Marriage Anniversary of the King and Queen

Today in 1959 King Albert II and Queen Paola were married. Did the younger brother of the King and the Italian princess imagine at that time that they would ever have to take the position of being the King and Queen for the nation? King Baudouin was still not married, only a few years on the throne and everyone probably still assumed he would get married and be able to have children of his own and Prince Albert would only be in the position of perhaps Prince Laurent today. Would Queen Paola have given the same answer to the proposal if she knew she would one day have to be the Queen, with all of the pressures, scrutiny and responsibilities that position means? I hope so, but can we ever know for certain? Over 53 years of marriage, most certainly today, is a great accomplishment and, we all know, it has not always been easy for the first couple of Belgium. It is not worth talking about but all the people know things have not always gone perfectly for the King and Queen, there have been mistakes, hard times but, we give thanks, forgiveness and reconciliation in the end. I would not want to think of how things would be if the King had married someone else. Queen Paola has been the best queen in the world for Belgium and she really, I think, has always put the Belgian people first every time. The King also has had very large problems in the terms of politics, to deal with but he keeps always the 'ship of state' sailing forward. They also have been good parents, raising very good children. Congratulations to their Majesties then on a very successful 53 years of marriage today, taking alot of hard work but doing a great job together for the country!

The Queen's Pizza

Does Queen Paola like pizza? We assume most Italians, like the Queen, do but maybe she does not like this particular pizza perhaps. In 1889 World Pizza Days in Naples, Italy named a pizza after their own queen, Margherita, which had red, white and green toppings because the Queen was known for being so zealous an Italian nationalist and patriot. In 1999, we are told, this was done again with a pizza named for the only Italian-born Queen of a country today, our own Queen Paola. They named it for her and took it to the Laeken palace, never seeing the Family Royal but later being given a nice note of appreciation from the Queen for her own "Paola Pizza". Now it again has happened with the Paola II Pizza and the Queen is not the only one. Also Queen Beatrix of The Nederlands has been given her own special pizza also. But this time it seems there is some discomfort from the Royal Court in Brussels and lots of accusations and counter-accusations are going around. The new Queen Paola pizza has toppings from the Naples region with Melannurca, an apple with a deep red color but the Belgian court does not seem happy. The statement of a spokesman said, "The monarchy was neither previously nor subsequently informed of that name," which refers to the concept that usually one asks for permission before naming something after the King or Queen (did they do so before I wonder?) and, "Fortunately, even now only the first name is used, which after all, can refer to any other woman. But it was elegant and would have been polite to first ask permission". What will the palace do in the great pizza battle? Nothing. The Queen maybe even liked it, we do not know -do not know even if she tried it yet. However, the pizza-makers in Naples may have bigger problems because the people who made the first pizza are now upset that they are being surpassed with more media attention because of this latest problem and now they are demanding compensation from these new chefs for taking their idea of a Queen Paola pizza. Really, it seems Naples takes their pizza very seriously and poor Queen Paola gets stuck in the middle of the disturbance. 

Queen Paola and Guests

The Queen with the Queen of England in 1966

The Queen with King Mswati III of Swaziland

The Queen (to be) with former King Leopold III

The Queen with Princesse Grace of Monaco

Long live our great Queen!

King & Queen Visit Pukkelpop Disaster Site

Story here. Something similar happened I heard in the United States recently. Someone should take greater precautions for the bad weather or see that the stages are built more sturdily.

Queen Paola Desktop

The King and Queen in Rome

 The King and Queen gather with all the others for the beatification of Pope John Paul II. You can see below, the non-government was also represented. From the photos there seemed to be many royals present for the great event. I noticed Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Spain as well as the Belgian King and Queen. So, a good showing of the Catholic dynasties of Europe.

Here is the King and Queen having a chat before the ceremony with the colorful Berlusconi.

