. In reality Queen Paola has already welcomed James O'Hare and Delphine's children.

Mario Danneels claims the documentary Paola, côte jardin confirms the idea he had about Queen Paola. He has never spoken her but interviewed around 60 people, what he has seen was in accordance with the image he had in his head.

Mario Danneels told that Queen Paola was reluctant to become Queen in the first place. When she was one of Europe's most stunningly beautiful princesses (picture), she was always hunted by paparazzi, even with extreme intrusions that Prince Albert almost had to engage in fights to set his beleaguered Paola free.

When King Baudouin died, Princess Paola was dreading the history would repeat: never a moment for herself, always the paparazzi outside.

Mario Danneels also told Paola was a "victim" of her "Italian spontaneity" while Albert was through-and-through kneaded in "typically Belgian" pretending. He gave the example of Albert and Paola visiting Les Marolles (a neglected neighbourhood in Brussels) and there, on market, a lady offered escargots (snails). While Albert ate these snails, Paola honestly reacted to the lady offering the snails "Oh no, how disgusting!". Probably this did not always helped Paola.

Mario Danneels claims that after the more political Queen Elizabeth, Queen Fabiola took the monarchy to a more serious and religious side. Queen Paola on her turn had an eye for how the monarchy presented itself. She saw neglected palaces, sloppy workings, and made sure that the monarchy became more "presentable" with tasteful surroundings.

According to Mario Danneels especially the relationship with King Philippe has vastly improved. There is a real love between Paola and Philippe. But first and foremost, Paola is a deeply beloved nonna for her grandchildren.

Source: https://www.demorgen.be/nieuws/biog...na-op-de-vuist-ging-met-fotografen~b7c6ef2a0/

That is again one of the points I don't get and seems contradictory to me. On one hand, we keep hearing how horrible Albert and Paola were as parents, how they neglected (or even abandoned) their children, etc. etc. However, at the same time, we also keep hearing now how Astrid and Claire greatly admire Paola, how there is "real love" between her and Philippe, how she is loved by her grandchildren, and so on, so forth.

So that goes back to my original point in this thread. Whatever may have happened in the past, it looks like the family put it behind and Albert and Paola had a happy ending after all.

If you allow me some indiscretion though, it appears to me that the only person Paola hasn't come to terms with is Queen Mathilde as it doesn't seem to me that they have a good relationship, but maybe that is just my impression.

 

[leidi]

That is again one of the points I don't get and seems contradictory to me. On one hand, we keep hearing how horrible Albert and Paola were as parents, how they neglected (or even abandoned) their children, etc. etc. However, at the same time, we also keep hearing now how Astrid and Claire greatly admire Paola, how there is "real love" between her and Philippe, how she is loved by her grandchildren, and so on, so forth.

So that goes back to my original point in this thread. Whatever may have happened in the past, it looks like the family put it behind and Albert and Paola had a happy ending after all.

If you allow me some indiscretion though, it appears to me that the only person Paola hasn't come to terms with is Queen Mathilde as it doesn't seem to me that they have a good relationship, but maybe that is just my impression.

I think it's a credit to Philippe, Astrid and Laurent, because even if they don't have a good relationship with their parents, they didn't allow their issues to become "hereditary" so to speak, they always allowed A&P unfettered access to their grandchildren and that went a long way to fix the family relationship.

Laurent for example is the one that is less close to his parents in terms of a "loving" relationship but he has always allowed his kids to be close to A&P, whom they love very much.

I believe the three siblings chose to take the high road once they had children of their own and they have all been great parents to their own kids, so they wanted the best for them, including having a loving relationship with their grandparents.

 

[Princess_Eleanor]

That is again one of the points I don't get and seems contradictory to me. On one hand, we keep hearing how horrible Albert and Paola were as parents, how they neglected (or even abandoned) their children, etc. etc. However, at the same time, we also keep hearing now how Astrid and Claire greatly admire Paola, how there is "real love" between her and Philippe, how she is loved by her grandchildren, and so on, so forth.

So that goes back to my original point in this thread. Whatever may have happened in the past, it looks like the family put it behind and Albert and Paola had a happy ending after all.

If you allow me some indiscretion though, it appears to me that the only person Paola hasn't come to terms with is Queen Mathilde as it doesn't seem to me that they have a good relationship, but maybe that is just my impression.

Having watched the documentary, the relationships between Paola + children/ children-in-law that seem the closest are indeed those with Astrid and Claire.

Astrid clearly wanted to use her interview to make a big declaration of love to her mother, which was very sweet really. Out of the 3 children, it seems to me that Astrid is the one who has 100% forgiven her parents. Though everyone seems to have made peace with the situation and apparently everyone is making an effort (which is why it seems to be working).

I don't know about Laurent, but he doesn't say anything negative in this documentary. What's for sure is that he goes to his parents' house in Southern France with his wife and children. Claire + children also appear to visit the grandparents without Laurent at times; for instance Claire and Louise are shown visiting Paola & Albert at their country house in the Ardennes (I believe that's where it is? Anybody feel free to correct me if I got it wrong.) and going for a walk together.

Paola and Albert appear to be very close to Louise and the twins. As I said, they are shown on holiday with them in Southern France, on a walk in Belgium, on one occasion Albert and Louise are standing back to back, comparing who is taller (Albert is still 2mm taller, according to Paola ).

The relationship between Paola & Mathilde does not look bad in the documentary, it's just that Claire and Paola seem particularly close. Like Queen Elizabeth/Sophie close, which is not always the case between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, so it doesn't necessarily mean it's bad. I don't know.
To me, Mathilde seems very nice towards Paola, smiling and laughing when there are scenes with Albert, Paola, Philippe and Mathilde, as well as the 4 of them plus Elisabeth & Eleonore. Now would Mathilde go visit them without Philippe as Claire does? Maybe not, but I really don't know.

Claire is the only of the 3 children-in-law who gives an interview about Paola. She describes Paola as an Italian grandma, who is always trying to gather the family and have a meal together (which, among other things in the documentary, shows that Paola truly has changed her behavior).

Though not all grandchildren appear in the documentary, I think it's clear that Paola is very invested in having a good relationship with all of them, and it seems to have worked.

 

[muriel]

It all seems like things really were very difficult in the 1970s and 1980s, but are substantially better since. I am still not sure why the BRF agreed ot be part of the documentary at all.

 

[maria-olivia]

Why critics if you don't see the film ?? I saw it twice the second with the Dutch translation. I liked it twice .