Prince Philippe is Ready

Prins Filip is klaar om zijn vader op te volgen wanneer hem dat wordt gevraagd. Dat zei hij aan het slot van zijn handelsmissie naat Vietnam. Zes dagen was hij in Hanoi en Ho Chi Minh-stad om de Belgische economie te promoten.

In het gesprek met journalisten na afloop werd de prins gefeliciteerd met het vooruitzicht dat hij in 2013 koning wordt. Dat immers had Le Soir geschreven: op 21 juli is de troonsoverdracht. ,,We zijn nog altijd 2012. Als u mij wilt feliciteren, is het omwille van de geslaagde missie", aldus Filip, die het gesprek snel over een andere boeg gooide.

Maar de verslaggevers lieten de kans niet zo maar voorbij gaan. Is de prins klaar voor het koningschap? ,,Het is niet aan mij om dat te beoordelen. Ik vind dat mijn vader zijn werk goed doet. Ik help hem zoveel mogelijk. Wanneer men mij het vraagt, als het mij wordt gevraagd, dan sta ik klaar om hem op te volgen."

Geen ongebruikelijk antwoord, maar volgens een aantal Belgische media een signaal dat de troonswisseling niet langer een taboe onderwerp is. Vorig jaar in China zei Filip nog, doelend op zijn vader koning Albert II ,,Ik praat niet graag over anderen als ze er niet bij zijn." © GPD

My opinion is that I think Prince Philippe is absolutely ready and would be an ideal King, I always think he has performed excellently and I hate when people insult him. I do not like though the feeling of "rushing" the King out of his job. I prefer the King to reign until his death and then the next generation take over. That has always been the tradition, only one time has a King abdicated before his death and that was with very unfortunate and unfair circumstances for Leopold III. Also it would concern me then that how quickly the media would be asking when Philippe is to step down for his daughter? Of course, the King has had to deal with tremendous difficulties and there would be no fault in him wanting to retire to peace and quiet for his elder years. That should be his decision alone. For myself though I prefer the old mentality that the Crown is a commitment for a lifetime of service. When the time comes, whenever it comes I think Philippe and Mathilde will be a great King and Queen.

Bullying in Schools

Just today, in the land of my educational exile, there was news on TV of another school shooting. This in the province of Ohio which, the report said, killed one student and wounded four others. The young shooter surrendered to the police. Such a tragedy! Of course, in Belgium we are thankful this sort of thing does not happen like in the U.S. probably because, unlike in America, in Belgium not everyone has guns. However, this was another case of a student being bullied by his classmates until finally he snapped and started shooting up the lunchroom. Bullying is not unique to America certainly and I was reminded because of this today that two weeks ago Friday Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde visited Sint Pietersinstituut in Turnhout to see the children and inspect the program there to suppress bullying in school. Tragedies like this one in America today shows how important this issue is. If the other children had not bullied the little boy (I don't know the age) this disaster probably would not have happened. It is important, as Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde did, to start with the very young children to impress on them to get along with each other and not join in when someone is singled out to be cruel to. The children, you can see, were very excited to see the Prince and Princess, wearing patriotic-decorated hats, some with the royal couple picture on them, and parents gathered outside to seem them as they came and went (for security reasons they were not allowed in the school at the same time, showing today everyone everywhere has to be extra careful). Hopefully there will be more and better programs to stop bullying and I am happy Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde took care to make this issue one of their priorities. We do not want the same thing to happen in Belgium that happened in Ohio, America today. God bless those unfortunate people.

Prince Philippe the Soldier Man

Belgian Royals Remember Armistice 1918

Prince Philippe in China

The Belgian Crown Prince and Princess recently were in the People's Republic of China. It was for the usual reason, foreign affairs, Sino-Belgian trade, investment in Flanders and the usual things like we have seen before, business and trade missions being led by Prince Philippe are not very unusual. Only lately though it seems to me a little concerning the growing influence of China. With countries in Europe on the edge of being bankrupt, Greece already, today Italy is on the news for being in big trouble and everyone worries about Spain and Portugal and maybe others and European Union goes to China to ask for the money to bail out these countries. Think about how the world has changed. Many of these countries, like Italy and Portugal, even Belgium and numerous others, once had their own concessions in China and now it is China that is being called upon to rescue the nations of Europe from their own poor economic choices. This causes me just a little bit of worry. Am I alone? I don't really remember the Tiananmen Square incident but I have seen video of it Has anyone forgotten this is the same government responsible for that? Also why did it used to be called everywhere the "Tiananmen Square Massacre" but now is called the "Tiananmen Square Protest"?

The Chinese government may not be really communist anymore but they still revere the memory of Chairman Mao who killed millions of people. He is just not a significant figure in their history but he is the founder of their whole modern country and government. Also I have heard other economics expert people say that the seeming wealth of the Chinese today is all an illusion, that the interior of the country is just as impoverished as ever, if not worse and that the true state of the economy cannot be known because the government controls all the media and all the financial reports and also we know they manipulate their currency and use criminals as a source of slave labor in labor camps. These are not secrets but it seems not many people want to talk about it. Anyway, I must confess to being a little nervous about Europe becoming more and more indebted to China, a country where they still have no real freedoms at all.

Belgian Royals Visit China

Crown Prince Philippe and Crown Princess Mathilde are right now in Beijing, China with a large number of business people to try to encourage the Chinese to buy more Belgian exports and make a better environment for Belgian businesses in China. The Minister of Foreign Affairs said this was important because the economic crisis had made trade even more important. Currently there are many business ties between China and Antwerp especially. Crown Prince Philippe has met with the Deputy Prime Minister of China, Wang Qishan, and Crown Princess Mathilde has visited a dance academy also in Beijing. Belgium used to have a concession in China during the days of the Manchu Emperors but I would wager that today there are probably even more Belgian owned properties in China because of the place of importance China has today in the world of trade and the global economy. The Chinese economy has grown faster than any other in history, of any country, just in the recent decades.

