Funeral of Queen Fabiola: December 12, 2014

[Blue_]

On the video here ,Queen Fabiola is explaining she brought a statue of Mother Mary that she and King Baudouin recieved for their marriage. She wanted to have it next to their tomb when she died.
I think it's a really beautiful symbol

 

[Marengo]

This is the second time in 24 hours that this thread had to be closed due to an argument between exactly the same posters. Perhaps you can give each other your email adresses and continue this fight in private.

Please report posts that you find offensive by clicking the report button. Do NOT start a fight.

This thread has been cleaned up and re-opened. Various posts have been deleted.

 

[TLLK]

True. It also happened at the wedding of Prince Albert of Monaco with Ms Wittstock: relatives reading the prayers of the faithful. It happens at most royal weddings or funerals by the way, both Catholic and Protestant.

I hadn't realized that the couple had their family members read the prayers of the faithful at their wedding.

BTW I know that Prince Laurent's thumbs up gesture prompted many posts, but as a parent I've done the same after my own daughter read all of the prayers of the faithful at Mass.

 

[MARG]

Laurent is Laurent. As only one wearing a blue suit, switching for sunglasses inside a church, making weird gestures, forgetting to bow to his late aunt. I think hopes have been given up.

I think if you look carefully you will see a number of 'blue' suits. You will also see a number of dark blue/black. The colours differ with the lighting. At one stage I thought that King Philippe, the GD and the HGD were all wearing dark blue with black coats. In a photo taken outside the Cathedral, Philppe and Laurant were talking with GD Therese and the suit jacket under Philippe's coat looked distinctly blue against the black of his coat.

As to Laurant's glasses, are they prescription lenses? I ask because he always seems to wear them. And the "wierd" gestures have been explained so many times . . . and as to bowing to his late aunt, I just watched that again and immediatly after the King Philippe's children the cameras cut away so I really don't know where that comes from.

I think, regardless of the colour of his suit, Laurant was as respectful and as grief stricken as others of his family.

 

[Blue_]

and as to bowing to his late aunt, I just watched that again and immediatly after the King Philippe's children the cameras cut away so I really don't know where that comes from.

I saw everyone, including P. Claire and the kids, but no prince Laurent. But no doubt he was sad too. I never meant to say he wasn't respectful either, I just asked a question

 

[wartenberg7]

I don´t know if this has been discussed here before, but I was pretty much shocked of the appearance of Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand!
Can you imagine one of the european princesses appearing at a formal royal event like this http://static1.purepeople.com/artic...-princesse-maha-chakri-sirindhorn-950x0-1.jpg

without a storm of indignation breaking out? I don´t know what it is, but people seem to be very tolerant when it comes to the Thai monarchy (which is not our subject here, of course), I´m just referring to the Princesse´s, forgive me, messy clothes and hair at this royal funeral....
What a difference to royal ladies like Empress Michiko or Queen Mathilde!

 

[maria-olivia]

I attended the Funerals , I saw everybody as I was at 8.00 and the Funerals started at 10.00 .
As I wrote it was unforgettable.

The Princess of Thailand was perfect as she put OFF her Winter coat entering the Cathedral . She was great and wore her Family Order.
(The weather was awfully bad Storm and Rainy and so cold.)

I Highly disapprove Comments and Critics of Members of the Board who only see pictures of this Royal Funerals.

Reading back the whole thread and although Marengo's wise Moderation, they are more critics than positive feelings. This is sad and disappointing for the Belgian Citizen I am.

Amen

 

[wartenberg7]

The Princess of Thailand was perfect as she put OFF her Winter coat entering the Cathedral . She was great and wore her Family Order.
(The weather was awfully bad Storm and Rainy and so cold.)

I Highly disapprove Comments and Critics of Members of the Board who only see pictures of this Royal Funerals.



Sorry, but this is not the 1st time I thought that way about her, not "only at this funeral"

 

[melina premiere]

The mass was very moved, I liked the musics, the songs, who was showing the personality of the Queen Fabiola, She was a very lovely person, I also liked what her staff of the castel Stuyvenberg said in the chapel of Laeken
Yes, She was a very great person and I say


Thank you Madame La Reine, au revoir.

 

[fandesacs2003]

I attended the Funerals , I saw everybody as I was at 8.00 and the Funerals started at 10.00 .
As I wrote it was unforgettable.

The Princess of Thailand was perfect as she put OFF her Winter coat entering the Cathedral . She was great and wore her Family Order.
(The weather was awfully bad Storm and Rainy and so cold.)

