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| Royal Crypt Michel wal, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons |
Each year members of the Belgium Royal Family attend a memorial service for deceased members of the royal family. The service is held at The Church of Our Lady of Laeken (French: Église Notre-Dame de Laeken; Dutch: Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk van Laken).
After the mass, the Royal Family visits the Royal Crypt in the Church where past monarchs, consorts and other members of the royal family are buried.
The service is held on or around February 17th. The first service was held on February 17, 1935, to mark the first anniversary of King Albert I of Belgium. King Albert I had died at age 58 in an climbing accident in Marche-les-Dames.
The "Foreign Royals" in attendance are all extended family, usually with close family members buried there in the Church's Royal Crypt.
The dress code is not restricted to black. We usually see royals dressed in black or other other neural colors. Hats are allowed but not required.
| Year | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| King Philippe | x | * | x | ||
| Queen Mathilde | x | * | x | ||
| King Albert | x | * | x | ||
| Queen Paola | x | * | x | ||
| Princess Astrid & Prince Lorenz | Just Astrid | x | |||
| Prince Laurent & Princess Claire | x | ||||
| Princess Delphine & James O'Hare | * | x | |||
| Princess Lea | x | x | |||
| Princess Laetitia-Maria | x | ||||
| Prince Guillaume & Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg | x | ||||
| Prince Léopold of Nassau (of Luxembourg) | x | ||||
| Princess Nikolaus & Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein | x | ||||
| Archduke Carl Christian & Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria | x | x | |||
| Date | 17th | 17th | 17th | 17th | 20th |
Notes:
2020 - First service since death of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg.
2021 - No Service due to the pandemic, instead members of the Royal Family just visited the Royal Crypt. Princess Delphine's 1st time attending, following being recognized as King Albert's biological daughter.
2022 - Reduced number of guests and seating was "socially distant" during service. This is the first official Royal event Princess Delphine attended together with her father, King Albert.
| Year | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| King Philippe | x | |||||
| Queen Mathilde | x | |||||
| King Albert | x | x | ||||
| Queen Paola | x | x | ||||
| Princess Astrid & Prince Lorenz | x | |||||
| Prince Laurent & Princess Claire | Just Laurent? | Laurent | ||||
| Princess Marie Esmeralda | x | |||||
| Princess Lea | x | x | ||||
| Prince Guillaume & Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg | x | |||||
| Prince Nikolaus & Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein | Just M | x | Just M | x | Just M? | |
| Archduke Carl Christian & Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria | x | ? | ||||
| Date | 18th | 12th | 17th | 17th | 20th | 19th |
Notes:
2015 - First service since death of Queen Fabiola2017 - Queen Paola was in the hospital at the time with a broken hip.
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