Belgian In Memoriam

© Unofficial Royalty 2012

Queen Fabiola (1928-2014)
King Baudouin (1930-1993)

 

Her Majesty Queen Fabiola (1928-2014)

 

Her Majesty Queen Fabiola of Belgium died at her home, Stuyvenberg Castle, on December 5, 2014.  She was 86 years old.  She was the wife of the late King Baudouin, who reigned from 1951 until his death in 1993.  Fabiola was born Doña Fabiola Fernanda Maria de las Victorias Antonia Adelaïda de Mora y Aragón, on July 11, 1928, in Madrid, Spain.

Fabiola married King Baudouin in 1960 and served as Queen Consort until Baudouin’s death. Having had no children of their own, the throne passed to Baudouin’s brother, King Albert II. Queen Fabiola remained a prominent and very active member of the Belgian royal family until the last few years of her life.  She suffered from osteoporosis and had been hospitalized in 2009 for severe pneumonia.  Since then, she seemed to suffer from ill-health. Her final public appearances were in July 2013, at the enthronement ceremonies for her nephew, King Philippe on July 21st, and a memorial service on the 31st in honor of the 20th anniversary of her husband’s death.

 

Upon the announcement of her death, there was a period of national mourning for the week preceding her funeral.  On December 9th, her remains were taken to the Royal Palace of Brussels, where members of the public were able to come and pay their respects.  Queen Fabiola’s funeral was held on the morning of December 12, 2014, at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels.  Many members of the various royal families of Europe were in attendance.  After the funeral, her remains were taken to the Church of Our Lady of Laeken. Following another brief ceremony there, Queen Fabiola was laid to rest beside her late husband, King Baudouin, in the Royal Crypt.

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His Majesty King Baudouin (1930-1993)

 

His Majesty King Baudouin of the Belgians died of heart failure on July 31, 1993, while vacationing at Villa Astrida in Motril, Spain at the age of 62. He was the son of King Albert III and Princess Astrid of Sweden. Baudouin became king on July 17, 1951, one day after his father’s abdication. King Leopold III had become unpopular and controversial due to his second marriage to commoner Mary Lilian Baels, but more so due to his decision to surrender to Nazi Germany during World War II.

On December 15, 1960, King Baudouin married Her Excellency Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón. King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola had no children, which greatly saddened them, and therefore King Baudouin’s brother succeeded him as King Albert II.

King Baudouin was buried at the Church of Our Lady, in Laeken, Belgium, the traditional burial site of Belgian royals, on August 7, 1993. The king who reigned for 42 years and was Belgian’s longest-reigning monarch, was extremely popular and deeply mourned by the Belgian people. Tens of thousands of people lined the funeral procession route and thousands gathered at the Grand Place in the heart of Brussels to watch the funeral on a giant television screen. Both Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands attended the funeral out of respect for the fellow monarch whom both considered their friend.

 

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