1.
Erasmus Hospital
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Erasmus Hospital is a hospital in the Anderlecht municipality of Brussels, Belgium. It is a hospital associated with the Université libre de Bruxelles. It has 858 beds and 3000 staff, treating 26,000 inpatients and 260,000 outpatients each year, the hospital is named after Renaissance humanist and theologian Desiderius Erasmus, who lived in Anderlecht near the Saints-Pierre-et-Guidon church in the 16th century. All four children of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium were born at Erasmus Hospital
2.
Anderlecht
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Anderlecht is one of the nineteen municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region. Located in the southwest of the city, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Dilbeek, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Saint-Gilles, there are several historically and architecturally distinct districts within the Anderlecht municipality. On February 1,2015, the municipality had a population of around 118,414, the total area is 17.74 km² which gives a population density of 6,610 inhabitants per km². The first traces of activity on the right bank of the Senne date from the Stone Age. The remnants of a Roman villa and of a Frankish necropolis were found on the territory of Anderlecht. The first mention of the name Anderlecht, however, dates only from 1047 under the forms Anrelech, then Andrelet, Andreler, and Anderlech. At that time, this community was home to a chapter of canons. In 1356, Louis of Male, Count of Flanders fought against Brussels on the territory of Anderlecht, in the so-called Battle of Scheut, supposedly over a monetary matter. Although he defeated his sister-in-law, Joanna, Duchess of Brabant, in 1393, Joanna’s charter made Anderlecht a part of Brussels. It is also around this time that the church of Saint Guido was rebuilt above the earlier Romanesque crypt in the Brabant Gothic style, the city of Anderlecht became a beacon of culture in the 15th and 16th century. In 1521, Erasmus lived in the house for a few months. Charles, Duke of Aumale and Grand Veneur of France also had a residence here, the 17th and 18th century were marked by the wars between the Low Countries and France. On November 13,1792, right after the Battle of Jemappes, General Dumouriez, among the consequences were the disbanding of the canons and Anderlecht being proclaimed an independent commune by the French. The 19th century saw a population growth, mainly because of the proximity to a rapidly expanding Brussels. Remarkable new urban developments and garden cities such as La Roue/Het Rad, today, the name Anderlecht rings a bell in every Belgian ear thanks to its very successful football club. The Collegial Church of Saint Peter and Saint Guido is still at the centre of the municipality and it contains the grave of the 11th century saint Guy of Anderlecht. Its Romanesque crypt dates from the 10th century and is one of the oldest in Belgium, most of the church, however, dates from 1350 and later, with most of the currently visible architecture representing the Ogee style. Construction of the started in 1517 but stopped with the square part up to the balcony
3.
Brussels
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Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
4.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
5.
Monarchy of Belgium
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The monarchy of Belgium is a constitutional, popular and hereditary monarchy whose incumbent is titled the King or Queen of the Belgians and serves as the countrys head of state. There have been seven Belgian monarchs since independence in 1830, the incumbent, Philippe, ascended the throne on 21 July 2013, following the abdication of his father. When Belgium became independent in 1830 the National Congress chose a constitutional monarchy as the form of government, the Congress voted on the question on 22 November 1830, supporting monarchy by 174 votes to 13. Following this refusal, the National Congress appointed Erasme-Louis, Baron Surlet de Chokier to be the Regent of Belgium on 25 February 1831 and this day has since become a national holiday for Belgium and its citizens. As a hereditary constitutional monarchy system, the role and operation of Belgiums monarchy is governed by the Constitution, the royal office of King is designated solely for a descendant of the first King of the Belgians, Leopold I. Since he is bound by the Constitution the King is intended to act as an arbiter and guardian of Belgian national unity, Belgiums monarchs are inaugurated in a purely civil swearing-in ceremony. The Kingdom of Belgium was never an absolute monarchy, nevertheless, in 1961, the historian Ramon Arango, wrote that the Belgian monarchy is not truly constitutional. King Leopold I was head of Foreign Affairs as an ancien régime monarch, millions of Congolese were killed as a result of Leopolds policies in the Congo. On several occasions Leopold II publicly expressed disagreement with ruling government and was accused by Yvon Gouet of noncompliance with the parliamentary system. In a similar manner, Albert I of Belgium would later state that he was in command of the Belgian army contrary to his Prime Minister Charles de Broqueville, Louis Wodon, thought the Kings oath to the Constitution implied a royal position over and above the Constitution. The family is, of course, an institution as is the state. But what would a family be where everything was limited among those who compose it to simply legal relationships. For Raymond Fusilier, the Belgian monarchy had to be placed - at least in the beginning - between the regimes where the rules and those in which the king does not rule. The Belgian monarchy is closer to the principle the King does not rule But the Belgian kings were not only at the head of the part of the Constitution. For Francis Delpérée, to reign does not only mean to preside over ceremonies, the Belgian historian Jean Stengers wrote that some foreigners believe the monarchy is indispensable to national unity. He is only a piece on the chessboard, but a piece which matters, to date all have belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. This is a tree of the Kings of the Belgians, hereditary. Dutch monarchs family tree The proper title of the Belgian monarch is King of the Belgians rather than King of Belgium, the title indicates a popular monarchy linked to the people of Belgium, whereas King of Belgium would indicate standard constitutional or absolute monarchy linked to territory or state
6.
Philippe of Belgium
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Philippe is the seventh king of the Belgians, having ascended the throne on 21 July 2013, following his fathers abdication. He is the eldest child of King Albert II, whom he succeeded upon Alberts abdication for health reasons and he married Countess Mathilde dUdekem dAcoz, with whom he has four children. King Philippes elder daughter, Princess Elisabeth, is next in the line of succession, Philippe was born on 15 April 1960 during the reign of his uncle, King Baudouin of Belgium. His father, Prince Albert, Prince of Liège was the son of King Leopold III of Belgium. His mother, Paola, Princess of Liège, is a daughter of Italian aristocrat Fulco VIII, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda. His mother descends from the French House of La Fayette, and he was born at the Belvédère Castle in Laeken north of Brussels. He was baptised one month later at the church of Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg in Brussels on 17 May and his godparents were his paternal grandfather, King Leopold III, and his maternal grandmother, Donna Luisa, Princess Ruffo di Calabria. From 1978 to 1981, Philippe was educated at the Belgian Royal Military Academy in the 118th Promotion Toutes Armes, on 26 September 1980, he was appointed second lieutenant and took the officers oath. He continued his education at Trinity College, Oxford and he attended school at Stanford University, California. He obtained his pilots wings and his certificates as a parachutist. In 1989, he attended a series of sessions at the Royal Higher Defence Institute. The same year, he was promoted to Colonel, on 25 March 2001, the Prince was appointed to the rank of Major-General in the Land Component and the Air Component and to the rank of Rear-Admiral in the Naval Component. He succeeded his father, who had been Honorary Chairman of the BFTB since 1962, on 3 May 2003, Philippe was appointed Honorary chairman of the board of the Foreign Trade Agency, replacing the BFTB. In this capacity, Philippe has headed more than 60 economic missions, upon his accession as seventh King of the Belgians, this role was taken over by his sister Princess Astrid. King Albert II announced on 3 July 2013 that he would abdicate in favour of Philippe on 21 July 2013, approximately one hour after King Albert IIs abdication, Prince Philippe was sworn in as King of the Belgians. His eldest child, Princess Elisabeth became his heir apparent and is expected to become Belgiums first queen regnant,26 September 1980 –21 March 1983, Belgian Air Force, Second lieutenant. January – end March 1983, Platoon leader, 15th Comp, 3rd Parachutists Battalion of the Paracommando Regt 21 March 1983 –1 December 1989, Belgian Air Force, Captain. 1 December 1989 –5 April 2001, Belgian Air Force, Colonel Belgian Army, since 21 July 2013, Belgian Air Component, General Belgian Land Component, General Belgian Marine Component, Admiral
7.
