R. I. P. King Baudouin, and many more years to Queen Fabiola.
I wish I had on hand the speech that Leopold III gave to Baudouin and Fabiola at their marriage. I found it in a biography of Leopold once and it was very good, much more than a 'pro forma' speech, articulating a real ideal of conjugal love and the loyalty and support a husband and wife should give each other (something Baudouin and Fabiola did indeed exemplify).
Interestingly, Leopold also reminded his son, on this occasion, that he should never forget what he owed to his step-mother Lilian, who, Leopold noted, had courageously shared her husband's ordeals while providing the young Baudouin with the care and tenderness that his own mother, Queen Astrid, had not been able to give him. It seems rather an unusual sort of point to make in an address to a new couple.
Thank you for sharing one of the most beautiful moments in Belgian's History! I was in fact one of the many children in the crowd that day. King Baudouin was indeed an excellent King and there will never be another Queen such as Fabiola. She won our hearts forever the way she smiled to her then young bridegroom.
R. I. P. King Baudouin, and many more years to Queen Fabiola.
ReplyDeleteI wish I had on hand the speech that Leopold III gave to Baudouin and Fabiola at their marriage. I found it in a biography of Leopold once and it was very good, much more than a 'pro forma' speech, articulating a real ideal of conjugal love and the loyalty and support a husband and wife should give each other (something Baudouin and Fabiola did indeed exemplify).
Interestingly, Leopold also reminded his son, on this occasion, that he should never forget what he owed to his step-mother Lilian, who, Leopold noted, had courageously shared her husband's ordeals while providing the young Baudouin with the care and tenderness that his own mother, Queen Astrid, had not been able to give him. It seems rather an unusual sort of point to make in an address to a new couple.
Thank you for sharing one of the most beautiful moments in Belgian's History! I was in fact one of the many children in the crowd that day.
ReplyDeleteKing Baudouin was indeed an excellent King and there will never be another Queen such as Fabiola.
She won our hearts forever the way she smiled to her then young bridegroom.