I Highly disapprove Comments and Critics of Members of the Board who only see pictures of this Royal Funerals.

Reading back the whole thread and although Marengo's wise Moderation, they are more critics than positive feelings. This is sad and disappointing for the Belgian Citizen I am.

Amen

Dear Maria-Olivia
Thanks so much for your testimony as one of the few/the only one of the posters who attended the funeral.
I followed almost the full service at the TV5, living in Greece, and what I can say is the following.
Since I'm neither a royal/aristocrat nor a specialist of protocol I can not tell you if they were mistakes or misorganisation, and maybe they were many. But what I saw was a family, mourning a beloved person, and this family was surrounded by extended members of their family, as well as close relatives who came there to grief the loss of this (as I understood) very exceptionnal lady who was late Queen Fabiola. Almost 4 generation were there to honour this lady, if you count from Grand Duke Jean to Princess Eleonore, and they had all the same tears. They cried for a gran-gran mother, or for a daughther or niece. The fact that this beloved was a Queen, surrounded by other Kings and Queens, is just a detail.
Maybe there were protocolar mistakes, but I did not feel that it was just an official event, for me it was a private event. All the persons who attended came there for personnal reasons, not because of their rank.
There is no rank obligation for an Empress to come from Japan for a former Queen, vidow the last 21 years, neither for a CPrincess from Thailand or for a former Empress from Persia, they felt the need to come because the loved and estimed Queen Fabiola, and this love and esteem was obvious to all attendees during the whole ceremony.
I read that it was not a stylish event, maybe. But what is a stylish event when we talk about a funeral?
Maybe Queen Fabiola did not want a stylish event, maybe all her life she tried to leave behind her only this aura of love and respect, nothing else, but this love and respect was everything

 

[maria-olivia]

Fandesacs , You are a Nice Person throughout your many threads.
Grateful Thanks MO

 

[Moonmaiden23]

I attended the Funerals , I saw everybody as I was at 8.00 and the Funerals started at 10.00 .
As I wrote it was unforgettable.

The Princess of Thailand was perfect as she put OFF her Winter coat entering the Cathedral . She was great and wore her Family Order.
(The weather was awfully bad Storm and Rainy and so cold.)

I Highly disapprove Comments and Critics of Members of the Board who only see pictures of this Royal Funerals.

Reading back the whole thread and although Marengo's wise Moderation, they are more critics than positive feelings. This is sad and disappointing for the Belgian Citizen I am.

Amen

I understand why you feel that way and I agree with you. Please try not to feel affronted as a Belgian by remarks here. Since you were there in the flesh, your version of events carries more weight with me than anyone else's. I watched it from start to finish and I was moved to tears several times. It was a very beautiful Mass, completely in the spirit of a woman who was not only a noblewoman of blood but in her heart as well.

I've always thought of the Belgian RF as a completely class act and their comportment all last week and on Friday especially confirmed my opinion.

 

[dbarn67]

Dear Maria-Olivia
Thanks so much for your testimony as one of the few/the only one of the posters who attended the funeral.
I followed almost the full service at the TV5, living in Greece, and what I can say is the following.
Since I'm neither a royal/aristocrat nor a specialist of protocol I can not tell you if they were mistakes or misorganisation, and maybe they were many. But what I saw was a family, mourning a beloved person, and this family was surrounded by extended members of their family, as well as close relatives who came there to grief the loss of this (as I understood) very exceptionnal lady who was late Queen Fabiola. Almost 4 generation were there to honour this lady, if you count from Grand Duke Jean to Princess Eleonore, and they had all the same tears. They cried for a gran-gran mother, or for a daughther or niece. The fact that this beloved was a Queen, surrounded by other Kings and Queens, is just a detail.
Maybe there were protocolar mistakes, but I did not feel that it was just an official event, for me it was a private event. All the persons who attended came there for personnal reasons, not because of their rank.
There is no rank obligation for an Empress to come from Japan for a former Queen, vidow the last 21 years, neither for a CPrincess from Thailand or for a former Empress from Persia, they felt the need to come because the loved and estimed Queen Fabiola, and this love and esteem was obvious to all attendees during the whole ceremony.
I read that it was not a stylish event, maybe. But what is a stylish event when we talk about a funeral?
Maybe Queen Fabiola did not want a stylish event, maybe all her life she tried to leave behind her only this aura of love and respect, nothing else, but this love and respect was everything

Well said Fandesac2003, I agree. I watched the funeral online. I only saw a woman who was deeply loved and respected by everyone who knew her.