Queen Mathilde of Belgium
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Queen Mathilde of Belgium is the wife of King Philippe, who ascended the throne following the abdication of his father, King Albert II, on 21 July 2013. She is the first Belgian-born Queen of the Belgians, Queen Mathilde was born Jonkvrouw Mathilde dUdekem dAcoz in Ukkel on 20 January 1973. Her grandfather and her uncle were barons, Mathilde grew up at the family estate, Losange Castle in Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, Bastogne. Losange Castle is now property of the dowager Countess d’Udekem d’Acoz. Upon the accession of her husband, Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant to the throne of Belgium she became the first Belgian queen consort of native Belgian nationality, Mathilde is the oldest of five children. She has three sisters and one younger brother, Jonkvrouw Marie-Alix dUdekem dAcoz. She died in a car crash with her maternal grandmother, Margravine Elisabeth Pallavicini, née Countess dUdekem dAcoz who is married to Margrave Alfonso Pallavicini with whom she has 2 children, Margravine Olympia and Margrave Adalberto. Baroness Hélène Janssen, née Countess dUdekem dAcoz who is married to Baron Nicolas Janssen with whom she has a daughter, Baronne Cordelia Janssen. On 29 March 2008, Henri dUdekem dAcoz, Princess Mathildes uncle, told a Belgian newspaper that his brother, Patrick had been admitted to the Erasmus Hospital in Anderlecht, the Count was in an irreversible coma and in critical condition. Henri stated that his brother had been ill since January, Henri noted that Mathilde had visited her father in the hospital, as had other members of the Royal Family. On 25 September 2008, it was announced that the Count had died, aged 72, Queen Mathilde attended secondary school at the Institut de la Vierge Fidèle in Brussels. She then studied speech therapy at the Institut libre Marie Haps in Brussels from 1991 to 1994, Mathilde then worked as a speech therapist in her own practice in Brussels from 1995 to 1999. She also studied psychology at the Université catholique de Louvain and earned a degree in psychology in 2002 with honours. She speaks French, Dutch, English and Italian and her mother, who spent most of her life outside of Poland, did not teach her Polish, thinking that it would not be necessary. Therefore, Mathilde knows only a few words in Polish, the announcement of Mathildes engagement to the Belgian heir-apparent Prince Philippe came as a surprise to the country. Mathilde married Philippe on 4 December 1999 in Brussels, civilly at the Brussels Town Hall and religiously at the Cathedral of Saint Michel, Mathildes bridal gown was designed by Edouard Vermeulen. She was made Duchess of Brabant and a Princess of Belgium on 8 November 1999, the Queen is also godmother to two princesses, Princess Alexia of the Netherlands and Princess Isabella of Denmark. As Queen of the Belgians, Mathilde carries out a number of roles, including representing Belgium on state visits, receiving state visits from abroad
8.
Royal Highness
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Royal Highness is a style used to address or refer to some members of royal families, usually princes other than monarchs and their female consorts. When used as a form of address, spoken or written. When used as a reference, it is gender-specific and, in plural. Holders of the style Royal Highness generally rank below holders of the style Imperial Highness, by the 17th century, all local rulers in Italy adopted the style Highness, that was once used by kings and emperors only. Thus, the first use of the style Royal Highness was recorded in 1633, gaston, Duke of Orléans, younger son of King Henry IV of France, encountered the style in Brussels and assumed it himself. His children later used the style, considering it their prerogative as grandchildren of France, by the 18th century, Royal Highness had become the prevalent style for members of a continental reigning dynasty whose head bore the hereditary title of king or queen. The titles of members of non-hereditary rulers were less clear. Even in the cases of the titles, they usually only exist as courtesies. The chiefly appellation Kabiyesi is likewise used as the equivalent of the HRH, the title of Archduke or Archduchess of Austria was known to be complemented with the style of Royal Highness to all of the members of the House of Habsburg and later the House of Habsburg-Lorraine. The title of Prince/Princess of the Netherlands with the style of H. R. H. is or may be granted by law to the following classes of persons. The heir apparent to the throne, the spouse of the heir apparent. The children of the monarch, other than the heir apparent, the children of the heir apparent. A Prince/Princess of Orange-Nassau who is not also a Prince/Princess of the Netherlands is addressed as His/Her Highness without the predicate royal and that is the case for example of the children of Princess Margriet, younger daughter of the late Queen Juliana. In the British monarchy the style of Royal Highness is associated with the rank of prince or princess and this is especially important when a prince has another title such as Duke by which he or she would usually be addressed. In the United Kingdom, letters patent dated 21 August 1996 stated that the wife of a member of the Royal Family loses the right to the style of HRH in the event of their divorce. It was for this reason that when the Prince and Princess of Wales divorced, she ceased to be Royal Highness, and was styled Diana, Princess of Wales. Almost a year before, according to the claim of writer Tina Brown. The Princess of Wales is said to have replied, My title is a lot older than yours and she noted that the Spencer family, the family she was born to, is older than the House of Windsor
9.
Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant
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Crown Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, Princess of Belgium, is the heir apparent to the Belgian throne. The eldest child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, she acquired her position after her grandfather King Albert II abdicated in favour of her father on 21 July 2013. The first child of the then Duke and Duchess of Brabant, Elisabeth was delivered by caesarian section at 21,58 pm on 25 October 2001 at the Hôpital Erasme in Anderlecht, Brussels. She was baptized on 9 December 2001 in the chapel of Ciergnon Castle in the Belgian Ardennes, by Cardinal Godfried Danneels and her godparents are Archduke Amedeo of Austria-Este, and Countess Hélène dUdekem dAcoz. She has two brothers, Prince Gabriel and Prince Emmanuel, and a younger sister, Princess Eléonore. This is a significant change in the habits of the royal family, Elisabeth also attends dance classes conducted in Dutch at the Municipal Music Academy in Asse, in Flemish Brabant. Elisabeth speaks Dutch, French and German, in 2006, she attended the Te Deum in honour of Belgian National Day. In 2007, she accompanied her father to the opening of Technopolis and she also attended the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition and the presentation at the Royal Palace of a model of the Belgian Antarctic station which bears her name, Princess Elisabeth Antarctica. She was a bridesmaid to the weddings of her aunts, Elisabeth, when she married Margrave Alfonso Pallavicini in 2006 and Hélène. In 2014, she was a bridesmaid at the wedding of her cousin and godfather, Prince Amedeo. On 21 July 2013, once her father had taken the oath of office as King of the Belgians, Princess Elisabeth became heir apparent to the throne, in October 2014, Elisabeth gave a speech in honour of the First World War commemoration. On 6 May 2015, Elisabeth made a speech before christening a ship Pollux, if she ascends the throne as expected, she will be Belgiums first queen regnant. Instead the title was abolished, as French Hainaut was not considered linguistically neutral for the title to be conferred on her as the Countess of Hainaut suo jure, the official website of the Belgian Royal Family Belgian Monarchy-Princess Elisabeth Best of Princess Elisabeth
10.
Prince Gabriel of Belgium
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Prince Gabriel of Belgium is the first son and second child of King Philippe of Belgium and Queen consort Mathilde of Belgium. He is currently second in line to the throne of Belgium after his older sister Elisabeth, Gabriel was born in the Erasmus Hospital in Anderlecht, Brussels, on 20 August 2003. His older sister, Elisabeth, precedes him in the line of following the 1991 adoption of absolute primogeniture. Gabriel also has a brother, Prince Emmanuel, and a younger sister. His godparents are, his uncle, Count Charles-Henri dUdekem dAcoz. Gabriel is styled as His Royal Highness Prince Gabriel of Belgium and his official website The official website of the Belgian Royal Family
11.
