BRUSSELS: Belgium yesterday paid tribute to Spanish-born Queen Fabiola, the devout former monarch who died the evening before at 86, two decades after her husband King Baudouin.
Long suffering and not seen in public since July 2013, Fabiola was best remembered for her 30-year marriage to Baudouin, the lonely young king to whom she gave a much needed spark. “To the funniest queen of Belgium,” said a small card tucked into the Brussels palace gate where a few families were assembled to mark the historic moment.
“To her royal highness Queen Fabiola, more than a queen, a great lady,” another one said, near a teddy bear stitched in the Belgian national colours. As a couple, Fabiola and Baudouin brought a new life to Belgian royalty, providing unity to a country divided between French and Dutch speaking communities.
“Fabiola reunited with her Beaudouin,” wrote daily La Meuse. “With the death of Fabiola, it’s the Beaudouin era that passes,” said Le Soir. Also celebrated, were three decades of gravity-defying coiffures, usually a lacquered bouffante topped by a wide pastel hat.
“Not just a pious queen,” headlined the Dutch-speaking De Morgen, above her most famous picture, a mischievous Fabiola in mauve hat holding up a bright green apple. The scene dates to July 21, 2009, national day in Belgium. The queen was making a cheeky rebuke to an anonymous death threat, promised to be delivered by crossbow.
“Fabiola had a great sense of humour,” said foreign minister Didier Reynders in a tweet. It was this sense of humour that made her sympathetic even to modern Belgians not put off by her traditional Roman Catholicism, born of aristocratic upbringing.
AFP
