Death of Queen Fabiola: December 5, 2014

[Dman]

Will there be Live Coverage?

[Iluvbertie]

It seems that it has been made known that Fabiola didn't want the big funeral so maybe the BRF are actually respecting her wishes by not attending. Charles and Anne had other commitments. William and Kate have just been to the US so will need a month or more to recover. The Queen doesn't normally attend funerals overseas.

[Hans-Rickard]

Well if that's true i hope they have a really good excuse for not being able to send even one member and send their ambassador alone. Scheduling conflicts can't be an issue when they have the biggest royal family and Kings, Queens,
Princes and Princess'es from much smaller royal families are able to reschedule their agendas to attend the funeral of a Dowager Queen Consort. But i'll wait for an actual confirmation.

Anyway i hope Her Majesty The Dowager Queen Consort of Belgium gets the send off she wanted. RIP Ma'am

[ROYAL NORWAY]

Originally Posted by Dman

Will there be Live Coverage?

Yes!

Live: Begrafenis koningin Fabiola | VTM NIEUWS

[leidi]

This is frankly inexcusable from the British Royal Family, it's not as if they are short on people!!

I don't think the Duke of Kent or Princess Alexandra for example would have refused to attend

[Lee-Z]

The important thing is that Q.Fabiola gets the funeral she wanted; the representative from Great-Brittain is just one guest, so will not be of influence on the tone or proceedings of the funeral

[cdm]

More about the funeral on this morning's news: the children of the royal family will read, bariton Jose Van Dam will sing (he sang at Filip and Mathilde's wedding), there will be Spanish music and there will be a 'surprise' at the end.

After the mass in the Cathedral of Brussels, she will be brought to the royal crypt in the church of Laken and be laid to rest next to her beloved husband.

[Moonmaiden23]

Originally Posted by Hans-Rickard

Well if that's true i hope they have a really good excuse for not being able to send even one member and send their ambassador alone. Scheduling conflicts can't be an issue when they have the biggest royal family and Kings, Queens,
Princes and Princess'es from much smaller royal families are able to reschedule their agendas to attend the funeral of a Dowager Queen Consort. But i'll wait for an actual confirmation.

Anyway i hope Her Majesty The Dowager Queen Consort of Belgium gets the send off she wanted. RIP Ma'am

The "grand legumes" as the late Comtesse de Paris used to refer to them, are going to be out in force-Juan Carlos, Sofia and perhaps their daughter-in-law Queen Letizia, the former Empress of Iran, and none other than her Imperial Majesty Michiko of Japan just to name a few. The Windsors will be conspicuous by their absence. Which will of course be duly noted by all the Royal press and online blogs.

I hope QEII at least took a moment to send her condolences to King Philippe and his family?

They might have a perfectly good reason for this, but there is no way to avoid the fact that it just isn't a good look on the part of the House of Windsor.

[PetticoatLane]

Originally Posted by Iluvbertie

It seems that it has been made known that Fabiola didn't want the big funeral so maybe the BRF are actually respecting her wishes by not attending. Charles and Anne had other commitments. William and Kate have just been to the US so will need a month or more to recover. The Queen doesn't normally attend funerals overseas.

How hilarious. FYI, William is unveiling a war memorial today.

[episcogal]

Originally Posted by cdm

More about the funeral on this morning's news: the children of the royal family will read, bariton Jose Van Dam will sing (he sang at Filip and Mathilde's wedding), there will be Spanish music and there will be a 'surprise' at the end.

After the mass in the Cathedral of Brussels, she will be brought to the royal crypt in the church of Laken and be laid to rest next to her beloved husband.

Perhaps that will be Will Tura, as I've read, singing "Hoop doet leven"

Very loosely (as in on-line translators) :

Hope springs eternal
hope and believe that
the fire will never go out

Perhaps one of our bi-lingual friends here will translate all the lyrics. If so, I can paste them here.

[Marengo]

Acording to the Belgian news, yesterday evening Queen Beatrix and Empress Michiko attended a wake at the palace. They also said that King Juan Carlos may have been there.

**
Fabiola's hairdresser was interviewed again. He says that she made him promise 'to make her pretty for the eternity':
http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/vi...optv/1.2178308

**
The funeral will be discussed here:
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...ml#post1729506

[episcogal]

VTM Niews live stream is up and running.

[Duc_et_Pair]

Originally Posted by ROYAL NORWAY

The British royal family will according to the Belgian media not attend the funeral of Queen Fabiola, but be represented by the British ambassador to Belgium.
I adore The Queen, and I like Charles, Camilla, William and Catherine, but this surprises me.
The British royal family has been present at every major royal funeral in the past 30 years.

Emperor Hirohito's funeral in 1989. The Duke of Edinburgh.
King Olav's funeral in 1991. Charles.
King Baudouin's funeral in 1993. The Queen.
Queen Ingrid's funeral in 2000. Charles.
Grand Duchess Josephine Charlotte's funeral in 2005. Andrew.
Prince Rainier's funeral in 2005. Andrew.

The funeral of HRH Prince Claus of the Netherlands in 2002: HRH The Prince of Wales (the Duke of Edinburgh was in Canada with the Queen)

The funeral of HM Queen Juliana of the Netherlands in 2004: HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

The funeral of HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands in 2004: HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

[Marengo]

The British non-attendance can be discussed here: http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...ml#post1729530 Posts from this thread about the Windsors will be moved to this thread in the next days.

The funeral can be discussed here: http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums...4-a-37788.html[/B]

[ROYAL NORWAY]

I thought of Queen Fabiola today and it irritates me that she was treated so badly the last two years. I get sad when I see the empty streets during the funeral, and let us admit that it was not just because of the weather.

[episcogal]

Received this information care of the Benelux Royals Message board:

Belgian mail has released a set of new stamps featuring the late Queen Fabiola. This very attractive series will be available from January 26 in the larger Post offices or via http://eshop.bpost.be/ & costs 7,20 euros.

[TLLK]

That series is beautiful.

[Duc_et_Pair]

These are nice post stamps indeed.

[melina premiere]

The stamps are very beautiful , and it is nice to see the former royal couple on some stamps. I like a lot.

[maria-olivia]

Black and White Stamps , lovely