Albert II of Belgium
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Albert II reigned as King of the Belgians from 1993 until his abdication in 2013. On 3 July 2013, King Albert II attended a session of the Belgian cabinet. He then announced that on 21 July, he would abdicate the throne for health reasons and he was succeeded by his son Philippe on 21 July 2013. Albert II was the monarch to abdicate in 2013, following Pope Benedict XVI, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. In doing so, he was also the second Belgian monarch to abdicate following his father, King Leopold III, Prince Albert was born in Stuyvenberg Castle, Brussels, as the second son and youngest child of King Leopold III and his first wife, Astrid of Sweden. He was third in line to throne at birth and was given the title Prince of Liège, Queen Astrid died in a car accident in August 1935 in which King Leopold was lightly injured but survived. The king later remarried Lilian Baels in 1941 which produced three children, Prince Alexander, Princess Marie-Christine and Princess Maria-Esmeralda. The prince and the returned to Belgium on 2 August 1940. They continued their studies until 1944, either at Laeken, or at the Chateau of Ciergnon in the Ardennes. Due to the situation in Belgium, King Leopold and his family moved to the villa Le Reposoir in Pregny, Switzerland. During that time, Prince Albert would continue his education in a school in Geneva. King Leopold III, accompanied by Prince Baudouin and Prince Albert, in 1958, Albert went to the Vatican to witness the coronation of Pope John XXIII. At a reception at the Belgian Embassy, he met Italian Princess Paola Ruffo di Calabria, “We were both shy, so we only talked a little, ” Paola said later about their first meeting. Shy but smitten, Prince Albert proposed marriage to her, to which she accepted, two months after their meeting, the prince introduced his future wife to his family, and four months later to the press. Upon arriving in Brussels for the first time before her wedding, the couple, supported by both families, intended to marry at the Vatican. However, the Belgian government disagreed as they felt the Belgian people should not be denied the opportunity to celebrate a royal wedding, particularly after a difficult decade post-war. The Pope, after diplomatic pressure, refused them a marriage at the Vatican. The couple married on 2 July 1959 and have three children, two sons and a daughter, twelve grandchildren and one child, King Philippe of the Belgians
12.
Queen Paola of Belgium
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She was born in Forte dei Marmi, Tuscany, Italy, the seventh and youngest child of the World War I Italian flying ace Fulco, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda. Her mother was Luisa Gazelli dei Conti di Rossana e di Sebastiano, a descendant of the Marquis de Lafayette. She is of Italian and Belgian ancestry and was hailed as one of the beauties of Europe in her youth. Queen Paola is fluent in Italian, French, German and English, less fluent, and the cause of occasional criticism, is her Dutch, the mother tongue of nearly 60 percent of Belgians. Ademarus Rufus, who died in 1049, held the title of Comes in southern Italy, the family divided into two branches after the 14th century, the Ruffo di Calabria and the Ruffo di Scaletta, to the former of which the Queen belongs. Queen Paola is related to historically eminent Roman and southern Italian noble families, including the Colonna, Orsini, Pallavicini, Alliata, among her distinguished ancestors of the French aristocracy were the American general Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette and the Dukes of Noailles. In 1958, the Prince of Liège went to the Vatican to witness the coronation of Pope John XXIII, at a reception at the Belgian embassy, the Prince met Italian Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria. We were both shy, so we talked a little, Paola said later about their first meeting. Shy but smitten, Prince Albert later proposed marriage to Paola and their engagement was announced at the Chateau of Laeken in 1959. The Royal Household wanted to organise the wedding in the Vatican, alberts father, King Leopold III of the Belgians, his aunt ex-Queen Marie-José of Italy, and Paolas brother, the Prince Ruffo, sent a diplomatic mission to the pontifical court. However the Belgian Government never accepted, and objected to the wish of the court, the Pope understood the governments concerns, and never agreed to participate in the wedding. Finally, avoiding a scandal, the Prince of Liège married Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria at St. Goedele Cathedral in Brussels on 2 July 1959. The couple have three children, Philippe, King of the Belgians, who married Countess Mathilde dUdekem dAcoz in 1999 and has 4 children, princess Astrid, who married Lorenz, Archduke of Austria-Este in 1984 and has 5 children. Prince Laurent, who married Claire Louise Coombs in 2003 and has 3 children, by the late 1960s, the marriage had deteriorated, and there were rumors of divorce plans. By the early 1980s, however, the relations had improved. In the end, Albert and Paola chose to stay together, for her 70th birthday interview, Paola, by then Queen of the Belgians, said, weve had our problems, but now we both say that we were meant for each other. On May 17,2016 Paola became a great-grandmother to Archduchess Anna Astrid, in 2015 The court announced Queen Paola was taking a period of total rest following doctors orders. They also announce that she had to cancel a visit to the Biennale in Venice
13.
Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
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Prince Lorenz of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este is a member of the Belgian Royal Family and an Austrian-Belgian citizen. Since 1996 he is head of the House of Austria-Este. On 22 September 1984 in Brussels, Lorenz married Princess Astrid of Belgium, after finishing school, Archduke Lorenz made his military service in the regiment of Gebirgsjäger of the Federal Austrian Army and was promoted as Reserve Leutnant in 1980. Lorenz studied economics at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland and he worked at various banks in London, Paris, and Rome. In 1983 he joined the Gutzwiller private bank in Basel where he became a Managing Partner. In 1993, he spent one year as a consultant to Swift, in 1995, he became Advisor to the Board of Directors of BNP Paribas Bank in Paris. He was formerly a director of UCB, Sita and of Ondeo Nalco, since 2004, Lorenz has been the honorary president of the Council of the Koninklijke Vereniging der Historische Woonsteden van België/Association Royale des Demeures Historiques de Belgique. Since 2005, he has been the Patron of Europae Thesauri, Lorenz has also served as deputy chairman of the Société des Amis of the Almanach de Gotha. He is named member of the Royal Crown Coucil of Romania in 2015.1 of the constitution of the Kingdom of Belgium, in addition he also bears the traditional Habsburg titles of Prince Royal of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. The Este suffix descended by male primogeniture and is borne by Lorenz, the title Prince of Belgium was granted to him by Royal Decree of 10 November 1995 by his father-in-law, King Albert II of the Belgians
14.
Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
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Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este is a member of the Belgian Royal Family. He is the heir to the headship of the House of Austria-Este, a branch of the Habsburg-Lorraine. Amedeo was born at the University Clinic St. Luc, Woluwe-St-Lambert, Belgium and he bears the same given name as his paternal great-grandfather Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta. His godparents are his uncle, King Philippe of Belgium and maternal grandmother, Amedeo himself is godfather to his cousin, the Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant. Amedeo has one younger brother Joachim and three sisters, Maria Laura, Luisa Maria and Laetitia Maria. He was baptised and married by the Archbishop of Mechelen, Cardinal Danneels, Amedeo undertook primary school and the greater part of his secondary education at the Jesuit school Sint-Jan Berchmanscollege in Brussels, popular with Belgian aristocracy and royalty. He finished his education at Sevenoaks School in Kent, England between 2001 and 2004. He then spent a year in Belgiums Royal Military Academy, in September 2005 he began studies at the London School of Economics, where he graduated in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science, Management, and took a sabbatical before entering professional life. Amedeo completed military service and is an officer in the Belgian Army. He worked as a research analyst intern at Accumulus Capital Management, during 2013 and 2014 Amedeo resumed his studies, obtaining a Master of Business Administration at the Columbia Business School of Columbia University. Thereafter he started to work as a management consultant for Deloitte in New York, on 15 February 2014, the Belgian Royal Court announced the engagement of Prince Amedeo to Italian journalist Nobile Elisabetta Lili Maria Rosboch von Wolkenstein. The couple were planning to relocate in Belgium after the wedding, in 1991 Amedeo obtained, along with his mother and younger siblings, succession rights to the Belgian throne. In 1993 his maternal grandfather acceded to the throne as King Albert II and he became third in Belgiums line of succession, following his uncle Philippe, Duke of Brabant, and his mother. The abdication on 21 July 2013 of his grandfather King Albert II of the Belgians promoted him to sixth in line to the throne, in November 2015, a royal decree expressing King Philips retroactive permission for the marriage was gazetted in the Moniteur Belge. In April 2016, it was announced that the couple were expecting their first child and their daughter, Archduchess Anna Astrid of Austria-Este, was born on 17 May 2016 in Brussels. e. Archduke/Archduchess of Austria-Este, Prince Royal of Hungary, internationally his abbreviated style is HI&RH Prince Amedeo of Belgium, Archduke of Austria-Este
15.
