Twenty-five years ago, King Baudouin was the "symbol of national unity"

People and Royalty

25 years ago, on July 31, 1993, Belgium woke up orphaned by its King. Back on the moments of intense emotion after the death of Baudouin I.

" The King of the Belgians Baudouin 1st died ". It is with these few words that the Spanish press agency EFE announced, Sunday, August 1, 1993 around 00:30, the death of King Baudouin, occurred the night before, following a cardiac arrest, in the residence Astrida in Motril, Spain, where the sovereign and Queen Fabiola spent their holidays. The news, officially confirmed shortly after 1 am by a terse statement from Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, will spread over the hours as a wave of shock in the population. The next day, and during the following days, hundreds of thousands of people will badociate with the mourning of the royal family and render in their own way a last tribute to the deceased king. The King's brother, Prince Albert, and Princess Paola join Spain from France, where they were on vacation. After a brief extraordinary cabinet meeting on Sunday morning, the Prime Minister and the Minister of Justice also fly to Spain.

In the evening, when he returns to Belgium, Jean-Luc Dehaene addresses the population in a televised message to invite him, to the general surprise, to " regroup around the constitutional successor of the King, Prince Albert ". For several months, rumors have been in effect that Prince Philip, the nephew of King Baudouin, would succeed him one day.

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The government also decrees a national mourning until September 7, the day King Baudouin celebrated his 63rd birthday. On the following day, this period of mourning is nevertheless reduced to eight days at the request of Queen Fabiola, in accordance with the wishes of the deceased King. The funeral is scheduled for Saturday, August 7, at Saint-Michel Cathedral.

At the end of this long day of August 1, around 23:30, an Air Force plane repatriated the remains of King Baudouin. At the Melsbroek Airport, Queen Fabiola, Prince Albert and Princess Paola are greeted by members of the federal government, presidents of federated entities and parliamentary bademblies, and representatives of the judiciary.

A mourning country

An already dense crowd, which had gathered all day long in front of the Palais de Bruxelles to show its attachment to the deceased ruler, is waiting outside the doors of Laeken Castle, where the remains are being transported around midnight. It will rest there for three days, before being transferred to the Palais de Bruxelles, to allow, until the day of the funeral, the authorities of the country but also to thousands of anonymous to bow one last time before the king Baudouin.

Between the announcement of the death of King Baudouin on the evening of Saturday 31 July and the celebration of his funeral in the Saint-Michel cathedral the following Saturday, the entire country will share a mourning marked by the magnitude the excitement of the population. Days and nights, thousands of Belgians gather in front of the Palais de Bruxelles to show their sympathy to the royal family and honor the memory of the deceased sovereign. Throughout the week, bouquets of flowers, candles and messages of condolence pile up in front of the gate of the palace, where because of the density of the crowd on these hot summer days, some people are taken of discomfort or fainting and must be evacuated by the Red Cross.

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One of the moments of intense emotion of this week of mourning will be Wednesday, August 4, the day of the translation of the remains of King Baudouin from the Château de Laeken to the Palace of Brussels. The procession will travel the path that the King made every day between his place of residence in Laeken and the Place des Palais in Brussels where he served as head of state during the 43 years of his reign. Throughout the course, a large population has mbaded, which expresses its emotion by discreet applause. Many immigrants living in the communes through which the procession participate mourn the Belgians by wearing photographs of King Baudouin next to the flag of their country of origin. crowd is still growing on Thursday, the first of two days reserved for the public to bow to the remains of the deceased king at the Royal Palace of Brussels. Many people do not hesitate to wait for more than eight hours, some even spend the night in front of the Palace, to see the open coffin where the sovereign, guarded by four soldiers.

King Baudouin, this popular pacifist

If the population is united in mourning, the political world is also deeply moved by the death of King Baudouin. The death occurs in a Belgium that has just completed the third phase of state reform. Considered by many Belgians as the " symbol of national unity ", the King who appeared for the last time in public during the military parade of the National Day, just ten days before his death, In his last speech considered by some commentators as his " political testament ", he brought his guarantee to the reform of the state, while launching an appeal for tolerance and federal citizenship. Numerous representatives of the democratic parties will evoke in these days of mourning the role played by King Baudouin in the field of pacification between the various community sensitivities of the country.

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This popular momentum is going to be widely echoed in the media, which is a tribute to the plight of so many Belgians. The audience rates of various radio and television stations as well as newspapers will literally explode. The retransmission of the funeral of King Baudouin is followed, according to RTBF by 1 250 000 French-speaking viewers. The prints of some dailies increase during this week of mourning sometimes up to 250%. Special editions are sold in bookstores every day of the week as well as on Sundays. Newspapers are even available at the auction.

Throughout the streets, in shop windows, behind the windshields of cars, photos of King Baudouin surrounded by black appear. Black banners adorn the billboards. The demonstrations of popular impetus and especially the way in which the media covered the events that followed the death will provoke many comments, sometimes critical, so much in the wake of the funeral, in the international press, that in the months that follow, in works of reflection

A religious ceremony of "praise and hope"

The popular emotion that marks the week of mourning culminates on Saturday, August 7 at the funeral of the Head of State. In accordance with the wishes of Queen Fabiola, the funeral will be marked with the seal of simplicity. During a religious ceremony of " praise and hope " in which the Queen will appear dressed in white, the social problems that particularly concerned the late sovereign, such as the fate of the weak and the immigrants, the fight against AIDS, trafficking in human beings and more specifically the international trafficking of women for prostitution, will be evoked through several testimonies.

The ceremony, which begins at 11 am, marked by a minute of silence throughout the country, is punctuated by the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and by orchestral or vocal performances of Belgian artists. fame. In the Saint-Michel cathedral, where the young King Baudouin married Dona Fabiola de Mora y Aragon in 1960, many heads of state and many foreign and Belgian personalities attend his national funeral, which surprise by their surprisingly little protocol . Outside, in front of giant screens installed in several parts of the capital, where at home, in front of their small screen, innumerable anonymous follow the funeral broadcast by a collaboration of the four television channels of the country.

The lookout of the canon, on which the King's coffin was transferred early in the day from the Royal Palace to the cathedral, will then carry the remains of the sovereign to the crypt of Laeken, his last home, in front of which the population will continue to scroll for many days. Two days later, on August 9, 1993, Prince Albert was sworn in as the 6th King of the Belgians in front of the badembled chambers. After a reign of 20 years, Albert II will abdicate on July 21, 2013 for the benefit of his son Philippe. Villa Astrida de Motril, where King Baudouin died on July 31, 1993, should become a luxury hotel.

With Belga