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Fabiola of Belgium

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Fabiola
Queen Fabiola on a state visit to Washington, D.C. in 1969
Queen consort of the Belgians
Tenure15 December 1960 – 31 July 1993
BornDoña Fabiola Fernanda María-de-las-Victorias Antonia Adelaida de Mora y Aragón
(1928-06-11)11 June 1928
Zurbano Palace, Madrid, Spain[1]
Died5 December 2014(2014-12-05) (aged 86)
Stuyvenberg Castle, Laeken, Brussels, Belgium
Burial12 December 2014
Church of Our Lady of Laeken
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1960; died 1993)​
FatherGonzalo de Mora y Fernández y Riera y del Olmo, Marqués de Casa Riera
MotherBlanca de Aragón y Carrillo de Albornoz y Barroeta-Aldamar y Elío
ReligionRoman Catholicism

Fabiola (born Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón; 11 June 1928 – 5 December 2014) was Queen of the Belgians from her marriage to King Baudouin in 1960 until his death in 1993. The couple had no children, so the Crown passed to her husband's younger brother, King Albert II.

Early life

Palace of Zurbano, where Queen Fabiola was born

Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón was born in Madrid, Spain, at the Palacio Zurbano, the main residence of the Marqués de Casa Riera.[1] She was the daughter of Don Gonzalo de Mora y Fernández y Riera y del Olmo, 4th Marqués de Casa Riera, 2nd Count of Mora (1887–1957), and his wife, Doña Blanca de Aragón y Carrillo de Albornoz y Barroeta-Aldamar y Elío (1892–1981), daughter of the 6th Marchioness of Casa Torres[2] and Viscountess of Baiguer.[3] Her godmother was Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain.[3]

Queen Fabiola is the fifth child[4] and had six siblings.[5] One of her siblings was Jaime de Mora y Aragón.[4]

She worked as a nurse in a hospital in Madrid.[5] Before her marriage, she published an album of 12 fairy tales (Los doce cuentos maravillosos), one of which ("The Indian Water Lilies") would get its own pavilion in the Efteling theme park in 1966.[6]

Marriage

Queen Fabiola during her state visit in West Germany (Munich, 1971)
Main article: Wedding of Baudouin of Belgium and Fabiola de Mora y Aragón

On 15 December 1960, Fabiola married Baudouin, who had been King of the Belgians since the abdication of his father, Leopold III, in 1951.[7][8] At the marriage ceremony in the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, she wore a 1926 Art Deco tiara that had been a gift of the Belgian state to her husband's mother, Astrid of Sweden, upon her marriage to Leopold III. Her dress of satin and ermine was designed by the couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga. Fabiola was a hospital nurse at the time of her engagement; TIME magazine, in its 26 September 1960, issue, called Doña Fabiola the "Cinderella Girl" and described her as "an attractive young woman, though no raving beauty" and "the girl who could not catch a man."[9] On the occasion of her marriage, Spanish bakers set out to honour Fabiola and created a type of bread, "la fabiola", which is still made in Palencia.

The explorer Guido Derom named the Queen Fabiola Mountains – a newly discovered range of Antarctic mountains – in her honour in 1961.[10] She also has several varieties of ornamental plants named after her.[citation needed]

The royal couple had no children, as the Queen's five pregnancies ended in miscarriage in 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966 and 1968.[3] Fabiola openly spoke about her miscarriages in 2008: 'You know, I myself lost five children. You learn something from that experience. I had problems with all my pregnancies, but you know, in the end I think life is beautiful'.[11]

Activities

After the death of Queen Elisabeth, in November 1965, Queen Fabiola became the honorary president of Queen Elisabeth Music Competition. Queen Fabiola attend the elimination rounds and the finals of each session.[5]

In September 1993, she became the president of the King Baudouin Foundation, established in 1976 to mark the twenty fifth anniversary of King Baudouin's reign.[5] The foundation's purpose is to improving the living conditions of the population.[5]

Queen Fabiola also founded the Social Secretariat of the Queen with the purpose to answering many requests for help.[5] She has supported study programmes aimed at prevention and treatment of dyslexia among children.[5]

