Future Belgian Queen “Quiet, Intelligent”

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29336, 15 October 1960, Page 2

Future Belgian Queen “Quiet, Intelligent”

IBv

HENRY BUCKLEY]

“Quiet as a mouse but extremely intelligent,” is how a dose friend of the shy Spanish woman who is to become Queen of the Belgians described her. “She always takes a back seat at any gathering,” Said a priest who knows her well. Dona Fabiola Mora, the 32-year-old fiancee of King Baudouin, belongs to a little-known, but wealthy, aristocratic family. On her mother’s side, particularly, her noble lineage runs far back.

Behind her shy facade, however, is a woman of determination, discretion and the ability to keep a secret. The news of the future wedding was kept as close a secret as was that of Princess Margaret to Mr Antony Arm-strong-Jones. Fabiola's sister (the Countess Maria Saltes) said: "She made her decision entirely on her own. Not even our mother knew of it until Fabiola had made her mind up to accept the King’s offer of marriage.’’

Spaniards had already been pleased by King Baudouin's motoring holiday in their country In August and September, 1956, and again in 1939. Both visits were private and strictly "incognito.”

Although there was at least one other suitor, a Spanish aristocrat, Dona Fabiola preferred to wait until she met her ideal man. "The man I marry,” she told friends, “must be both a hard worker and religious in character.” In recent months, Dona Fabiola has lost about 51b in weight because she was worried about the responsibility which she would have to assume.

"Deeply in Love” Her best friend and sister-in-law (Senorita Pilar Sastago) when asked how she reacted when Dona Fabiola confided her secret to her, said: "I saw Fabiola so full of hope and so deeply In love that all I could do was to pray that she would enjoy the happiness she deserves.” A woman who exercised great influence over Dona Fabiola was a German named Fraulein Traguesser, who for more than 40 years acted as governess to the numerous Mora children. She died several years ago. This German woman was a very devout Catholic and it is believed that she had taken the vows of ,a nun, although she lived in the world outside of any community. Although she and her younger brothers and sisters escaped the

horrors of the civil war because they were staying at Biarritz, in France, when it broke out, Dona Fabiola belongs to a generation which has been deeply influenced by the religious revival which spread over the land after the civil war ended in 1939. Since then, organisations such as Catholic Action of Spain and the Opus Dei have recruited considerable numbers of young people of both sexes to help with the lay work of the church. Others,

like Dona Fabiola, have preferred to live a pious life, doing charitable work on an individual basis. Like many shy people, Dona Fabiola can be surprisingly gay when with her family or among friends. She is rarely seen at any social function in Madrid, but she liked to dance with her brothers and sisters when they were all young together. She plays the piano well and also the guitar, and likes to sing "bulerias,” or flamenco songs typical of Seville, accompanying herself on the guitar.

Sporadic Education She likes children and. spends much of her time with her 31 nephews and nieces, aged from 15 years to one month, the children of her six brothers and sisters. Her education has been sporadic, and the only school to which she went for any length of time was one In Lausanne. Most of the time, she studied at home, but her formal studies never progressed beyond the third year of the Spanish "bachinerato” (the equivalent <rf matriculation, or the general school certificate), which is a 6-year course.

Constant travel and long spells of residence abroad, however, have given her a cosmopolitan background. For a time she edited a children's weekly, run by Spain's Catholic Action group, and has published a book of childfen’s fairy tales. Dona Fabiola’s friends believe that she will make a good queen, because she is a woman who has always been occupied with helping others and has always seemed to be seeking a "mission” in life.

King Baudouin’s future queen may be “as quiet as a mouse,” but many people here believe that she may well cause a surprise by the ease and dignity with which she plays her new role.