Queen Paola of Belgium

Paola Margherita Maria-Antonia Consiglia Ruffo di Calabria was born in Forte dei Marmi, Tuscany, Italy, the seventh and youngest child of Fulco, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda (1884–1946), who was a World War I Italian flying ace.

Her mother was Donna 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 predominantly of Italian and French ancestry, with a dash of Belgian, Dutch and German.

In her youth, she was hailed as one of the leading beauties of Europe.

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.

Paola (née Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria; born 11 September 1937) is a member of the Belgian royal family who was Queen of the Belgians during the reign of her husband, King Albert II, from 9 August 1993 to 21 July 2013.

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 only talked a little", Paola said later about their first meeting.

Prince Albert later proposed marriage to Paola and she accepted.

Their engagement was announced at the Palace of Laeken in 1959.

The couple married at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels on 2 July 1959.

They have three children together: King Philippe (born 15 April 1960), Princess Astrid (born 5 June 1962), and Prince Laurent (born 19 October 1963).

The couple's marriage was in trouble by the 1970s and Albert fathered a daughter by Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps, named Delphine.

Despite starting divorce negotiations at the time, the couple remained married, and reconciled in the 1980s, celebrating it with a new symbolic wedding ceremony.

Apart from her activities in the company of King Albert II, Queen Paola devotes her time to social issues mainly in the social and cultural sphere.

The Queen has demonstrated interest in the contemporary Belgian arts, visiting Venetian Biennale several times.

She has acquired works of Jan Fabre, Michael Borremans and others for the Royal collection.

The Queen has often met with such artists as Luc Tuymans and Dirk Braeckman.

The Queen takes a keen interest in the protection and preservation of Belgium's heritage.

In 1992, Queen Paola established the Queen Paola Foundation.

The foundation focused on integration and training for young people.

The foundation's activities are geared towards social integration, support for teachers at all levels of the education system and schools in socio-economically disadvantaged areas.

Queen Paola is an honorary chairman of the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel and Missing Children Europe.

In 2015, the court announced Queen Paola was taking "a period of total rest" following doctors' orders.

They also announced that she had to cancel a planned visit to the Biennale in Venice.

Further communications were kept private.

The Queen sent a message to Grosio, where she was expected to visit the residence of her aunt the Marchioness Margherita Pallavicini Mossi.

Newspapers believed that the Queen suffered a stroke during the holiday.

The palace later announced she was being treated for a cardiac arrhythmia.

In 2016, she fractured a vertebra and in the following year she suffered from a fractured femoral neck and broke her hip.

In September 2018, her visit to Venice was cut short and she was flown to a hospital in Belgium due to what was described by the palace as a "health problem", though some outlets speculated that she had suffered a stroke.

In March 2022, she was ordered to rest for two months after breaking her arm in a fall.

She makes numerous visits to cultural sites, from Beguine convents to early 19th century industrial facilities.

Queen Paola is interested in both traditional and contemporary crafts, and takes every opportunity to encourage the exercise and teaching of craft professions.

Queen Paola keeps abreast of contemporary art and regularly supports major exhibitions and artistic performances both in Belgium and abroad.

On the initiative of Queen Paola, contemporary artists have had the opportunity to design and make original works within the Royal Palace of Brussels.