She established Queen Fabiola Fund for Mental Health. The foundation's purpose is to help people with mental problems.[5] Queen Fabiola received several humanitarian awards in her lifetime and was awarded the Ceres Medal in 2001 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.[12]

Every year, Queen Fabiola attend the Summit on Economic Progress of Rural Women at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. The purpose of the summit is to create a movement of first ladies to respond to the call for help from the deprived women in the third world.[5]

Queen dowager

Queen Fabiola during a visit to the Barcelona Cathedral in 2007

Baudouin died in late July 1993 and was succeeded by his younger brother, Albert II. Fabiola moved out of the Royal Castle of Laeken to the more modest Stuyvenberg Castle and reduced her public appearances so as not to overshadow her sister-in-law, Queen Paola.

Admired for her devout Roman Catholicism and involvement in social causes particularly those related to mental health, children's issues and women's issues,[13] Queen Fabiola received the 2001 Ceres Medal, in recognition of her work to promote rural women in developing countries. The medal was given by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). She was also honorary president of the King Baudouin Foundation.

In July 2009, the Belgian press published news of anonymous death threats she received stating she would be shot with a crossbow. She responded to the threats during Belgian National Day celebrations by waving an apple to the crowd in a reference to the William Tell folk tale.[14] Subsequent threats by an individual said to have a similar signature to the July 2009 threat-writer were received again in January 2010.[15]

Tax avoidance claims

In January 2013, the Socialist Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo criticised Queen Fabiola for her plans to set up a private foundation (Fons Pereos), which was widely seen by the public as inheritance tax evasion (although, since the construction was admitted by Di Rupo to be legal, it would more precisely be a case of tax avoidance). Queen Fabiola denied the charges in a rare public statement: "I have never had the intention of depositing funds I received from the public purse with my foundation. All the monies that I receive from the civil list go on expenditure on my household. The lion's share goes on salaries."[16][17]

Linguistic skills

The Belgian Flag Halfmast

According to official sources, Queen Fabiola was fluent in French, Dutch, English, German and Italian, in addition to her native Spanish.[18]

Illness and death

Queen Fabiola was hospitalised for 15 days with pneumonia beginning 16 January 2009, with her condition described as "serious".[19] She subsequently recovered and began attending public functions the following May. Queen Fabiola had been in poor health for years, suffering from osteoporosis, as well as having never fully recovered from a lung inflammation she had in 2009. On the evening of 5 December 2014, the Royal Palace announced that Queen Fabiola had died at Stuyvenberg Castle.[20]

Funeral

The Royal coffin arriving at the Royal Palace

The federal government declared a period of national mourning from Saturday 6 December to Friday 12 December, the day when the funeral of Queen Fabiola took place at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels.[21]

The Royal Family, members of the government and the Lord Speaker received the coffin at the Royal Palace on 10 December where it was placed in the grand antechamber, where it was decorated with flowers and attended by an honour guard of generals, members of the King's Royal Military household.[22] Godfried Cardinal Danneels, Metropolitan Archbishop-emeritus of Mechelen-Brussels, celebrated the Requiem Mass.

Members of several royal families around the world including the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Empress of Japan, Queen of Denmark, King and Queen of Sweden, King of Norway accompanied by his sister Princess Astrid, King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, Sovereign Prince of Liechtenstein, Empress Farah of Iran and Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, attended the funeral. No members of the British Royal Family or the Monegasque Princely Family attended the funeral, leading to criticism by both Belgian and international press.[23]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Funeral of Queen Fabiola of Belgium.

Arms


Royal Monogram of Queen Fabiola
of Belgium
Alliance Coat of Arms of King Baudouin
and Queen Fabiola
Dual Cypher of King Baudouin and
Queen Fabiola of the Belgians
Dual Cypher of King Baudouin and
Queen Fabiola of the Belgians

Titles, styles and honours

Titles and styles

  • 11 June 1928 – 15 December 1960: Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón
  • 15 December 1960 – 31 July 1993: Her Majesty The Queen of the Belgians
  • 31 July 1993 – 5 December 2014: Her Majesty Queen Fabiola of Belgium

