Final farewell to dowager Queen Fabiola

Belgians lined the streets of Brussels on Friday to pay their final respects to the late Queen Fabiola, who died a week earlier, aged 86.

The funeral cortège departed in the morning for the Cathedral of St Michael and St Gudula for a public service that was also attended by royalty and foreign dignitaries. A lunchtime religious ceremony is scheduled in Laeken.

Fabiola’s body had days earlier been available for viewing in an open coffin in the royal palace of Brussels, with mourners waiting for hours to pass by.

Queen Fabiola, whose cause of death has not been confirmed, passed away in her castle Stuyvenberg in Brussels. The former queen consort had suffered from osteoporosis for years and had never fully recovered from a lung inflammation she had in 2009. During recent appearances she had used a wheelchair and had looked increasingly frail.

Fabiola became queen when she married King Baudouin in 1960. She was queen for 33 years, until her husband died in 1993. As the couple had no children, the throne passed to King Baudouin's younger brother, who became King Albert II. He abdicated last July, passing the baton to his son, King Philippe.