Relationships between the Belgian Royals

[*Mara*]

This picture is taken 8 days after Baudouin’s unexpected and tragic death. It shows a heartbroken family watching Albert taking the oath.

 

[Lumutqueen]

IMO they don't look heartbroken but like Al_Bina said, really bored.
This was taken at the enthronement ceremony yes? How long is that?

 

[Warren]

All four people in that picture look incredible sleepy.

The photo appears to be unfortunate. The Belgian Royal family looked bored and tired.

Pictures may be worth a thousand words but it helps to know the context before jumping to misplaced conclusions.

The photograph was taken on 9 August 2003 at the swearing into office of King Albert. It was nine days after the sudden and unexpected death of King Badouin and just two days after the late King's funeral. Understandably, the family aren't jumping for joy at Albert's good fortune, rather Queens Fabiola and Paola, the Duke of Brabant and Princess Astrid are emotionally drained and in deepest mourning for a beloved husband, brother-in-law, uncle and King.

 

[Warren]

IMO they don't look heartbroken but like Al_Bina said, really bored.

*Mara* has explained it to you Lumutqueen.
Rather than continuing to demonstrate great insensitivity at a photograph of a visibly distraught family in mourning, how about quitting before you dig yourself deeper.

 

[Katrianna]

Thank you Warren. The photograph was so touching and all one has to do is read the caption as to the event.

 

[fancatt]

Exactly Katrinna, that was my point.
Just wanted to reveal a picture that showed support, even affection, between the two queens, in a phase of change in their lives. Between the joy of a new king and the sadness of losing another... as you say "so touching".

 

[maria-olivia]

Before King Albert II swore somebody (I wount' tell is name) cried :" Vive la république".
Or it happened before when Baudouin as Prince Royal (not as King) startet to swore..It was pathetic .. he put his hand back with deep sadiness , he was only 20 years all.. He receided an ovation but it was a personal attack.
The man who cried "Vive la République " died the day afer in strange condtions.
It was therefore they looked hardbroken; particulary Queen Fabiola who kwew how her late husband suffered from this in his young days

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Pictures may be worth a thousand words but it helps to know the context before jumping to misplaced conclusions.

The photograph was taken on 9 August 2003 at the swearing into office of King Albert. It was nine days after the sudden and unexpected death of King Badouin and just two days after the late King's funeral. Understandably, the family aren't jumping for joy at Albert's good fortune, rather Queens Fabiola and Paola, the Duke of Brabant and Princess Astrid are emotionally drained and in deepest mourning for a beloved husband, brother-in-law, uncle and King.

Thank you Warren. Only two days previous the BRF had endured a very long, emotional and painfully draining State Funeral for the much loved King...so if they did look tired no one should be surprised.

Anyone can go into the "Baudouin and Fabiola" or "Royal Funerals" thread and see photos of the BRF at the airport receiving the late King's remains from Spain(they were literally all physically holding one another up!) and you can see photos of them inside the Cathedral during the Requiem Mass..they all had the same exhausted, drained look...especially Queen Fabiola.

 

[leidi]

Relationship between the Royal Siblings

I've always wanted to know how the relationship between Philippe, Astrid and Laurent is, are they close or just "deal" with each other?

The question came to me after I saw Philippe when he was asked about Laurent in Russia, he said something like "He's my brother and will always be my brother but I won't talk about the issue", he strikes me as the responsible type and someone who would try to "tame" down Laurent a bit, because of their absent parents and the fact that he was virtually raised by Baudouin and Fabiola so he was more able to "discern" right from wrong than his little brother.

Astrid left the nest being very young and started her own family, so I guess she wouldn't be as close to her brothers? I am really curious

Are there pictures, videos or articles about their relationship as adults? or information you guys have about them.

Thanks a lot in advance and be aware this isn't a disrespectful thread, just genuine curiosity from a fan that doesn't live in the Benelux

 

[Blue_]

I think they are quite close. You know, when your parents are always arguing, you can either growing out of each other either grow closer.
When you see pictures of them now they are not hugging each other constantly, but there are quite cute pictures of them, showing they are close.

Astrid chose Philippe to be the godfather of Amedeo. Philippe chose Amedeo for being Elisabeth's godfather and Claire for being Eleonore's godmother

I'm wondering about the Spanish Family
How close are Elena, Cristina and Felipe?

 

[Al_bina]

Given the information in the threads devoted to the Spanish royals, Prince Felipe is distancing himself from his sisters, which is to be expected, and trying too hard to appease Spaniards. Infanta Christina and her spouse are having grave legal problems. Infanta Elena just lives her life as usual.