Coburgs and Wittelsbachs

The King and Queen with the Duke Franz of Bavaria

Les origines belges de la reine Paola

Depuis le début de notre dynastie en 1831, Paola est la première reine à avoir des origines belges grâce à sa grand-mère paternelle, Laure Mosselman du Chenoy, issue d'une des plus anciennes familles bruxelloises. La présence d'un boeuf sur les armoiries des Mosselman datant du 13ème siècle rappelle que les hommes de la famille étaient bouchers de père en fils. En 1466, un Jean Mosselman était le doyen de la Guilde des Drapiers de Bruxelles.

The Belgian Queens

Louise de Orléans was the first Belgian queen consort, the second wife of King Leopold I. The two married in 1832 in a double ceremony because Leopold was a Protestant. Louise was from the French Royal Family and had been born in Sicily, her mother being of the Sicilian Royal Family (also Bourbon). She gave Leopold four children though the first did not survive long. Queen Louise was very popular and for her time was the image of the ideal royal wife. She was beautiful, very religious and did not interfere in politics. She preferred privacy and home life to being the center of attention. Queen Louise was also very generous and supported charities and the works of the Church. Even when she could have made complaints she did not and her family connections were important in the early days of the Kingdom of Belgium. Unfortunately, she died in October of 1850 from tuberculosis in Ostend. At her death King Leopold addressed the nation, “She was attached heart and soul to her new country; in you she found to love those qualities which she herself possessed in the highest degree—steadiness and constancy in your affections.”

Marie Henriette of Austria was the consort of King Leopold II and likely had the most unhappy time of any Belgian queen. She was from the Austrian Imperial House of Hapsburg and married Leopold in 1853. The marriage was arranged and never a good match from the start. For duty and obligation they endured and had four children but only one son and after his death the two lived apart from each other, husband and wife in name only. Being born and raised in Hungary her one joy in life was horses. As usual she carried on charity work, supported the arts and music but because of her unhappy marriage was never really seen in the same way as a queen ordinarily would be. She was mostly separated from the monarchy with her daughter Princess Clementine being the most visible female figure at royal events with the king. She was a strict parent, a determined woman but always unhappy. Today there would probably have been a divorce but that was unthinkable then and she and the King remained officially married until her death in 1902.

Élisabeth of Bavaria was the third Queen of the Belgians and consort to King Albert I. Her father was an eye doctor and her mother a Portuguese princess. For most of her life Queen Elisabeth had a love for art and music and because of her background a very sympathetic nature. She and Albert married in 1900 shortly before he became king. A new city in the Belgian Congo was named in her honor. When World War I came it was very painful to her as a German and daughter of the Bavarian Royal Family. However, no one doubted where her heart was and she supported her husband in his harshest trial and also won great respect for her brave and tireless efforts as a nurse, visiting the front and helping wounded soldiers. She later cultivated a great scientific curiosity and in World War II showed her humanitarian side again by using her old connections in Germany to save the lives of many Jews who would have been massacred by the Nazis. She later caused some controversy by visiting communist bloc countries like Poland, China, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union but this was simply an effort to promote peace and not a political statement. She died in 1965 survived by her three children.

Astrid of Sweden, consort of King Leopold III, might have been the best queen Belgium ever had, but we will never know because of how sadly her life was cut short. Queen Astrid was from the Bernadotte Royal Family of Sweden and she married Leopold III in 1926. It was a true romance from the start. Since Astrid was a Lutheran she later became a Catholic but her new family did not insist on it but she decided of her own conviction to come to the Church. She gave the King three children and the two were very devoted to each other and the family was very close. Everyone loved Queen Astrid who was beautiful, kind and naturally charming. She became queen suddenly after the untimely death of King Albert I and she and Leopold named their next child in his honor. Queen Astrid gave much back to her people and could be counted on to take the initiative to do whatever she could to help in any situation. She traveled with her husband around the country and to Africa to meet with everyone and she cared about all of them and sympathized with their situations. The country and all Belgians everywhere were shocked at her death in a car accident in 1935.

