King Albert and Queen Paola: Picture Thread

[maria-olivia]

Each time Queen Paola went to a State Visit she wore their Order she received.

 

[Somebody]

Each time Queen Paola went to a State Visit she wore their Order she received.

And rightly so as that is what a queen (and anyone else receiving such an honor) is supposed to do according to protocol. However, you suggested that Mathilde is not doing that. Can you give specific examples of state visits that Philip and Mathilde made in which they received (or already had) a foreign order but decided to wear a Belgian order instead? I am still looking for examples.

The only state visit I came across in which Philip and Mathilde were wearing Belgian orders was the recent incoming state visit by Switzerland when the guests did not wear any orders, so apparently, no orders were exchanged (which is extremely rare - so, if Paola had still be queen, she would have done the same as Mathilde and wore her highest Belgian order).

Next to the previous example in Denmark, she also wore her highest Dutch decoration (not her Belgian) when visiting the Netherlands.

 

[JR76]

The only state visit I came across in which Philip and Mathilde were wearing Belgian orders was the recent incoming state visit by Switzerland when the guests did not wear any orders, so apparently, no orders were exchanged (which is extremely rare - so, if Paola had still be queen, she would have done the same as Mathilde and wore her highest Belgian order).

To my knowledge Switzerland doesn't have any orders

 

[Somebody]

To my knowledge Switzerland doesn't have any orders

Thanks, I didn't know that but that would fully explain what happened here.

 

[Stefan]

As far as i recall Queen Fabiola never wore orders, neither the belgian order of Leopold or foreign Orders. Don't know if she not accepted them or simply not wore them. She only wore a papal order

 

[maria-olivia]

You are right , I read a long article. Queen Fabiola ( Madame) said : Decorations are for Kings which occured many diplomatic incidents.

On the first Official Picture Queen Paola ( Madame) did not wear the Sash of the Order of leopold she received. Why ?

Queen Mathilde ( Majesté )wore it on her first official Pictures . She wore the Leopold Sash for the late King of Thailand Funerals because she had no Thai décorations.
I never said that she wore the belgian Sash instead of the Sash of the Country who invited her !

 

[Linda_26]

A few nice pictures of them in recent years (after Albert's abdication) from their Christmas Cards:
https://images.app.goo.gl/KpDxmZvN7dQ2wGvq7 their 2013 Christmas Card, with a relaxed picture taken ìn St. Tropez
https://images.app.goo.gl/NULsB4hiPwdMpoeu9 the 2016 Christmas Card, featuring their first great-grandchild, Anna Astrid, who was born in May 2016
https://images.app.goo.gl/nCt6xSte2eusoPGS9 and one of my favourite of them, which was their 2017 Christmas Card. Queen Mathilde has this picture of her parents-in-law in her office, and she showed it during her inteview for her 50th birthday earlier this year

 

[Adda]

Great finds, Linda! Wish I could see a photo of Tino&Lita™ with little Maximilian.

I've always liked this photo:
https://media.gettyimages.com/id/50...=Vvg00WgIURum-GMlMqOpAMmnAkYTkTRPHjXy7QoZSRI=

Edit: just found these photos of the early years of A&P's marriage.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CwCm9XOM-y5/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

 

[Linda_26]

Great finds, Linda! Wish I could see a photo of Tino&Lita™ with little Maximilian.

I've always liked this photo:
https://media.gettyimages.com/id/50...=Vvg00WgIURum-GMlMqOpAMmnAkYTkTRPHjXy7QoZSRI=

Edit: just found these photos of the early years of A&P's marriage.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CwCm9XOM-y5/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I also like very much the picture with the grandchildren, Louise was so little and cute, and Amedeo very handsome! I'd like to see a picture of them with Maximilian as well, we've seen so very little of him.
Thanks fot the pictures from the early years, here's another one I like (probably from the early 1960s)
https://pin.it/38sx1oa

 

[leidi]

I also like very much the picture with the grandchildren, Louise was so little and cute, and Amedeo very handsome! I'd like to see a picture of them with Maximilian as well, we've seen so very little of him.
Thanks fot the pictures from the early years, here's another one I like (probably from the early 1960s)
https://pin.it/38sx1oa

That pic is so cool, I've always thought they looked like movie stars!

 

[Linda_26]

That pic is so cool, I've always thought they looked like movie stars!

My thoughts exactly, they really do!

 

[hereditarytitles]

My thoughts exactly, they really do!