Prince Laurent of Belgium
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Prince Laurent of Belgium is the second son of King Albert II and Queen Paola, and younger brother of King Philippe. Born in the Château de Belvédère near Laeken, Belgium, he was educated at the Royal Cadet High School and he was promoted to the rank of Ship-of-the-Line Captain on 26 June 2004. As of 2008, Prince Laurent is an ambassador for Future Harvest and his involvement with animal welfare and the environment, together with a relative lack of interest in protocol, has caused him to be dubbed by elements of the popular Belgian press as écolo-gaffeur. Currently, he is 12th in the Belgian line of succession, following Princess Laetitia, youngest daughter of his older sister, Prince Laurent has been as high as third in line. The constitution was amended in 1991 to extend an equal right of succession to women who descend from the dynastys founder King Leopold I and were born in a marriage which obtained royal assent. Henceforth Princess Astrid preceded her younger brother in the line of succession, since then, Prince Philippe married and has dynastic descendants who precede both Astrid and Laurent in the order of succession. Prince Laurent and Claire Louise Coombs, born in Bath, England, miss Coombs was also given the title of Princess of Belgium upon her marriage. In December 2006, Prince Laurents name surfaced in a scandal in which funds of the Belgian Navy were spent on his residence in Tervuren. Although the investigating magistrates denied that Laurent was personally implicated, some of the accused have implicated the prince in the press. On 5 January 2007, it known that King Albert II had signed a royal decree. One of the defendants immediately used this to subpoena the prince, media reports in March 2007 suggested that Laurent was no longer welcome at the Royal Palace, possibly due to his role in the corruption scandal. Against this, defenders claim that there is tradition in the Belgian press. In March 2011, the visited the former Belgian colony of the Congo without receiving the required permission. In March 2014, Prince Laurent was hospitalised with pneumonia and depression and he was voluntarily placed in a medically-induced coma on March 25, although he was awakened on 27 March. On 4 April, Queen Paola stated in a letter that Laurents condition was improving, and that she felt he was the most vulnerable of her three children
16.
Princess Claire of Belgium
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Princess Claire of Belgium is a land surveyor married to Prince Laurent and the sister-in-law of King Philippe of Belgium. She is the daughter of Nicholas John Coombs, a British-born businessman and her family relocated to Dion-le-Val, near to Brussels in francophone Wallonia in 1977. She has therefore lived in Belgium since age 3, on 12 April 2003, she married Prince Laurent of Belgium, the second son and youngest child of the then Albert II of Belgium and his wife Queen Paola of Belgium. The civil ceremony was held at Brussels Town Hall, and the ceremony at the Cathedral of Saints Michael. She occasionally appears in accompanying her husband, generally in support of environmental causes or animal charities. She is also a patron of the Brussels Choral Society. She is also active in related to the United Kingdom in Belgium. She is a member of the Board of Trustees at the British School of Brussels and actively attends charitable and commemorative events hosted by the British Ambassador to Belgium. Prince Laurent does not hold a title such as Count of Flanders or Prince of Liège, as Belgiums cadet princes were formerly granted
17.
Princess Louise of Belgium (born 2004)
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Princess Louise of Belgium is the first child and only daughter of Prince Laurent of Belgium and Claire Louise Coombs. She is currently 13th in the line of succession to the Belgian throne and she was christened on 4 September 2004, in Longfonds, La Hulpe, Belgium, the estate of Baron Jacques-Ernest Solvay de La Hulpe. Her godmothers are Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein and Baroness Marie-Claude Solvay, there was no mention of who the godfather was, though some reports give the godfather to be Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi of Iran. It may be he was not mentioned because he is not a Roman Catholic and her two younger brothers are twins, Prince Nicolas and Prince Aymeric of Belgium, born 13 December 2005. Princess Louise attends the Lycee Francais, and previously attended a school in Tervuren. In 2009, Princess Louise contracted pneumonia while on a holiday in Sardinia, leading to the hospitalisation of her father. On 2 June 2011, she received her first communion at Sainte-Catherine Bonlez, in 2014 Princess Louise was a flower girl at the wedding of her cousin Prince Amedeo, Archduke of Austria-Este. Belgian Royal family King Albert IIs descent Genealogics - Louises ancestry Princess Claires ancestry
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Prince Nicolas of Belgium
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Prince Nicolas of Belgium is the second child of Prince Laurent and Princess Claire of Belgium. He is currently 14th after his sister in the line of succession to the Belgian throne, Prince Nicolas was born on 13 December 2005 in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. He has a sister, Princess Louise, and a younger twin brother. Prince Nicolas was named after his grandfather, the Englishman Nicolas Coombs. Belgian Royal family King Albert IIs descent Genealogics - Nicolas ancestry Princess Claires ancestry
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Prince Aymeric of Belgium
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Prince Aymeric of Belgium is the third child of Prince Laurent and Princess Claire of Belgium. He is currently 15th in the line of succession after his two siblings to the Belgian throne. He has a sister, Princess Louise, and an older twin brother. Prince Aymeric was born prematurely at the Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and he was born at the time of 18,55 and weighed 2210 grams at birth. The Prince is currently attending the school as his sister and brother. Belgian Royal family King Albert IIs descent Genealogics - Aymerics ancestry Princess Claires ancestry
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Princess Marie-Christine of Belgium
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Princess Marie-Christine of Belgium is a member of the Belgian Royal Family and a half-sister of King Albert II of the Belgians, she is the aunt of King Philippe of Belgium. Her father was King Leopold III of the Belgians, and her mother was his second wife, Marie-Christine was born in Laeken, Belgium. Her godparents were her half-brother King Baudouin and Infanta Maria Cristina of Spain, on 9 May 1962, she received her solemn holy communion and confirmation, officiated by Bishop Fulton Sheen. Her first marriage, to Paul Drucker in Coral Gables, Florida, on 23 May 1981, lasted 40 days, she subsequently married Jean-Paul Gourges in Westwood, California, american actor James Coburn was best man in her wedding to Jean-Paul Gourges. Princess Marie-Christine worked as an actress in Los Angeles using her third name Daphné, Marie-Christine and her husband live in Washington. She is a person in Belgium. The Princess in the past claimed to have been raped as a teenager and she has lived a jet-set life but in recent years has said she spent away her entire inheritance. When she was a guest in a Belgian Embassy abroad, Marie-Christine refused to drink to her half-brother Baudouin saying He is not my king, in 1993, when Baudouin died, she did not attend the funeral. On 17 April 2007, in an interview, she said abolishing the monarchy might prove to be of benefit to Belgium. The princess did not attend the funeral of her brother Alexander in December 2009
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Royal Castle of Ciergnon
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Ciergnon Castle, or the Royal Castle of Ciergnon is a residence and summer retreat of the Belgian Royal Family situated near the town of Ciergnon in the municipality of Houyet, province of Namur. The castle is a property of the Belgian Royal Trust, the domain with its woods, river and vast hunting grounds was acquired in 1840 by King Leopold I of Belgium at the request of his spouse Queen Louise-Marie. At first a hunting lodge was erected on a terrace overlooking a deep forested valley. The present château was erected later by King Leopold II of Belgium, the edifice was designed by his court architect Alphonse Balat. Since then it has served as a holiday retreat to the Royal Family. In 1960 it was the venue for the presentation of King Baudouins fiancé Dona Fabiola de Mora y Aragon. More recently the children of Philippe, King of the Belgians, Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, Prince Gabriel, Prince Emmanuel, the Royal Family also owned other castles in the direct vicinity of Ciergnon. Fenffe Castle is still in use as a retreat by the Duke of Brabant. Ardenne Castle was, according to the wish of King Leopold II and it was closed after World War II and destroyed by fire in 1968. List of castles in Belgium Belgium Royal Family
22.