Fabiola de Moran y Aragón was the consort of King Baudouin. She was from a noble family but not royalty and had no thought of ever becoming a queen before she married King Baudouin in 1960. Before that time she had written books for children and worked as a nurse. The marriage was the occasion of much celebrating in Spain and Belgium and she was very well received into her new country. Queen Fabiola and King Baudouin were very devoted to each other, both very religious and family oriented. So it was a great sadness for both that they could never have children. Five miscarriages were endured by the couple but in the end Queen Fabiola never lost her optimistic nature. The death of King Baudouin was a terrible blow to her but she continued her service of good works supporting the Church and numerous charities with particular attention to those suffering from mental illnesses. She has also contributed much to helping women in the countryside of poor countries for which she has been widely recognized. In recent years Queen Fabiola has been the target of a number of absurd death threats which she has endured with bravery and even humor. She remains a greatly beloved national figure.

Paola Ruffo di Calabria, our current Queen and consort of King Albert II was an Italian princess prior to her marriage. Her family is one of the oldest noble houses in Italy, originally from the south though Queen Paola was born in Tuscany. She married King Albert II in 1959 and, as we know, presented him with three children over the years. Although she can speak Italian, French, English and German some have been critical of the difficulty she has had in learning Dutch but Queen Paola has never stopped trying to master the language and throughout her time as queen has shown a readiness to always learn, expand her interests and remain current. It is unfortunate that she and King Albert have had their marital difficulties in the past but they have shown their commitment by working through these problems, never giving up and seem more devoted to each other now than ever before. She assists the King in all of his duties and does a lot of good work on her own, setting up her own charitable foundation and providing a helping hand to those people who seem like they have no one else to turn to. Supporting education, children and helping the poor have been top priorities for her, always done with a smile. Supporting local heritage, crafts, art and music are important to her and she loves reading, especially travel books about Europe and Africa.

Paola, Queen of Belgium

Such a beautiful Queen we have!

La reine Paola et l'art contemporain belge

Avec l'aide de la Donation Royale et de la Régie des Bâtiments, la Reine entreprend en 1993 un grand et ambitieux programme de rénovation et de mise en valeur du château et des serres de Laeken, du palais royal de Bruxelles et du château de Ciergnon. Tous les observateurs s'accordent pour dire que le résultat est magnifique.

En accord avec le Roi, notre souveraine décide d'intégrer l'art contemporain belge dans le palais royal de Bruxelles, construit au 19ème siècle. L'idée aurait germé dans sa tête suite à la visite du couple royal à l'exposition "La peinture flamande et néerlandaise du 20ème siècle", organisée à Venise en 1997. Paola aurait été encouragée par sa belle-soeur la grande-duchesse Joséphine-Charlotte de Luxembourg, qui avait entamé depuis longtemps une importante collection privée d'oeuvres d'art contemporaines. ...

Read full article at Blog sur la famille royale belge

The Queen's Congolese Diamonds

The story is getting around the webs about the controversy surrounding some gifts given to Queen Paola from President Joseph Kabila of the country previously known as the Belgian Congo. Royalty in the News has the details and this is my comment. To me it does not really matter what exactly the Queen was given. The point is that they were gifts. I am sure the people who are being critics now would be just as critical if she had not accepted them. How could she even have done that? If someone gives you a gift you do not throw it back in their face. She would be criticised all around the world for being rude if she did such a thing. If the gifts were too expensive to afford for the Congolese government then Kabila should not have given them. But this is all a distraction anyway, something meant to cause trouble for the Belgian monarchy just because everyone gets so uptight when they hear the words "Belgium" and "Congo" in the same phrase. Whatever the cost of the jewels or watch or whatever it was, obviously they were already in the gift of President Kabila so it is not as though this money was robbed from someone just to benefit the Queen Paola (who has handed them over to the government in any event). Kabila had already got them by some means or another and they were his to give away or keep, if there was any wrongdoing in their acquisition that was already done a long time ago and had nothing to do with the Royal Family who could not have known and would surely never be so outrageous as to ask a host leader where he got them or how much they were worth. So this is just ridiculous and an absurd effort to find some way to be critical of Queen Paola and the Royal Family. Once again we see the media blaming the royalty first rather than the independent government of the former colony who are never held responsible for anything.