Marriage
On 15 December 1960, Fabiola married Baudouin, who had been king of the Belgians since his father's abdication in 1951. At the marriage ceremony in the church of Laeken she wore a 1926 Art Deco tiara that had been a gift of the Belgian state to her husband's mother, Princess Astrid of Sweden upon her marriage to Léopold III of the Belgians. Her dress of satin and mink was designed by the couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga. TIME magazine, in its 26 September 1960, issue, called Doña Fabiola, who was a hospital nurse at the time of her engagement, "Cinderella Girl" and described her as "an attractive young woman, though no raving beauty" and "the girl who could not catch a man." On the occasion of her marriage, Spanish bakers set out to honor Fabiola and created a type of bread, "the fabiola", which is still made and consumed on a daily basis in many Spanish cities.
The royal couple had no children, as the queen's five pregnancies ended in miscarriage. There are reports, however, that she had a stillborn child in the mid 1960s. Fabiola openly spoke about her miscarriages in 2008: 'You know, I myself lost 5 children. You learn something from that experience. I had problems with all my pregnancies, but you know, in the end I think life is beautiful'.
Read more about this topic: Queen Fabiola Of Belgium
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
“What is any respectable girl brought up to do but to catch some rich man’s fancy and get the benefit of his money by marrying him?—as if a marriage ceremony could make any difference in the right or wrong of the thing!”
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)
“The best friend will probably get the best spouse, because a good marriage is based on the talent for friendship.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“In mid-life the man wants to see how irresistible he still is to younger women. How they turn their hearts to stone and more or less commit a murder of their marriage I just don’t know, but they do.”
—Patricia Neal (b. 1926)