Views on Franco have changed. What was acceptable in 1960 perhaps is no longer so. The difference with the Spanish floral tiara is that they never stopped wearing that tiara, somehow watering down the ownership question. If Mathilde would start wearing the Spanish tiara it would be splattered all over the Belgian press, with a reference to its ownership. Note that Queen Paola also never wore the demi parure she supposedly received from president Kabila of Congo.
As for the Art Deco tiara: it remains to be seen but I would not be surprised at all if Paola leaves it to her only daughter.
I'm not sure if I remember all this correctly, but didn't the Spanish relatives complain that they didn't receive any of their family heirlooms back, because Fabiola had left her estate to her foundation? Not that I doubt Trond's knowledge and connections, but it seems strange that the Spanish relatives should have received this tiara, which is not even an heirloom from their family, but they claim they didn't even receive the portraits of their own ancestors?
They did compain indeed. This was a few months after Fabiola´s passing. They complained they were not informed of anything by the executeur testamentair [Prince Lorenz]. And they complained that family heirlooms, such as paintings [of Goya IIRC], would be lost to the family.
A few years before Fabiola died there was a public outcry in Belgium about her setting up a construction to evade paying death taxes _ to benifit her heirs. When this became public it caused an uproar with even Belgian politicians and the serious press commenting on it. It was said that villa Astrida would be left to a fund and that the villa could be used by family and for religious purposes. Money would also be left to a fund where Spanish relatives could apply to for financiall assistance for studies etc. Due to the outcry and talks about lowering dotations it quickly was announced that the whole construction of funds etc. would be ditched and "everything" would be left to the foundation Oeuvres de la reine/charities of the queen.
I found it a puzzling move at the time and the announcement seemed impulsive. To change a will overnight from leaving everything - millions and millions worth of assets- to your nephews and nieces to leaving them nothing at all.
The fact that we never heard anything of the Spanish relatives since the initial complaint made it clear that somehow the distributions of Fabiola's assets started to seem less objectionable to the Spanish relatives at one point. And the fact we did not see the foundation Oeuvres de la reine, auctioning of paintings, villa Astrida etc -which are of no use to them- probably means that the foundation does no longer own them.
I imagine -but this is specuation-a web of funds and private partnerships was created after all, to which the Oeuvres de la reine donated the assets of Fabiola in the way that was originally intended. As the Belgian serious press has not a great interest in the RF it seems they got away with this, even though it certainly raises questions.
Fabiola was always very close to her own family, as was King Baudouin. As we saw in the documentary on villa Astrida recently much of the Spanish nephews and nieces spent the summer months at Astrida each year and what fond memories they have of their aunt and unce. It is not surprising a part of her assets went back to them. Also taking into account that a substantial part of those assets actually came from Spain as it was inherited by Fabiola from her own family.