Paola especially was a beauty and there were many pictures of her in German tabloids when she was young.
Too bad that their marriage didn't work and both of them having extramarital affairs caused quite some scandals.

But, they never really separated and are still together in old age.

 

[Linda_26]

Paola especially was a beauty and there were many pictures of her in German tabloids when she was young.
Too bad that their marriage didn't work and both of them having extramarital affairs caused quite some scandals.

But, they never really separated and are still together in old age.

Paola definitely was one of the most beautiful princesses of her generation, she was constantly featured in tabloids all over Europe (and she didn't enjoy all that attention, as she's revealed).
As for their marriage, the years of their estrangement were extremely bad and difficult for them and for their children, that's a given, and they've been fairly open about it. But in the end it's rather fascinating, at least to me, how they managed to find each other again, long before Albert's unexpected kingship, and to be a devoted couple since their "remarriage" (which actually happened, as they revealead in a tv interview) in the 1980s. It's evident how close they are, and they would be completely lost without each other imo.
I remember King Philippe in the documentary about his mother saying to his parents "I know you've always loved each other, even when it was difficult", which maybe is a bit of a stretch, but still it was a nice thing to hear

A few more pictures I've found on Pinterest:
https://pin.it/5KOFmR3 an image from the 1980s
https://pin.it/1GldRuc in 1984, at Astrid and Lorenz's engagement, with King Baudouin
https://pin.it/1amot57 with their daughter and newborn granddaughter Maria Laura, in August 1988
https://pin.it/6v3AKkC in Grasse, 1994
https://pin.it/5FPKkDx Albert celebrating 10 years as King (2003)

 

[Linda_26]

A picture of Paola I had never seen before, from 1989

https://twitter.com/x/status/1701112926008987814

And, in honor of her 86th brithday today, some pictures of Paola throughout the years:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CxCkworo71M/?igshid=NjIwNzIyMDk2Mg==

 

[Adda]

La più bella

 

[An Ard Ri]

A picture of Paola I had never seen before, from 1989

https://twitter.com/x/status/1701112926008987814

And, in honor of her 86th brithday today, some pictures of Paola throughout the years:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CxCkworo71M/?igshid=NjIwNzIyMDk2Mg==

What a wonderful gallery to mark Queen Paola's birthday!

 

[Adda]

I think I've found my favourite photo of Tino&Lina™

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/714313190914995851/

 

[Linda_26]

I think I've found my favourite photo of Tino&Lina™

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/714313190914995851/

Thanks for sharing! It's indeed a lovely picture

Another one I like from the early days:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjsipomhQYe/?igshid=NjIwNzIyMDk2Mg==
It's probably more "famous", and if I'm not wrong it was taken a few days before their wedding, when Paola arrived in Belgium

 

[Adda]

Some fabulous looks from Queen Paola. Hopefully those two iconic white frocks have been carefully preserved. I can visualize Eléonore wearing them.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CxIR1JSPXUn/?igshid=NzZhOTFlYzFmZQ==

 

[Linda_26]

A recent picture of Paola, taken a few days ago in Villers-sur-Lesse, where Albert and Paola bought a vicarage some years ago, which will eventually go to Prince Laurent's children.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=6677803528934650&id=100001152060148

The woman with her is her (former) sister-in-law, first wife of Paola's late brother Antonello, Rosemarie Tasca, who's from a Sicilian noble family of famous wine producers

 

[Prinsara]

Thanks fot the pictures from the early years, here's another one I like (probably from the early 1960s)
https://pin.it/38sx1oa

I've never seen so much of a resemblance to her daughter before.

 

[Linda_26]

I've never seen so much of a resemblance to her daughter before.

In this picture you can indeed see a resemblance to her daughter. Astrid, to me, in her younger years looked mostly like Albert, but growing older she resembles more her mother's side of the family. In particular, there's a maternal first cousin of Astrid, Giovanna San Martino D'aglié (daughter of Paola's eldest sister Maria Cristina), who looks a lot like her.
She's the woman in the middle of this picture:

https://images.app.goo.gl/QDP4MVq58A7xcczX9

 

[Linda_26]

A couple of pictures of a very young Paola:

https://pin.it/L8VHYsZ2j

https://pin.it/1RCb8TiyM

 

[Adda]

I had recently come across the first photo as well, and it shocked me because I never understood why people said Elisabeth resembled her grandmother...until I saw that photo. Wow, doesn't she just! A very unaffected beauty.