Godparent
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A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a childs baptism, although the term has also been used in a legal sense. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother, as early as the 2nd century AD, infant baptism had begun to gain acceptance among Christians for the spiritual purification and social initiation of infants. The requirement for some confession of faith necessitated the use of adults who acted as sponsors for the child and they vocalized the confession of faith and acted as guarantors of the child’s spiritual upbringing. Normally, these sponsors were the parents of a child, as emphasized in 408 by St. Augustine who suggested that they could, it seems exceptionally. Within a century, the Corpus Juris Civilis indicates that parents had been replaced in this role almost completely and this was clarified in 813 when the Council of Munich prohibited natural parents from acting as godparents to their own children. This pattern was marked by the creation of legal barriers to marriage that paralleled those for other forms of kin, as confirmation emerged as a separate rite from baptism from the 8th century, a second set of sponsors, with similar prohibitions, also emerged. Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin preserved infant baptism against the attacks of more radical reformers including Anabaptists, in 888, the Catholic Council of Metz attempted to limit the number to one, but proliferation seems to have continued. In early 14th-century Spain, as many as 20 godparents were being chosen, in England, the Synod of Worcester stipulated three sponsors, and this has remained the norm in the Church of England. The Council of Trent attempted to limit the numbers of godparents to one or two, but practice has differed across the Catholic world. They were abolished in 1644 by the Directory of Public Worship promulgated by the English Civil War Parliamentary regime, after the Restoration in 1660, they were reintroduced to Anglicanism, with occasional objections, but dropped by almost every dissenting church. There is some evidence that the institution had lost some of its social importance as well as its universality. At present, in the Church of England, relatives can stand as godparents, godparents should be both baptized and confirmed, but the requirement for confirmation can be waived. There is no requirement for clergy to baptize those from outside their parishes, as a result, individual clergy have considerable discretion over the qualifications of godparents. Many contemporary Anglican rites likewise require parents and godparents to respond on behalf of infant candidates, the Catholic institution of godparenthood survived the Reformation largely unchanged. Someone who belongs to another Christian church cannot become a godparent, a witness does not have any religious role recognized by the Church. Lutherans follow a similar theology of godparents as Roman Catholics and they believe that godparents help with their Christian upbringing, especially if they should lose their parents. Lutherans, like Roman Catholics, believe that a godparent must be both a baptized and confirmed Christian, some Lutherans also follow the Roman Catholic tradition that a Christian who is not affiliated with the Lutheran denomination may serve as a witness rather than a godparent. The Orthodox institution of godparenthood has been the least affected of the traditions by change
23.
Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg
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Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, has been heir apparent to the crown of Luxembourg since his fathers accession in 2000. He was named after his fathers youngest brother Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg, Guillaume has four younger siblings, Prince Félix, Prince Louis, Princess Alexandra and Prince Sébastien. He began his higher studies in the United Kingdom where he studied at University College, Durham and Brunel University. In 2006 he entered Institut Philanthropos in Fribourg, Switzerland, where he spent a year studying philosophy and he later studied letters and political science at the Institut Albert-le-Grand in Angers, receiving his bachelors degree with honors in 2009. His degree was issued by Université dAngers, as a result of an agreement between the two schools. Guillaume has been apparent to the crown of Luxembourg since his fathers accession in 2000. If he succeeds to the ducal throne, he will reign as the fifth of his name, Guillaume V. He has been chairman of the Board of Economic Development of Luxembourg since 2001. He was formerly active with the Kraizberg Foundation, an institution for the disabled. On 26 April 2012, the announced the engagement of the Hereditary Grand Duke to the Belgian Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy. The civil wedding took place on Friday,19 October 2012, Guillaume is interested in music and sports, he plays piano and enjoys football, swimming and volleyball. He speaks Luxembourgish, French, German, Spanish and English and he regularly represents his parents in many foreign activities
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Special education
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Special education is the practice of educating students with special educational needs in a way that addresses their individual differences and needs. Ideally, this involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials. Common special needs include learning disabilities, communication disorders, emotional and behavioral disorders, physical disabilities, for example, even people of high intelligence can be under prepared if their education was disrupted, for example, by internal displacement during civil disorder or a war. In most developed countries, educators modify teaching methods and environments so that the number of students are served in general education environments. Therefore, special education in developed countries is often regarded as a rather than a place. Integration can reduce social stigmas and improve academic achievement for many students, the opposite of special education is general education. General education is the standard curriculum presented without special teaching methods or supports, some children are easily identified as candidates for special needs due to their medical history. The discrepancy model depends on the teacher noticing that the achievements are noticeably below what is expected. The response to intervention model advocates earlier intervention, although the discrepancy model has dominated the school system for many years, there has been substantial criticism of this approach among researchers. One reason for criticism is that diagnosing SLDs on the basis of the discrepancy between achievement and IQ does not predict the effectiveness of treatment. Low academic achievers who also have low IQ appear to benefit from treatment just as much as low academic achievers who have normal or high intelligence. The alternative approach, response to intervention, identifies children who are having difficulties in school in their first or second year after starting school and they then receive additional assistance such as participating in a reading remediation program. The response of the children to this intervention then determines whether they are designated as having a learning disability and those few who still have trouble may then receive designation and further assistance. Sternberg has argued that early remediation can greatly reduce the number of children meeting diagnostic criteria for learning disabilities, a special education program should be customised to address each individual students unique needs. Special educators provide a continuum of services, in which students with special needs receives varying degrees of support based on their individual needs, Special education programs need to be individualised so that they address the unique combination of needs in a given student. In the United States, Canada, and the UK, educational professionals use a student’s Individualized Education Program, the IEP is meant to address each child’s unique learning issues and include specific educational goals. It is a legally binding document, the school must provide everything it promises in the IEP. To ensure that federal law is obeyed, the government requires every school system provide this type of education to each student in order to receive federal funding
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Kessel-Lo
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Kessel-Lo is a town in Belgium. It is a borough of Leuven, situated to the east, Kessel-Lo is bordered by Holsbeek, Lubbeek, and several other municipalities that are part of Leuven. Its name is derived from Kessel and Lo, Kessel-Lo is home to the Provinciaal Domein Kessel-Lo, a large provincial park with ponds, playgrounds, soccer fields, and other areas for recreational activities. The town is known for Vlierbeek Abbey, an old Benedictine abbey built in 1125. Several youth organisations are present in Kessel-Lo, such as Chiro Don Bosco, Chiro Vlierbeek, Scouts Vlierbeek, Chiro Blauwput, Chiro Hekeko, Scouts De Vlievleger, a local brewery has recently been founded called De Vlier. They brew a beer called Kessels Blond. Kessel-Lo is also the home of the Rugby Club Leuven
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Cycling
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Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. Persons engaged in cycling are referred to as cyclists, bikers, or less commonly, apart from two-wheeled bicycles, cycling also includes the riding of unicycles, tricycles, quadracycles, recumbent and similar human-powered vehicles. Bicycles were introduced in the 19th century and now approximately one billion worldwide. They are the means of transportation in many parts of the world. Cycling is widely regarded as an effective and efficient mode of transportation optimal for short to moderate distances. Cycling also offers a reduced consumption of fuels, less air or noise pollution. These lead to financial cost to the user as well as to society at large. By fitting bicycle racks on the front of buses, transit agencies can significantly increase the areas they can serve, in many countries, the most commonly used vehicle for road transport is a utility bicycle. These have frames with relaxed geometry, protecting the rider from shocks of the road, utility bicycles tend to be equipped with accessories such as mudguards, pannier racks and lights, which extends their usefulness on a daily basis. As the bicycle is so effective as a means of various companies have developed methods of carrying anything from the weekly shop to children on bicycles. Certain countries rely heavily on bicycles and their culture has developed around the bicycle as a form of transport. In Europe, Denmark and the Netherlands have the most bicycles per capita, road bikes tend to have a more upright shape and a shorter wheelbase, which make the bike more mobile but harder to ride slowly. The design, coupled with low or dropped handlebars, requires the rider to bend forward more, making use of stronger muscles, the price of a new bicycle can range from US$50 to more than US$20,000, depending on quality, type and weight. However, UCI regulations stipulate a legal race bike cannot weigh less than 6.8 kg, being measured for a bike and taking it for a test ride are recommended before buying. The drivetrain components of the bike should also be considered, a middle grade dérailleur is sufficient for a beginner, although many utility bikes are equipped with hub gears. If the rider plans a significant amount of hillclimbing a triple-chainrings crankset gear system may be preferred, otherwise, the relatively lighter and less expensive double chainring may be better. Much simpler fixed wheel bikes are also available, many road bikes, along with mountain bikes, include clipless pedals to which special shoes attach, via a cleat, enabling the rider to pull on the pedals as well as push. For basic maintenance and repairs cyclists can carry a pump, a repair kit, a spare inner tube, and tire levers
