Belgium's National Day 2005

[hillary_nugent]

wow thanks for the pics everyone...i agree with Danielle, the pictures of Albert and Poala holding hand is so cute...and Amadeo and Astrid smiling each other...you can really feel the love in this family ^___^

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

Photos of the Te Deum in Brussels.

Apart from the king & queen and queen Fabiola other 'special' guests were a delegation of the government and justice, NATO secretary-General De Hoop-Scheffer and president of the European Commission Barroso.

Also the foreign ambassadors.

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

photos from Seegerpress

[BeccaLynn07]

Originally Posted by Hannelore

About 30 min. ago Amedeo marched past the royal tribune in his regiment (the military parade is actually taking place). Astrid smiled when she saw him - very touching. Actually she looked a bit surprised as well. Of course she knew her son was going to march past but it must be a weird thing to see him all off a sudden...Amedeo coudn't suppress a little smile either when he walked past the royal tribune.

Again no Claire (or Laurent). I wonder why. This week she was still out and about looking for a new nanny but working (= sitting on a chair watching a parade) for her country is too much effort? Anyway, I don't know, maybe we'll still get to see her this evening or an explanaition will be given why she wasn't there :(

That's so sweet about Amedeo and Astrid! :) Any pictures of him yet?...I haven't seen any, but that could be me skimming over and missing it by mistake. :o

I wonder where Claire and Laurent are. Hopefully they are there this evening or like you said, there's some explaination...I think it's a little odd that they aren't there.

[Emily]

Thank you so much for the pictures! The color of QP and Mathilde's outfits this morning are beautiful -- so festive! And Astrid looked fantastic at the concert last night - hard to believe this woman has five children! And I agree with all the comments on the clothes -- what I enjoy most about the royal women is the intention and competence they bring to their jobs, the clothes are icing on the cake and recycling them is great; less wasteful. That said, I do enjoy looking at the clothes they wear - and especially this bunch of classy women.

[liv]

And here finally the first pic of Amedeo:

[liv]

some more of the royal family:

[mandyy]

Belgian Princess Mathilde, Queen Fabiola, Prince Philippe, Queen Paola, King Albert II, Interior Minister Patrick Dewael and Defence Minister Andre Flahaut listen to the national anthem at the end of a military parade in Brussels July 21, 2005. Belgium celebrates the 175th anniversary of its independence and the 25th anniversary of federalism in the country.
Photos from reuters

[mandyy]

and more photos from reuters

[selminha]

The picture are so beautiful!:)

[mandyy]

#1,2 from Reuters
#3: AAP image
#1,3:Belgian Princess Astrid (L) talks to her son, Prince Joachim, during the military parade in Brussels July 21, 2005.
#2: Belgian Prince Amadeo (C), the son of Prince Lorenz and Princess Astrid, walks with fellow students of the Royal Military School during the military parade in Brussels July 21, 2005.

[mandyy]

Photo from HELLO website

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

Photos of the military parade. Mathilde sat down most of the time, except when the war veterans walked past. A beautiful sign of respect, she clapped for them as well.

It's the last time the war veterans (WWII, Corea, survivors of the concentration camps) participated in the parade, since they're all at least 80 years old. From next year on, they will get a place on the tribunes.

More than 100.000 people had come to watch the parade.

[Emily]

Loving all the photos! Thanks for all your work posting and keep 'em coming!

[mandyy]

More photos from Newscom

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

gettyimages

[Emily]

Catherine,
Do you have any idea why Claire isn't present? Do you think it has to do with being pregnant with twins (understandable) or do rumors persist that she is unhappy in the marriage? Just curious.

[GrandDuchess]

Smashing pictures, thanks everyone for the posting efforts!

It seemed like a nice National Day, and they all looked dashing! Perhaps the green isn't Queen Paola's best colour, and a tad too strong (just my humble opinion). We don't get to see a Queen sit like this every day... And I must agree with all of you, it's amazing that Princess Astrid has had so many children and still she looks marvelous, like a 20 year old (or something)!

[Cathérine Bergeyck]

from Polfoto

[KikkiB]

Originally Posted by Mette2

Please don't get me wrong KikkiB, I too think it's great when the royals re-use their outfits, and I haven't got a problem with that at all.:) Yes, bringing focus to an important issue is definitely more important than the clothes they're wearing, and I don't expect royals to wear something new everytime. I just always look forward to seeing what the royals are wearing - it's exciting, so when they wear something they've worn before it's like: "Oh, I've already seen that before, but it's still great.:)" Don't know if that makes sense, but that's just what it sounds like in my head. Not always easy to put you voice on paper, or in this case the internet.

I quite understand your point of view :) I know that many of the members of this forum are more interested in fashion than I am, and that is quite ok. I am on this forum because I am interested in royals in a historical perspective and also how they contribute to the society by bringing focus on important issues. And the members on this forum do have different intrests, it's just that I felt that it has been a big focus on what the royals wear lately, so I thought I'd speak my mind :) I do respect the different views and interests of my fellow members, so I am sorry if my post annoyed someone, it wasn't my intention, I just had to get it out :)

This post is sort of misplaced in this thread so if someone wish to respond to it please PM me.