 

[An Ard Ri]

I'm wondering about the Spanish Family
How close are Elena, Cristina and Felipe?

See this thread in the Spanish Section

http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/f21/relationships-between-the-members-of-the-spanish-royal-family-13487-22.html#post1455364

 

[leidi]

Thanks guys for your input!!

I think Philippe and Astrid are closer between them than they are to Laurent because their personalities are more similar and they see life in the same way (religious, raising a family, etc) but it doesn't mean they don't love their little brother, it's just that Laurent seems to be a difficult person to deal with.

Pour le prince Philippe, Laurent est et restera son frère. - Sujet par sujet - RTL Vidéos

This is the video I was thinking about, the one where Philippe is asked about Laurent.

 

[Marengo]

Are there any Belgian posters who heard more of this?

"Prinses Astrid praat nog amper met haar broers" - HLN.be

Kathy Pauwels claims that Astrid is barely talking to any of her brothers.

Laurent started a row with Astrid during one of the new years reception after which she was seen leaving in tears. The row was about the dotation, as Astrid didn't mind a reduction of it.

 

[leidi]

Maybe that's why Amedeo wasn't at the inauguration? I found that very strange, it's not as if this was a run-of-the-mill activity, this was a huge deal and he should have been present

I don't know if she has a bad relationship with Philippe but I think it is clear both her and the new King are really fed up with Laurent and only deal with him because he's family and to protect Claire and the children.

 

[tommy100]

Personally I'm not sure Philippe and Astrid don;t get on, wasn't is said that Philippe wanted his sister to take over the next two overseas trade tours? If they really didn't get on would he do that? Maybe they are not that close as in they dont speak all the time but i suspect when they do they get along just fine.
I can see Laurent being difficult to get on with and can well imagine him getting annoyedwith his sister if she was suggesting a reduction in their allowance. IMO Laurent seems like the sort of person to easily get in a mood.

 

[Anne2]

I would like to mention a TV programme broadcasted yesterday on Belgian tv and to be repeated tomorrow Friday on 3rd channel at 21.05hs local time. It deals mainly with King Baudouin , as part of the rememberance of the 20th anniversary of his death. It has also some connection with this thread. King Baudouin is probably quite correctly described as a fairly strong personality, quite respectful of many values about life, family etc, sharing those with his wife Fabiola.

It is probably quite correct to think that there have at least been ups and downs in the relationship between Fabiola and Paola. Fabiola is said to have had a strong influence on her husband about these values.
The couple crisis between Albert and Paola was quite badly perceived by Baudouin and Fabiola. I just want to stress that this crisis is NOT pure gossip. It was referred to by King Albert II himself in his Christmas speech of December 1999, time of the wedding between Philippe & Mathilde. He stressed how pleased he was that the crisis could be overcome. As you know a daughter, Delphine Boel, was born from his relationship with baroness so&so, sorry I don't remember her name, which lasted 18 years according to her recent statement (while she was supporting the recent claim of her daughter for official recognition). Delphine is 45 years and Laurent is 50.

the tv programme goes into an analysis on how the reconciliation was possible, it took place in the mid-80's. There are 2 versions about it. A soft one : it was the time of the wedding of Princess Astrid and there has been a natural positive influence. The 2nd, much harder, probably worked out between Baudouin and Fabiola, and mentioned in the TV programme, suggests that Baudouin used his influence, and included some threats about the conditions of Albert and Paola in the royal family. In my view difficult to imagine that this would not have made the relationship difficult between the two families.
There are several pictures which suggest that Baudouin & Fabiola took a strong involvement in the education and life of Philippe.
Other comments currently running suggest that indeed Philippe would have been strongly influenced by his uncle. Incidentally Baudouin was quite popular, particularly at the time of his death. This no longer seems really the case now, since the population got used to the relaxed style of AlbertII. The return to a closer style to Baudouin by King Philippe is therefore occasionally mentioned.
You might remember about the fact that Baudouin "escaped" to his duty of signing laws, after the adoption by Parliament, in the case of the "abortion law". That law was totally against his moral principles, and he asked his Prime Minister to work out a scheme, which made him unable to sign, a sort of temporary power vacancy. This is now mentioned again in comments and is criticized.

This is the way I perceive these issues from my own press reading or listening. As most Belgian citizens, I wish the best to King Philippe and his family, I feel they deserve it. I feel confident that he will be wise enough to take inspiration from both Baudouin and his father.
I would like to conclude by mentioning that I saw personally on a Saturday in an Italian restaurant in Brussels the whole Laurent family having lunch with the Delphine family, so a total of some 9 people including the kids. They seem to get on very well together, maybe as the "weaker" members of the royal family.
Incidentally difficult relationship between different royal family members IS NOT NEW in Belgium, that was also recently reminded.

