Paola Ruffo di Calabria
| Paola | |||||
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 |
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| Queen consort of the Belgians | |||||
| Tenure | 9 August 1993 – 21 July 2013 | ||||
| Born |
11 September 1937 Villa Claudia, Forte dei Marmi, Italy |
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| Spouse | Albert II of Belgium (m. 1959) |
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| Issue |
Philippe of Belgium Princess Astrid, Archduchess of Austria-Este Prince Laurent |
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| House | |||||
| Father | Fulco, Prince Ruffo di Calabria | ||||
| Mother | Luisa Gazelli dei Conti di Rossana | ||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism | ||||
| Full name | |
|---|---|
| Donna Paola dei Principi Ruffo di Calabria |
HM King Albert II
HM Queen Paola
HRH Princess Léa
HRH Princess Marie-Christine, Mrs Gourges
HRH Princess Marie-Esméralda, Lady Moncada
Queen Paola of Belgium (born DonnaPaola Ruffo di Calabria on 11 September 1937) is the wife of the former King Albert II and was Queen of the Belgians from 1993 until his abdication in 2013 in favour of their eldest child the current King Philippe of Belgium.
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 (1884–1946). Her mother was Luisa Gazelli dei Conti di Rossana e di Sebastiano (1896–1989), a matrilineal descendant of the Marquis de Lafayette, a hero of the American Revolution. She is of Italian and Belgian ancestry and was hailed as one of the leading 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.
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Wikipedia