Honours

National honours

Foreign honours

See also

Notes

References

  1. ^ a b "Del palacio Zurbano de Madrid a ser reina de los Belgas" [Madrid Zurbano Palace resident became queen of the Belgians]. ¡Hola!. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  2. ^ "Ascendientes de Fabiola de Mora y Aragon *1928 †2014" [Ancestry of Fabiola de Mora y Aragon 1928 — 2014] (in Spanish). GeneAll. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  3. ^ a b c "Queen Fabiola of the Belgians – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. London. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  4. ^ a b Flantzer, Susan (24 August 2014). "Queen Fabiola of Belgium". Unofficial Royalty. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Queen Fabiola". The Belgian Monarchy Official Website.
  6. ^ "De Indische waterlelies" [Indian water lilies] (in Dutch). Efteling. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  7. ^ "Belgium's dowager queen Fabiola dies aged 86". BBC News. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  8. ^ "Baudouin I". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica. 11 June 2008. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  9. ^ "BELGIUM: Cinderella Girl". 26 September 1960. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  10. ^ "Antarctica Detail". United States Geological Survey. 26 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  11. ^ "Koningin Fabiola had vijf miskramen" [Queen Fabiola had five miscarriages]. Het Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). Groot-Bijgaarden. 21 April 2008. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  12. ^ Ilse, Jesse (5 December 2016). "Who was Queen Fabiola of Belgium?". royalcentral.co.uk. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  13. ^ "Queen Fabiola, Belgium's former queen, dies aged 86". GlobalPost. Archived from the original on 6 December 2014. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
  14. ^ "Belgium's cool Queen Fabiola defies would-be assassins with jokey apple gesture". Hello!. 23 July 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2013.
  15. ^ "Belgian Queen receives wave of death threats". The Daily Telegraph. 20 July 2010. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  16. ^ "Belgium PM slams queen over inheritance plan". Al Jazeera. 11 January 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  17. ^ "Belgian monarchy rocked by Queen Fabiola tax row". The Daily Telegraph. 11 January 2013. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  18. ^ "Queen Fabiola 11/06/1928 - 05/12/2014". The Belgian Monarchy. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  19. ^ "Belgium: Queen Fabiola in serious condition with pneumonia". Ynetnews. 20 June 1995. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  20. ^ Van Belle, Bart (5 December 2014). "Koningin Fabiola overleden" [Queen Fabiola Dies]. De Standaard (in Dutch). Groot-Bijgaarden. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  21. ^ "7 days of national mourning installed". VRT (in Dutch). 6 December 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  22. ^ "Koningspaar groet koningin Fabiola" [Royal salute for Queen Fabiola]. Het Laatste Nieuws (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  23. ^ "Veel hoge gasten, maar geen Britse royals in Brussel" [Many distinguished guests, but no British royals in Brussels]. VRT (in Dutch). 12 December 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  24. ^ "Ministerio de Asüncios Decreto 2235" [Ministry of Foreign Affairs Decree 2235] (PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). 22 November 1960. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  25. ^ "Indice de apellidos" [Index of Surnames] (PDF) (in Spanish). Solardetejada.es. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  26. ^ Monarquía Confidencial
  27. ^ Fallecimiento de la Reina Fabiola
  28. ^ Fallecimiento de la Reina Fabiola
  29. ^ http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nWIINtRGHnQ/UF4blcl7iBI/AAAAAAAACaA/CHek6yk6rDY/s1600/PAR278052.jpg
  30. ^ "Photograph". Badraie.com. Archived from the original (JPG) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  31. ^ "News, Notes & Texts". The Tablet. 17 June 1961. p. 20. Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  32. ^ https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/3d/e5/c0/3de5c0000b2015db00368c15003ac6f6.jpg
  33. ^ "Photo with Pope John XIII" (JPG). Office of Protocol. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  34. ^ https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Huwelijk_prinses_Beatrix_en_prins_Claus_%281966%29.jpg
  35. ^ "Ordens Honorfícas Portuguesas" [Portuguese Honors]. President of Portugal. 24 August 1982. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  36. ^ Fallecimiento de la Reina Fabiola
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fabiola de Mora y Aragón.
Belgian royalty
Vacant
Title last held by
Astrid of Sweden 		Queen consort of the Belgians
1960–1993 		Succeeded by
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