 

[leidi]

Seems like the brothers have reached an agreement of sorts

Toenadering tussen koning Filip en Laurent | VTM

 

[tommy100]

I've always wondered about the relationship between the King and his siblings, I think he and Astrid are close but not so much Philippe and Astrid with Laurent.
IMO I would't be very happy if my sibling wen to the media to say this: (assuming its true,its from 2013)

Prince Laurent

Prince Laurent last night responded to the statement from his sister, Princess Astrid, who had said she would accept “any decision from the government and Parliament regarding [her] allowance”. “If my sister can afford it, I’m happy for her,” Laurent told the Sudpresse newspapers. “You know me, I’m not jealous of those who are better off than me,” he said...
Personally I wouldn't be happy if my brother was talking about my finances in public!

 

[JR76]

This weekend, King Albert and Queen Paola, accompanied by Princesses Elisabeth and Eléonore visited the exhibitions "Like the wall which awaits the ivy" and " James Welling. Cento " at the Museum of Contemporary Arts


https://scontent.fskg1-2.fna.fbcdn....=5253a3c375d6db01911303b27521cba2&oe=60E09E07
https://scontent.fskg1-2.fna.fbcdn....=3508bbce00f2f128c9091e1fe4b25376&oe=60E17141
https://scontent.fskg1-2.fna.fbcdn....=7b04a6b7f76aa80c40f22848c10c6345&oe=60E01427
https://scontent.fskg1-2.fna.fbcdn....=1ddad87538e18db69322e12bdb26dab8&oe=60E051B0
https://scontent.fskg1-1.fna.fbcdn....=8366796fb0543befaa4c6097621a70ca&oe=60E09740
https://scontent.fskg1-1.fna.fbcdn....=b9e197271885854a6dc249c85aac6130&oe=60E0DB8A

How nice to see grandparents and granddaughters spending some time together. It's been evident for a long time that Albert and Paola aren't that close to both some of their children and some of their grandchildren, but hopefully this shows that the family at least tries to bridge the divide between them.

 

[leidi]

We all know that Paola and Mathilde have never really gotten along but it seems like both Queens are willing to put their differences aside and allow the kids to spend time with their grandparents, same with Claire and her kids, Laurent doesn't like his parents but his kids actually go on holidays with A&P.

I think it's healthy and mature that they do, there are examples in other royal houses where the grandparents can't even get close to the kids due to bad relationships with their parents.

 

[wartenberg7]

We all know that Paola and Mathilde have never really gotten along but it seems like both Queens are willing to put their differences aside and allow the kids to spend time with their grandparents, same with Claire and her kids, Laurent doesn't like his parents but his kids actually go on holidays with A&P.

I think it's healthy and mature that they do, there are examples in other royal houses where the grandparents can't even get close to the kids due to bad relationships with their parents.

"We all know..."...? Well, I didn´t. I only knew about the former King and Queen´s son Laurent being estranged from family members - but the current Queen and Paola...?!

 

[leidi]

"We all know..."...? Well, I didn´t. I only knew about the former King and Queen´s son Laurent being estranged from family members - but the current Queen and Paola...?!

They both have very strong personalities and have clashed ever since the wedding (there was a famous "spat" with the flowers and whatnot) but I believe both are sensible enough not to allow that to get in the way of how the monarchy has to work.

Plus Mathilde is a very family oriented person by nature, so she would of course not get in the way of her kids getting to know/spend time with their grandparents.

 

[Blog Real]

I always thought Albert and Paola are close to all their grandchildren. Maybe they are less close to the children of Laurent and Claire, because we didn't see much Albert and Paola accompanied by Louise, Nicolás and Aymeric.

But I like to see Albert and Paola in the company of their grandchildren.

 

[maria-olivia]

They are closer to their grandchildren than their own children.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Perhaps Mathilde's immediate, very tight bond with Fabiola prevented her from becoming close to Paola as well?

Mathilde and the late queen seemed to have an almost mother/daughter relationship.

 

[leidi]

They are closer to their grandchildren than their own children.

Well, that's actually something you would expect, they weren't exactly the best parents, in fact they were pretty close to neglectful.

Thankfully their children seem to have grown to be great parents to their own kids and the cycle has been broken.

 

[W.Y.CII]

Thankfully their children seem to have grown to be great parents to their own kids and the cycle has been broken.

Another good thing is that even though the children have an obviously poor relationship with their siblings they don't bring that to the next generation and seems fine with their nephew and niece.