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Swimming
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Human swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water or another liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs, the body, humans can hold their breath underwater and undertake rudimentary locomotive swimming within weeks of birth, as an evolutionary response. Swimming is consistently among top public recreational activities, and in some countries, as a formalized sport, swimming features in a range of local, national, and international competitions, including every modern summer Olympics, which takes place every four years. Swimming relies on the buoyancy of the human body. On average, the body has a density of 0.98 compared to water. However, buoyancy varies on the basis of body composition and the salinity of the water. Higher levels of fat and saltier water both lower the relative density of the body and increase its buoyancy. Since the human body is slightly less dense than water, water supports the weight of the body during swimming. As a result, swimming is “low-impact” compared to land such as running. The density and viscosity of water also create resistance for objects moving through the water, Swimming strokes use this resistance to create propulsion, but this same resistance also generates drag on the body. Hydrodynamics is important to stroke technique for swimming faster, and swimmers who want to swim faster or tire less try to reduce the drag of the motion through the water. Just before plunging into the pool, swimmers may perform such as squatting. Squatting helps in enhancing a swimmer’s start by warming up the thigh muscles, human babies demonstrate an innate swimming or diving reflex from newborn until the age of approximately 6 months. Other mammals also demonstrate this phenomenon, Swimming can be undertaken using a wide range of styles, known as strokes, and these strokes are used for different purposes, or to distinguish between classes in competitive swimming. It is not necessary to use a stroke for propulsion through the water. There are four main strokes used in competition and recreation swimming, the front crawl, also known as freestyle, the breaststroke, the backstroke, competitive swimming in Europe started around 1800, mostly using the breaststroke. In 1873, John Arthur Trudgen introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, Swimming has been recorded since prehistoric times, and the earliest records of swimming date back to Stone Age paintings from around 7,000 years ago. Written references date from 2000 BC, some of the earliest references include the Epic of Gilgamesh, the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible, Beowulf, and other sagas
28.
Skiing
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Skiing is a mode of transport, recreational activity and competitive winter sport in which the participant uses skis to glide on snow. Many types of skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee. Skiing has a history of almost five millennia, although modern skiing has evolved from beginnings in Scandinavia, it may have been practiced as early as 600 BC in what is now China. The word ski is one of a handful of words Norway has exported to the international community and it comes from the Old Norse word skíð which means split piece of wood or firewood. Asymmetrical skis were used at least in northern Finland and Sweden until the late 19th century, on one leg the skier wore a long straight non-arching ski for sliding, and on the other a shorter ski for kicking. Early skiers used one long pole or spear, the first depiction of a skier with two ski poles dates to 1741. Until the mid-19th century skiing was primarily used for transport, and since then has become a recreation, military ski races were held in Norway during the 18th century, and ski warfare was studied in the late 18th century. As equipment evolved and ski lifts were developed skiing evolved into two main genres during the late 19th and early 20th century, Alpine and Nordic, also called downhill skiing, alpine skiing typically takes place on a piste at a ski resort. It is characterized by fixed-heel bindings that attach at both the toe and the heel of the skiers boot, because alpine equipment is somewhat difficult to walk in, ski lifts, including chairlifts, bring skiers up the slope. Backcountry skiing can be accessed by helicopter, snowcat, hiking, facilities at resorts can include night skiing, après-ski, and glade skiing under the supervision of the ski patrol and the ski school. Alpine skiing branched off from the older Nordic skiing around the 1920s, Alpine equipment specialized to where it can only be used with the help of lifts. The Nordic disciplines include cross-country skiing and ski jumping, which share in common the use of binding that attach at the toes of the skiers boots, cross-country skiing may be practiced on groomed trails or in undeveloped backcountry areas. Ski jumping skiing is practiced at certain areas that are deemed for ski jumping only, Telemark skiing is a ski turning technique and FIS-sanctioned discipline. It is named after the Telemark region of Norway, using equipment similar to nordic skiing, the ski bindings having the ski boot attached only at the toe. This allows the skier to raise his/her heel throughout the turn, the following disciplines are sanctioned by the FIS and USSA. Many have their own cups and are in the Winter Olympic Games. Cross-country, The sport encompasses a variety of formats for cross-country skiing races over courses of varying lengths, such races occur over homologated, groomed courses designed to support classic and free-style events, where the skiers may employ skate skiing. Alpine skiing discliplines include combined, downhill, slalom, giant slalom, Super-G, one run of each even like one run of Super-G and one run of Slalom skiing this is called a Super Combined
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Sailing
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Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the water, on ice or on land over a chosen course, which is often part of a larger plan of navigation. A course defined with respect to the wind direction is called a point of sail. Conventional sailing craft cannot derive power from sails on a point of sail that is too close into the wind, on a given point of sail, the sailor adjusts the alignment of each sail with respect to the apparent wind direction to mobilize the power of the wind. In the 21st century, most sailing represents a form of recreation or sport, recreational sailing or yachting can be divided into racing and cruising. Cruising can include extended offshore and ocean-crossing trips, coastal sailing within sight of land, until the end of the 19th century, sailing ships were the primary means for marine commerce. The earliest representation of a ship under sail appears on a painted disc found in Kuwait dating between 5000 and 5500 BCE, polynesian oceanfarers traveled vast distances of open ocean in outrigger canoes using navigation methods such as stick charts. Advances in sailing technology from the Middle Ages onward enabled Arab, Chinese, Indian and European explorers to make longer voyages into regions with extreme weather and climatic conditions. There were improvements in sails, masts and rigging, improvements in marine navigation including the tree and charts. Sailing has contributed to many great explorations in the world, the air interacting with the sails of a sailing vessel creates various forces, including reaction forces. If the sails are properly oriented with respect to the wind, however, boats propelled by sails cannot sail directly into the wind. They must tack back and forth in order to progress directly upwind, sails are airfoils that work by using an airflow set up by the wind and the motion of the boat. Sails work in two modes to use the wind to force, PUSH, when the boat is going in the same direction as the wind. The force on the sail is mostly aerodynamic drag, and sails acting in this way are aerodynamically stalled. This force manifests itself as pressure differences between the two sides of the sail - there is a region of low pressure on the front side of the sail and a region of high pressure on the back. Another way to say this is that sails generate lift using the air flows around them in the same way as an aircraft wing. The wind that a boat experiences is the combination of the true wind and this combination is the apparent wind, which is the relative velocity of the wind relative to the boat. When sailing upwind the apparent wind is greater than the true wind, iceboats can typically sail at 5 times the speed of the wind. Where there is a difference in motion, then there is energy to be extracted at the interface, the sailboat does this by placing the sail in the air and the hull in the water
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Flute
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The flute is a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening, according to the instrument classification of Hornbostel–Sachs, flutes are categorized as edge-blown aerophones. A musician who plays the flute can be referred to as a player, flautist, flutist or, less commonly. Flutes are the earliest extant musical instruments, as paleolithic instruments with hand-bored holes have been found, a number of flutes dating to about 43,000 to 35,000 years ago have been found in the Swabian Jura region of present-day Germany. These flutes demonstrate that a musical tradition existed from the earliest period of modern human presence in Europe. Flutes, including the famous Bansuri, have been a part of Indian classical music since 1500 BC. A major deity of Hinduism, Krishna, has been associated with the flute, the English verb flout has the same linguistic root, and the modern Dutch verb fluiten still shares the two meanings. Attempts to trace the word back to the Latin flare have been pronounced phonologically impossible or inadmissable, the first known use of the word flute was in the 14th century. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, this was in Geoffrey Chaucers The Hous of Fame, today, a musician who plays any instrument in the flute family can be called a flutist, or flautist, or simply a flute player. Flutist dates back to at least 1603, the earliest quote cited by the Oxford English Dictionary, flautist was used in 1860 by Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Marble Faun, after being adopted during the 18th century from Italy, like many musical terms in England since the Italian Renaissance. Other English terms, now obsolete, are fluter and flutenist. The oldest flute ever discovered may be a fragment of the femur of a cave bear. In 2008 another flute dated back to at least 35,000 years ago was discovered in Hohle Fels cave near Ulm, the five-holed flute has a V-shaped mouthpiece and is made from a vulture wing bone. The researchers involved in the officially published their findings in the journal Nature. The flute, one of several found, was found in the Hohle Fels cavern next to the Venus of Hohle Fels, on announcing the discovery, scientists suggested that the finds demonstrate the presence of a well-established musical tradition at the time when modern humans colonized Europe. Scientists have also suggested that the discovery of the flute may help to explain the probable behavioural and cognitive gulf between Neanderthals and early modern human. A three-holed flute,18.7 cm long, made from a mammoth tusk was discovered in 2004, the earliest extant Chinese transverse flute is a chi flute discovered in the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng at the Suizhou site, Hubei province, China. It dates from 433 BC, of the later Zhou Dynasty and it is fashioned of lacquered bamboo with closed ends and has five stops that are at the flutes side instead of the top
31.