 

[HereditaryPrincess]

I don´t wanne be rude, but this has been discussed on this thread a 100 times before....
Again: Laurent was proud of his daughter Louise who spoke a few sentences in front of the congregation in fluent english. As a response he put his thumb up, a very fitting reaction of a proud parent, I think.

Thank you for the Gabriel/ Emmanuel-photo, though! It is very cute indeed.

As I said before I haven't seen all of the funeral (just small parts of it). I also haven't read all of the pages of this thread so I didn't see the pages where my question had been discussed before. It's a lovely gesture from Prince Laurent now I know why he did it. Fluent English at Princess Louise's age is very impressive, given the fact that English isn't her mother tongue. I am guessing that French is, as she goes to a French school – and I think Flemish is the mother tongue of Princess Elisabeth, as she goes to a Flemish speaking school.

You're welcome, by the way. I love that photo of Princes Gabriel and Emmanuel as well.

 

[Marengo]

IIRC Pss Louise attends a British school in Brussels.

Edit: correction -> the princess used to be in a private billingual English-French school in Tervuren, but moved to a french lycee in Uccle in 2009.

http://www.standaard.be/cnt/g2u2eut7p

Accordign to the Flemish press her parents didn't want her to learn Flemish.

 

[fandesacs2003]

Fluent English at Princess Louise's age is very impressive, given the fact that English isn't her mother tongue. I am guessing that French is, as she goes to a French school – and I think Flemish is the mother tongue of Princess Elisabeth, as she goes to a Flemish speaking school.

As far as I know Pcs Claire, is British, I'm persuaded that she speaks English tp her kids, so it is absolutely normal that Pcs Louise is fluent in English, she should be fully bilingual.

 

[maria-olivia]

Indeed Princess Claire is British.
Prince Laurent's Children are going to the expensive Lycée Français in Bruxelles.

 

[Tatiana Maria]

Princess Claire was born in England and moved to Belgium when she was three years old.

The Belgian Monarchy: Home - Royal Family - Princess Claire

 

[carlota]

I don´t know if this has been discussed here before, but I was pretty much shocked of the appearance of Princess Sirindhorn of Thailand!
Can you imagine one of the european princesses appearing at a formal royal event like this http://static1.purepeople.com/artic...-princesse-maha-chakri-sirindhorn-950x0-1.jpg

without a storm of indignation breaking out? I don´t know what it is, but people seem to be very tolerant when it comes to the Thai monarchy (which is not our subject here, of course), I´m just referring to the Princesse´s, forgive me, messy clothes and hair at this royal funeral....
What a difference to royal ladies like Empress Michiko or Queen Mathilde!

i think this is a bit harsh. Sirindhorn's style at the funeral is irrelevant: this lady travelled on a 10+ hous flight to be there for the funeral of the queen, made an effort to be present at short notice and to represent her country, and that's what matters. the fact that she isn't a fashion horse and that she stays true to the clothes she believes are best is rather positive too. i very much prefer someone who dresses normcore but has ethics than a fashionista with little in his/her head.

 

[Princess Xenia]

Sorry, but this is not the 1st time I thought that way about her, not "only at this funeral"

She is who she is, not all royals are supposed to be fashion icons, to me she has always seemed to be someone who takes her responsibilities seriously. I think it was very nice of the Thai Royal Family to send a member to the funeral. And she looked the way she always does.

 

[Marengo]

The fashion choices of the princesses of Thailand or of other countries can be discussed in the fashion forum.

Royal House of Fashion - The Royal Forums

 

[Arrjann]

The Empress of Japan was one of the first, if not the first who were escorted out of the cathedral.

The ordinary citizens (I was one of them) were, strange enough, the first who were permitted to stand up and go wherever they wanted. I was very surprised. That's what caused all those people on the stars and throughout the church. I was standing on the steps of the church when the Empress was leaving. A little later I got back in the church and saw other royals walking past me. A strange but unique experience!

If you want to see my pictures, go to my Twitter page!

I'll write a report about my attendance at Queen Fabiola's funeral and it will be published at 'Royal Musings', Marlene Koenig's blog.


Follow me on Twitter: @houseoflemon

 

[Mbruno]

The ordinary citizens (I was one of them) were, strange enough, the first who were permitted to stand up and go wherever they wanted. I was very surprised. That's what caused all those people on the stairs and throughout the church. I was standing on the steps of the church when the Empress was leaving. A little later I got back in the church and saw other royals walking past me. A strange but unique experience!

If you want to see my pictures, go to my Twitter page!

I'll write a report about my attendance at Queen Fabiola's funeral and it will be published at 'Royal Musings', Marlene Koenig's blog.