Prins Filip Joins Special Forces

Just for a day, Prince Philippe joins the special forces, para-commandos who are in training, see the video here. (the picture above is from an earlier occasion)

New Photos of Royal Family

Belgian Royals in Washington Area

Aside from the business issues of the royal visit to America (which as much as I can tell the U.S. media still ignores, I think a little unfair since if President Obama came to Belgium he would get all the attention) Prince Philippe and Princess Mathilde have also made time for some solemn commemorations. While in New York City the Duke and Duchess of Brabant visited Ground Zero (former site of the World Trade Center) and placed a wreath their sent by the King in honor of the victims of the terrible terrorist attack (there was one Belgian killed in the 9-11 attack and of course many friends). Yesterday, moving to the Washington DC area, the couple visited Arlington National Cemetery in northern Virginia where, you can see in the picture, they placed a memorial wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in honor of those who died in Belgium during World War II at the battle of the Bulge. It is very appropriate to remember the brave Americans who, with all the other Allied powers, fought to liberate the Kingdom of Belgium from the Nazi occupation. Thanks America!

Belgian Royal Visit to America

Prince Philippe and Prince Mathilde are now on a visit to the United States. I just learned this, nothing seen on the news programs about it at all. They arrived on Wednesday and will stay through the end of the month. They came with a large delegation of Belgian businessmen to hopefully encourage more economic ties and business deals between the United States and the Kingdom of Belgium. They arrived in New York City and will also visit Washington DC and Boston before returning home.

Philippe et Marie, comte et comtesse de Flandre

Troisième fils du roi Léopold Ier et de la reine Louise-Marie (après Louis-Philippe mort à l'âge d'un an et le futur roi Léopold II), le prince Philippe naît au château de Laeken le 24 mars 1837. En 1840, son père le titre comte de Flandre. A l'âge de 13 ans, il perd sa maman. Sa formation est assurée par des précepteurs privés et complétée par un passage au sein du régiment des Guides. Passionné par les arts et les lettres, ce prince discret ne s'intéresse pas à la politique : il refuse les trônes de Grèce en 1862 et de Roumanie en 1866, ainsi qu'un mariage avec la princesse héritière du Brésil. [Plus]

Philippe and Mathilde at London Wedding

Crown Prince and Princess Philippe and Mathilde were at the front for the Will & Kate wedding in London. As you see from the picture, it was quite a royal gathering.

Happy Birthday to Prince Philippe!

New Photos Official

The best looking family of royals around I think!

European Development Days

See the Video here.

VRT
6/12/10 - Crown Prince Filip and Princess Mathilde attended the opening of the European Development Days in Brussels. For two days over 5,000 experts from a 100 different countries will discuss the challenges and the problems facing international development across the globe.

Prince Philippe Salutes the Unknown Soldier

Prince Philippe Activities

Crown Prince Philippe and Princesse Mathilde visited on Thursday Clarysse in Pittem company, Max Havelaar label, in West Flanders, which produces bath and kitchen textiles with materials from Africa. Their label works with cotton producers in the struggling African nation of Mali and they pay above average prices for the cotton to help that country when the same could be obtained for less. The agricultural cooperative also pays special attention to ecological issues and the higher prices go to provide social improvements in that country. Prince Philippe and Princesse Mathilde wanted to highlight the work and mutual benefit that this arrangement provides for the workers in Belgium and Mali together. They met with the workers and they were very honored and happy to meet the future King and Queen of the Belgians and were pleased to answer all of the questions they had about how things functioned there.

News media also reports that Monday Prince Philippe will be going far away to visit Astana, Kazakhstan (one of the former Soviet republics in central Asia). Tuesday he will meet with Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbavev. This is to improve trading relations between Belgium and Kazakhstan and is part of a larger campaign of foreign trips, going all around the world that Prince Philippe is doing to help Belgian business and promote commercial activity with the country that is especially essential now when Belgium is in such debt and the economy going through a down period and new business is greatly needed. Prince Philippe is working hard for Belgium!

Prince Philippe in Military Service

Belgian Crown Prince in Mexico

Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, seen in the picture with the Spanish Minister of Culture Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde joined heads of state and dignitaries representing numerous other foreign countries were photographed at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, Mexico on September 14. This is a special occasion as tomorrow Mexico will celebrate the bicentenary of Mexican independence from Spain. Although Prince Philippe may be just one more face in the foreign crowd on this occasion, Mexico has a special significance for Belgium ever since 1864 when Belgium's Princess Charlotte accompanied her Austrian husband Archduke Maximilian to become Emperor Maximiliano and Empress Carlota of the revived Mexican monarchy. Charlotte effectively gave the last of her life in the service of Mexico and many Belgian soldiers also lost their lives fighting for the preservation of the Mexican Empire. So the histories of Mexico and Belgium are tied together from now on because of that period.

Les vacances de Philippe et Mathilde

Le Palais s'adaptant lentement mais sûrement aux nouvelles technologies (ils sont en retard à ce sujet par rapport aux Windsor), le site officiel du Palais propose, pour la première fois, une vidéo du prince Philippe, de la princesse Mathilde et de leurs quatre enfants lors de leur visite en juillet de la ferme pédagogique "De Pierlapont" à Loppem en Flandre occidentale: (plus)