Queen Fabiola of Belgium (née

NEE

NEE is a political protest group whose goal was to provide an alternative for voters who are unhappy with all political parties at hand in Belgium, where voting is compulsory.The NEE party was founded in 2005 in Antwerp...

 Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón; born Madrid

Madrid

Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

, 11 June 1928) is the widow of King Baudouin of Belgium. She was Queen consort of the Belgians for 33 years. Since her husband's death in 1993, she has been styled HM Queen Fabiola of Belgium.

Life before marriage

Fabiola de Mora y Aragón (born in Madrid, Spain) was the fourth daughter of Gonzalo de Mora y Fernández, Riera y del Olmo, 4th Marquess

Marquess

A marquess or marquis is a nobleman of hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The term is also used to translate equivalent oriental styles, as in imperial China, Japan, and Vietnam...

 of Casa Riera, 2nd Count

Count

A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...

 of Mora

Mora, Spain

Mora is a town and municipality in Toledo province, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha, Spain. The area is most famous for the abandoned ruins of the San Marcos de Yegros monastery of the Order of Santiago, located northeast of the town of Mora about 10 km on the Calle de los...

 (1887—1957) and his wife, Blanca de Aragón y Carrillo de Albornoz, Barroeta-Aldamar y Elio, 4th Marchioness

Marchioness

Marchioness could refer to:*A noblewoman with the rank of Marquess, or the wife of a Marquess.*The Marchioness, a pleasure boat that was sunk on the River Thames in 1989....

 of Casa Riera, 2nd Countess of Mora (1892—1981). She was a sister of Jaime de Mora y Aragón, a Spanish actor

Actor

An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...

 and jet set

Jet set

"Jet set" is a journalistic term that was used to describe an international social group of wealthy people, organizing and participating all around the world in social activities that are unreachable to ordinary people...

 playboy

Playboy

Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...

. Her godmother was Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain

Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg

Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg was queen consort of King Alfonso XIII of Spain...

.

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

Efteling

Efteling is the largest theme park in the Netherlands, and as it opened in 1952, it is one of the oldest theme parks in the world. Efteling is located in the town of Kaatsheuvel, in the municipality of Loon op Zand, and has received over 100 million visitors....

 theme park in 1966.

Marriage to King Baudouin

On 15 December 1960, Fabiola married Baudouin, who had been king of the Belgians since his father

Leopold III of Belgium

Leopold III reigned as King of the Belgians from 1934 until 1951, when he abdicated in favour of the Heir Apparent,...

's abdication in 1951. At the marriage ceremony in the church of Laeken she wore a 1926 Art Deco

Art Deco

Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...

 tiara

Tiara

A tiara is a form of crown. There are two possible types of crown that this word can refer to.Traditionally, the word "tiara" refers to a high crown, often with the shape of a cylinder narrowed at its top, made of fabric or leather, and richly ornamented. It was used by the kings and emperors of...

 that had been a gift of the Belgian state to her husband's mother, Princess Astrid of Sweden

Astrid of Sweden

Astrid of Sweden was Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Leopold III.-Early life:Princess Astrid of Sweden was born in Stockholm on 17 November 1905...

 upon her marriage

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 to Léopold III of the Belgians

Leopold III of Belgium

Leopold III reigned as King of the Belgians from 1934 until 1951, when he abdicated in favour of the Heir Apparent,...

. Her dress of satin and mink was designed by the couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga

Cristóbal Balenciaga

Cristóbal Balenciaga Eizaguirre was a Spanish Basque fashion designer and the founder of the Balenciaga fashion house....

. TIME

Time (magazine)

Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

magazine, in its 26 September 1960, issue, called Doña Fabiola, who was a hospital nurse at the time of her engagement, "Cinderella Girl" and described her as "an attractive young woman, though no raving beauty" and "the girl who could not catch a man." On the occasion of her marriage, Spanish bakers set out to honor Fabiola and created a type of bread, "the fabiola", which is still made and consumed on a daily basis in many Spanish cities.

The royal couple had no children, as the queen's five pregnancies

Pregnancy

Pregnancy refers to the fertilization and development of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, in a woman's uterus. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or triplets...

 ended in miscarriage

Miscarriage

Miscarriage or spontaneous abortion is the spontaneous end of a pregnancy at a stage where the embryo or fetus is incapable of surviving independently, generally defined in humans at prior to 20 weeks of gestation...

. There are reports, however, that she had a stillborn

Stillbirth

A stillbirth occurs when a fetus has died in the uterus. The Australian definition specifies that fetal death is termed a stillbirth after 20 weeks gestation or the fetus weighs more than . Once the fetus has died the mother still has contractions and remains undelivered. The term is often used in...

 child in the mid 1960s. Fabiola openly spoke about her miscarriages in 2008: 'You know, I myself lost 5 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'.

Widowhood

Baudouin died in 1993 and was succeeded by his younger brother, the Prince of Liège

Liège (province)

Liège is the easternmost province of Belgium and belongs to the Walloon Region. It is an area of French and German ethnicity. It borders on the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and in Belgium the provinces of Luxembourg, Namur, Walloon Brabant , and those of Flemish Brabant and Limburg . Its...

 who became Albert II of the Belgians. Queen Fabiola moved out of the Royal Palace of Laeken to the more modest Stuyvenbergh Castle and reduced her public appearances in order not to overshadow her sister-in-law, Queen Paola

Queen Paola of Belgium

Paola, Queen of the Belgians , is the queen consort of Albert II of Belgium....

.

Admired for her devout Roman Catholicism and involvement in social causes particularly those related to mental health, children's issues and women's issues in the Third World

Third World

The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...

, Queen Fabiola is a recipient of 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

Food and Agriculture Organization

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and...

 of the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 (FAO). She's also honorary president of King Baudouin Foundation.

Guido Derom, an explorer, named a newly-discovered range of Antarctic mountain

Mountain

Image:Himalaya_annotated.jpg|thumb|right|The Himalayan mountain range with Mount Everestrect 58 14 160 49 Chomo Lonzorect 200 28 335 52 Makalurect 378 24 566 45 Mount Everestrect 188 581 920 656 Tibetan Plateaurect 250 406 340 427 Rong River...

s in her honour in 1961. She also has several varieties of ornamental plant

Ornamental plant

Ornamental plants are plants that are grown for decorative purposes in gardens and landscape design projects, as house plants, for cut flowers and specimen display...

s named after her.

Queen Fabiola was hospitalized with pneumonia on 16 January 2009, and spent 15 days there, with her condition being described as "serious". She subsequently made a good recovery and was attending public functions by the following May.

Death threats

In July 2009, anonymous death threats were published by newspapers. According to these Queen Fabiola was to be shot with a crossbow. She responded to the threats during the Belgian national holiday celebrations on 21 July by wittily waving an apple to the crowd - a reference to the William Tell

William Tell

William Tell is a folk hero of Switzerland. His legend is recorded in a late 15th century Swiss chronicle....

 folk tale. Subsequent threats by an individual said to have a similar signature to the July 2009 threat-writer were received again in January 2010. Her appearances have been less frequent in recent months, possibly due to these threats or residual health issues.

Linguistic skills

According to official sources, in addition to Spanish, Queen Fabiola is fluent in French, Dutch, English, German and Italian.

Titles

• Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón (1928–1960)
• Her Majesty The Queen of the Belgians (1960–1993)
• Her Majesty Queen Fabiola of Belgium (1993–present)

Ancestry

External links

• Queen Fabiola - Official website of The Belgian Monarchy
• Queen Fabiola: The Woman Behind The Hairdo - Website The Royal Universe

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