Follow me on Twitter: @houseoflemon

I believe the royal guests stayed inside to avoid having to wait outside for their cars to come. Considering the weather outside, that was a wise decision IMHO.

 

[HereditaryPrincess]

As far as I know Pcs Claire, is British, I'm persuaded that she speaks English tp her kids, so it is absolutely normal that Pcs Louise is fluent in English, she should be fully bilingual.

I didn't say it wasn't normal for Princess Louise to be fluent in English, and I wasn't surprised that she was. I was just impressed as learning a foreign language can be difficult for children and to perform a speech in front of a large crowd, especially one that includes world monarchs. But, I guess having an English mother helps. I wonder what language they speak at home. English is one of the major languages of the world and is taught in many schools across the globe so it is indeed understandable that Princess Louise is fluent.

I had forgotten that Princess Claire is indeed British. She's been a member of the Belgian Royal Family for a while now, so these things are easily forgettable.

I also didn't realise that about Princess Louise going to an English school. I'd always thought she went to a French school.

 

[Mbruno]

I didn't say it wasn't normal for Princess Louise to be fluent in English, and I wasn't surprised that she was either. I was just impressed as learning a foreign language can be difficult for children and to perform a speech in front of a large crowd that includes world monarchs is excellent at a young age. But, I guess having an English mother helps. I wonder what language they speak at home. English is one of the major languages of the world and is taught in many schools across the globe so it is indeed understandable that Princess Louise is fluent.

We can't tell from the funeral mass alone if princess Louise is "fluent" in English, as she was just reading a short prayer written on a piece of paper. I can tell though that princess Elisabeth and prince Gabriel are fluent in French (their home language) and Dutch (the language they use at school).

In any case, all 3 children did remarkably well considering they were speaking in front of a packed church full of royal guests and in a moment of emotional stress.

 

[maria-olivia]

Arrjann, I left the Cathedral after the belgian Royal Family(Group1)because I wanted to see the Car with the late Queen leaving for always the Cathedral . It was terribly windy and I did not know if I could enter the Cathedral again. So I did not see the Royals leaving.... I saw then entering next to me.
I hope the Royals of Goup II ( dinner hosted by the King in Laeken )were escorted by an important Security Service when they left.

 

[Arrjann]

Arrjann, I left the Cathedral after the belgian Royal Family(Group1)because I wanted to see the Car with the late Queen leaving for always the Cathedral . It was terribly windy and I did not know if I could enter the Cathedral again. So I did not see the Royals leaving.... I saw then entering next to me.
I hope the Royals of Goup II ( dinner hosted by the King in Laeken )were escorted by an important Security Service when they left.

It was strange indeed, to be able to walk in and out of the church. It was in contradiction with protocol, but I had a great time.


Follow me on Twitter: @houseoflemon

 

[Cris M]

Besides the Prince and Princess of Ligne, the Imperial House of Brazil had three other representatives at the funeral, as Princess Maria da Graça of Orleans-Braganza attended it, alongside her daughter, Princess Isabel and son-in-law Count Alexander of Stolberg.

Princess Maria da Graça is the wife of Prince Fernando of Orleans-Braganza, younger brother of Prince Luiz, Head of the Imperial House of Brazil. The paternal grandmother of Her Royal Highness was a Belgian aristocrat born in Portugal, Baroness Bertha de Baère.

Pictures:

(Count Alexander and Princess Maria da Graça) http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kMJiHSgPKGA/VI-Mwyj67KI/AAAAAAAAEwk/iNuapGT_Jw8/s1600/CADMG.jpg

(Count Alexander and a heavily pregnant Princess Isabel): http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LZCdN2ZYfXg/VI-M3GVOu7I/AAAAAAAAEws/ueULaclY2q4/s1600/DIOBCA.jpg

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

[....]
Accordign to the Flemish press her parents didn't want her to learn Flemish.

Euh... isn't that weird, that a Prince and Princess of Belgium do not want their children (Two Princes and one Princess of Belgium) to learn the language of 2/3rd of the Belgian population but prefer English? They have no any problem whatsoever with accepting the lavish dotation, paid for them by Dutch speaking Belgians...

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

It was strange indeed, to be able to walk in and out of the church. It was in contradiction with protocol, but I had a great time.


Follow me on Twitter: @houseoflemon

Thank you for your first-hand witness account. This is in line with what I saw on television: in the end a nice funeral with before and after an organization which left a chaotic and ad-hoc impression on me.

I like that intertwined crowned C in your avatar. Very stylish.