Order of Leopold (Belgium)
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The Order of Leopold is one of the three current Belgian national honorary orders of knighthood. It is the highest order of Belgium and is named in honour of King Leopold I and it consists of a military, a maritime and a civilian division. The maritime division is awarded to personnel of the merchant navy. The decoration was established on 11 July 1832 and is awarded for bravery in combat or for meritorious service of immense benefit to the Belgian nation. The Order of Leopold is awarded by royal decree, when Belgium became independent of the Netherlands, there was a urgent need to create a national honour system that could serve as a diplomatic gift. The first King of the Belgians, Leopold I of Belgium, two years after the independence, the young King officially founded the dynastic Order of Leopold. The king approved the colour and grades both civil and military, and the official motto L’Union fait la Force/Eendracht maakt Macht, in the early 19th century, the court sent the Grand Cordon as a diplomatic gift. The founder gave his French family grand Cordons as wedding gifts, people who fought in the Belgian revolution became members in great numbers. In 1838 the King lost his right to create members, this was then on the responsibility of the foreign office. At the end of his reign the major political elite were members of the order, King Leopold II gifted major Belgian artists, generals and clergy into the order. At the end of World War I, the Order became internationally recognised for its famous members, the order was bestowed as a personal marriage gift by the King Leopold II to Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern and Ernst Gunther, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. In 1878 the King named several diplomatic dignitaries Grand cordon in honour of his wedding celebration. In 1919 King Albert granted all Lieutenant-Generals of the Belgian Army the Grand Cordon in Brussels, one of the rare Ladies in the order was Countess Renée de Merode. The Order can be bestowed post-mortem, for example, Emile Verhaeren received the Grand Cordon after his death, people can lose the order, for example what happened during World War I with Alfred Wotquenne. After the Second World War, the Order of Leopold was bestowed on the officers of foreign militaries who had helped to liberate Belgium from the occupation of German forces. Most illustrious was the grand Cordons with Palms given by the King to Sir Winston Churchill, the medal was also granted to Karel Bossart in 1962, and Josip Broz Tito in 1970. Annually, there are two days when the King normally grants membership, on April 8 and on November 15. During state visits, the Order of Leopold is the most important diplomatic gift of the state, in 2015 some protest was noted when King Philippe offered the Grand Cordon to President Erdogan of Turkey during his state visit in Belgium
32.
Albert I of Belgium
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Albert I reigned as King of the Belgians from 1909 to 1934. This was a period in the History of Belgium, which included the period of World War I, when 90 percent of Belgium was overrun, occupied. King Albert died in a accident in eastern Belgium in 1934, at the age of 58. Born Albert Léopold Clément Marie Meinrad in Brussels, he was the child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders. Prince Philippe was the son of Leopold I, the first King of the Belgians, and his wife, Marie-Louise of France. Princess Marie was a relative of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Albert grew up in the Palace of Flanders, initially as third in the line of succession to the Belgian throne as his reigning Uncle Leopold IIs son had already died. Retiring and studious, Albert prepared himself strenuously for the task of kingship, shortly before his accession to the throne in 1909, Albert undertook an extensive tour of the Belgian Congo, which had been annexed by Belgium in 1908, finding the country in poor condition. Upon his return to Belgium, he recommended reforms to protect the native population and he was the 1, 152nd Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Austria and the 851st Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1914. Albert was married in Munich on 2 October 1900 to Duchess Elisabeth Gabrielle Valérie Marie in Bavaria, a Wittelsbach princess whom he had met at a family funeral. A daughter of Karl-Theodor, Duke in Bavaria, and his wife, the Infanta Maria Josepha of Portugal, she was born at Possenhofen Castle, Bavaria, Germany, on 25 July 1876, and died on 23 November 1965. Based on the letters written during their engagement and marriage the couple appear to have been deeply in love. The letters express a mutual affection based on a rare affinity of spirit. They also make clear that Albert and Elisabeth continually supported and encouraged each other in their roles as king. The spouses shared a commitment to their country and family. Together, they cultivated the friendship of prominent scientists, artists, mathematicians, musicians, charles-Théodore Henri Antoine Meinrad, Count of Flanders, Prince of Belgium, Regent of Belgium. Marie José Charlotte Sophie Amélie Henriette Gabrielle, Princess of Belgium and she was married at Rome, Italy on 8 January 1930 to Prince Umberto Nicola Tommaso Giovanni Maria, Prince of Piemonte. He became King Umberto II of Italy, following the death of his uncle, Leopold II, Albert succeeded to the Belgian throne in December 1909, since Alberts own father had already died in 1905. Previous Belgian kings had taken the royal accession oath only in French, an important aspect of the early years of Alberts reign was his institution of many reforms in the administration of the Belgian Congo, Belgiums only colonial possession
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Leopold III of Belgium
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Leopold III reigned as King of the Belgians from 1934 until 1951, when he abdicated in favour of the heir apparent, his son Baudouin. From 1944 until 1950, Leopolds brother, Charles, served as regent while Leopold was declared unable to rule. In 1950, the debate about whether Leopold could resume his royal functions provoked a crisis known as the Royal Question. Leopold was born in Brussels and succeeded to the throne of Belgium on 23 February 1934 following the death of his father, King Albert I. He was invested as Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain in 1923, Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword in 1927, Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant, was sent by his father to Eton College in the United Kingdom in 1915. After the war, in 1919, the Duke visited the Old Mission and Saint Anthony Seminary in Santa Barbara and he married Princess Astrid of Sweden in a civil ceremony in Stockholm on 4 November 1926, followed by a religious ceremony in Brussels on 10 November. The marriage produced three children, Joséphine-Charlotte, Princess of Belgium, born at the Royal Palace of Brussels on 11 October 1927 and she was married on 9 April 1953 to Prince Jean, later Grand-Duke of Luxembourg. She died at Fischbach Castle on 10 January 2005, Albert, Prince of Liège, Prince of Belgium, who became the sixth King of the Belgians as Albert II, born at Stuyvenberg on 6 June 1934. Leopold married Lilian Baels on 11 September 1941 in a secret, religious ceremony, with no validity under Belgian law. They originally intended to wait until the end of the war for the marriage, but as the new Princesse de Réthy was soon expecting their first child. They had three children in total, Alexandre, Prince of Belgium, born in Brussels on 18 July 1942, in 1991, he married Lea Inga Dora Wohlman, a marriage revealed only seven years later. He died on 29 November 2009, marie-Christine, Princess of Belgium, born in Brussels on 6 February 1951. Her first marriage, to Paul Drucker in 1981, lasted 40 days, marie-Esméralda, Princess of Belgium, born in Brussels on 30 September 1956, a journalist, her professional name is Esmeralda de Réthy. She married Salvador Moncada, a noted pharmacologist, in 1998 and they have a son and a daughter. When World War II broke out in September 1939, the French, Leopold and his government refused, maintaining Belgiums neutrality. On 10 May 1940, the Wehrmacht invaded Belgium, after a short running battle that eventually involved the armies of all four belligerents, Belgium was overwhelmed by the numerically superior and better-prepared Germans. Nevertheless, the Belgian perseverance prevented the British Expeditionary Force from being outflanked and cut off from the coast, after his military surrender, Leopold remained in Brussels to surrender to the victorious invaders, while his entire civil government fled to Paris and later to London. On 24 May 1940, Leopold, having assumed command of the Belgian Army, the ministers urged the king to leave the country with the government
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Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium
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Elisabeth of Bavaria was Queen consort of the Belgians as the spouse of King Albert I, and a Duchess in Bavaria by birth. She was the mother of King Leopold III of Belgium and of Queen Marie José of Italy, born in Possenhofen Castle, her father was Karl-Theodor, Duke in Bavaria, head of a cadet branch of the Bavarian royal family, and an ophthalmologist of recognized reputation. She was named in honor of her fathers sister, Empress Elisabeth of Austria and her mother was Maria Josepha of Portugal, daughter of exiled Miguel I of Portugal. An artist himself, Duke Karl-Theodor cultivated the artistic tastes of his family and Elisabeth was raised with a love for painting, music. At her fathers clinic, where her mother assisted her father as a nurse, Elisabeth obtained exposure to productive labour, in Munich on 2 October 1900, Duchess Elisabeth married Prince Albert, second-in-line to the throne of Belgium. Upon her husbands accession to the Belgian throne in 1909, Elisabeth became queen, the city of Élisabethville, today Lubumbashi, in the Congo was named in her honour. At the time that Albert and Elisabeth met, Prince Albert was the heir to his uncle Leopold II of the Belgians, Albert was the second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a sister of King Carol I of Romania. At birth, Albert occupied the place in the line of succession behind his father and elder brother. The unexpected death of Baudouin in January 1891 immediately raised Albert to prominence within his country, a studious, quiet man, Albert was not the choice of heir that King Leopold II would have relished. As the only living member of his generation, Albert was guaranteed the Crown of the Belgians upon the Kings death. During the First World War, she and the King resided in De Panne, the Queen made herself beloved by visiting the front lines and by sponsoring a nursing unit. Despite her German background, she was a queen, perceived as eagerly supporting her adoptive country. From September 23 till November 13,1919, the Queen, together with the King and Prince Léopold, during a journey in the historic pueblo of Isleta in New Mexico, the King awarded the Order of Léopold to Father Anton Docher. As a memento, the King was given a cross mounted in silver made by the Tiwa people. Ten thousand people traveled to Isleta for the occasion, in 1934, Albert I died in a climbing accident in the Ardennes of Belgium, near Namur. Elisabeth lived to see her son king, her younger son become, effectively, regent of the realm. As queen dowager, she became a patron of the arts and was known for her friendship with such notable scientists as Albert Einstein. During the German occupation of Belgium from 1940 to 1944, she used her influence as queen, after the war she was awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli government
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Astrid of Sweden
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Astrid Sofia Lovisa Thyra of Sweden was Queen consort of the Belgians as the first wife of King Leopold III. By birth she was a princess of Swedens royal House of Bernadotte and her grandsons include King Philippe of Belgium and Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Her father was the brother of King Gustav V of Sweden. She had two elder sisters Princess Margaretha of Sweden and Princess Martha of Sweden and a younger brother Prince Carl Bernadotte. As an eligible princess, Astrid was mentioned as a bride for a number of princes including the future Edward VIII of Great Britain. Astrids successful suitor was Crown Prince Leopold of Belgium, in September 1926, their engagement was announced. King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium invited the press to the palace in Brussels. The Queen and I, declared Albert, would like to announce to you the impending marriage between Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant and the Princess Astrid of Sweden and we are convinced that the princess will bring joy and happiness to our son. Leopold and Astrid have decided to join their lives without any pressures or reasons of state, theirs is a true union among people with the same inclinations. Queen Elisabeth, incorrigible romantic that she was, insisted in saying It is a marriage of love, not a single political consideration prevailed in our sons decision. In Stockholm on 4 November 1926 civilly and in Cathedral of St. Michael, the couple travelled separately to Antwerp after their civil marriage, to be reunited in Belgium. These large stones, totaling around 100 carats on their own, symbolize the nine provinces of Belgium and she later added a set of diamond arches to enclose each of the 11 independent stones. After Astrid’s death the tiara was in the possession of King Leopold, Leopold abdicated the throne in favor of his son Baudouin, when Baudouin married, Leopold gave the tiara to the new queen. Fabiola, Belgium’s first queen since Astrid, wore it on her wedding day and she handed the jewel over after Baudouin’s death to be worn by Queen Paola who, after the abdication of her husband Albert, gave it to Mathilde new Queen of the Belgians. Astrid was enthusiastically adopted by the Belgians and she was widely loved for her beauty, charm and simplicity. Her public and official engagements radiated enthusiasm, Leopold was her most fervent admirer. The love shared by the couple was evident to all. On more than one occasion people could see them holding hands, in 1927, Leopold and Astrid had a daughter, Princess Joséphine-Charlotte
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Princess Ingeborg of Denmark
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Princess Ingeborg of Denmark, was a Princess of Sweden by marriage to Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland. She was the daughter of Frederick VIII of Denmark, and the grandmother of Harald V of Norway, Baudouin and Albert II of Belgium. Her mother was Princess Louise of Sweden, the surviving child of King Charles XV of Sweden. In May 1897, Princess Ingeborg was engaged to Prince Carl of Sweden, Prince Carl was the third son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Sophia of Nassau. They were, therefore, first cousins once-removed and they married on 27 August 1897 in the chapel at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen and spent their honeymoon in Germany. The couple had four children, Princess Margaretha of Sweden, later Princess of Denmark, Princess Märtha of Sweden, later Crown Princess of Norway. Princess Astrid of Sweden, later Queen of the Belgians, Prince Carl Bernadotte, known as Carl Jr. later Prince Bernadotte, a Belgian title. The marriage was popular because she was the granddaughter of the popular king Charles XV of Sweden and IV of Norway and she is perceived as having performed her representational duties with a combination of dignity and easygoing friendliness, and as attracting a social circle with her wit. In 1908, she accompanied her husbands nephew Prince William to his wedding with her paternal first cousin once removed Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna in Russia and she lived a harmonious family life, and the family was known as The happy family. The children were given a simple upbringing, and expected to learn household tasks, they were, for example, given a real stove in their play cottage and she and Carl lived an informal and intimate family life with their children. Ingeborg was admired for her handling of the difficulties experienced when a bank they invested in crashed in 1922. She was portrayed as a symbol of a wife and mother in many magazines and was for years the most popular member of the royal house. In 1905, the Norwegian government discussed making them king and queen of Norway, instead, her brother was elected monarch of Norway. Ingeborgs kinship to the Scandinavian dynasties helped bring the three royal houses together again after tension created due to Norways 1905 secession, politically, Ingeborg had democratic and liberal sympathies and disliked the conservatives, views she expressed during the governmental crisis in 1918. During the World War II in 1940–45, she demonstrated publicly against Nazi Germany by blocking the window of her house which faced the German embassy in Stockholm. Princess Ingeborg has the distinction of being the grandmother of three European monarchs, King Harald V of Norway, King Baudouin of the Belgians, King Albert II of the Belgians. En kunglig släktkrönika Staffan Skott, Alla dessa Bernadottar Ingeborg C C F L, urn, sbl,11950, Svenskt biografiskt lexikon, hämtad 2015-02-27
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