Belgian royals walking another part of the Camino

[SabsP]

The Belgian royals started in 2017 with walking parts of the Camino Frances. This year only their youngest daughter Eleonore joined them. And also quite a big group of security and staff.
At least they booked private places .
They flew with Belgian airforce so no Vueling or Ryanair either.
But I do not doubt their sincerity. They walked and it is clearly a private matter for them. And luckily our Belgian press is not interested in their private life. It was only via a small article in a Belgian paper that I found the Spanish links.

Los reyes de Bélgica se despiden de Galicia en Santiago tras asistir a su cita anual con el Camino

Federico y Matilde realizaron varios tramos de la Ruta en tierras gallegas rodeados de un séquito de más de veinte personas

www.elcorreogallego.es

Felipe y Matilde de Bélgica vuelven a elegir España y el Camino de Santiago para sus vacaciones de Semana Santa

Un año más, la familia real belga ha visitado nuestro país para la Pascua, realizando otro trayecto del Camino de Santiago, al que se han aficionado en los últimos años

www.vanitatis.elconfidencial.com

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

Without having read the articles... I think it is easy for them to blend in (if they are not walking with their crowns, suits and gala dresses. High heels down to Zubiri is not advisable). I for one would never recognize them. Just thinking about the entourage; if the security staff gives them away in any way?

 

[SabsP]

Without having read the articles... I think it is easy for them to blend in (if they are not walking with their crowns, suits and gala dresses. High heels down to Zubiri is not advisable). I for one would never recognize them. Just thinking about the entourage; if the security staff gives them away in any way?

Security : blurred faces on the picture.
Sporty people but no Rambos at all. Fitting in perfectly IMO.

https://www.gva.be/cnt/dmf20190420_04342969

That year they were around Fromista.

 

[Bradypus]

They have done a pretty good job in keeping their Camino walks low-key. And the press seem to have been helpful by running their stories mostly after the family have finished their walking for that year.

 

[MinaKamina]

They have done a pretty good job in keeping their Camino walks low-key. And the press seem to have been helpful by running their stories mostly after the family have finished their walking for that year.

European royals, in fact all Europeans, have a right to private life and to be left alone when they are not in an official function.

 

[Former member 104756]

The Belgian royals started in 2017 with walking parts of the Camino Frances. ... I do not doubt their sincerity.

Thank you for sharing this story. It makes one grateful for anonymity. And I agree @SabsP there is no reason to doubt their sincerity. Whether 'royals' or 'commoners' - my impression from people I've met walking and while living on a camino town in France is that many Europeans walk their Camino a week or so at a time over many years. But, over the years, I have often read comments on the forum, sometimes disparaging, particularly in relation to French people walking the Le Puy Way, words to the effect 'they are not pilgrims, they are just hiking for a week or two'.

It's true that some people are hiking with no connection to the Camino - why wouldn't they on these beautiful paths, which are often waymarked as GR paths as well - but to assume purpose by virtue of how long/far one is walking is to be mistaken. I've met French, Belgian and German people, in France and Spain, who are undertaking their pilgrimage to SdeC over many years. Many have left from their home or from one of the 'starting points' of the major European routes or somewhere in between - and walk for as much time as is available to them each year, given work or family commitments or financial or health considerations. The next year they recommence where they left off. Their pilgrimage may take them 10 years. Imagine their joy and satisfaction on arrival after such a long commitment. I think those of us who can 'walk in one go', sometimes forget what a luxury it is that circumstances, time, resources allow that.

In 2014, when we were walking the Primitivo, we had the pleasure of meeting a French couple who had started many years before from their home, near Amiens in the north of France. Each year they walked for two weeks with the goal of reaching SdeC. From our conversations, it was apparent theirs was a true religious pilgrimage - ours was not. When we met them, they were on their final two weeks of that long journey. They had walked every year - I forget for how many years - other than one year when a serious health issue prevented them. We walked most days with them from the Hospitales Route to SdeC. When we were arriving in SdeC, we suggested we would 'run ahead' to photograph them walking into the square. Their joy and emotion was a sight to behold. We felt privileged to bear witness.

Also I find it interesting that many Europeans I have met in France refer to 'le chemin de saint-jacques de compostelle' rather than the individual route they are walking. They are making their way to Santiago de Compostela. And it will take as long as it takes.

Anyhoo, forgive the diversion - but, in short, we can never really know someone's motivations unless they share that with us. And, whether one walks for a week at a time over many years or 'in one go' is not relevant to the sincerity of one's Camino ...

 

[Bradypus]

And, whether one walks for a week at a time over many years or 'in one go' is not relevant to the sincerity of one's Camino ...

I am in the peculiar position of doing both! I am very fortunate in having the time to travel more or less at will with very few obligations to tie me to home. A very good friend has a demanding job and so has to fit his pilgrimage journeys into limited holiday times. Although I mostly walk solo for many years now Andy and I have met up once a year to walk a pilgrim route for a week or 10 days or so. Last summer we started together from SJPDP and walked as far as Logroño. We are booked to return for more this summer - perhaps as far as Fromista. At this rate it may be another three or four years until we reach Santiago together though I may have made the journey several times alone in that period.

 

[SabsP]

Thank you @Pelerina for your thoughtful words.
Most working people in Belgium I know walk the Camino that way.It is also my intention to start next year that way seeing earliest date for getting my pension is only in 2033.

 

[Former member 104756]

Thank you @Pelerina for your thoughtful words.
Most working people in Belgium I know walk the Camino that way.It is also my intention to start next year that way seeing earliest date for getting me pension is only in 2033.

Aah ... to be so young.

 

[Anna Cameron]

European royals, in fact all Europeans, have a right to private life and to be left alone when they are not in an official function.

Yes! I hope they can walk without being bothered or pursued. I'm sorry they have to miss out on communal Pilgrim meals and albergue life, but I hope they benefit from the Pilgrimage.

 

[SabsP]

Yes! I hope they can walk without being bothered or pursued. I'm sorry they have to miss out on communal Pilgrim meals and albergue life, but I hope they benefit from the Pilgrimage.

Well I can only speak for myself but more often than not I choose private places and no communal meals and I still benefit from a Camino.

 

[Bad Pilgrim]

miss out on communal Pilgrim meals and albergue life

I guess they don't want the question "What do you do for a living" at the table since it would out them...

Or maybe they just tell it how it is if they are asked? What do I know...

 

[Anna Cameron]

Well I can only speak for myself but more often than not I choose private places and no comunal meals and I still benefit from a Camino.

Thank you, and apologies: I realise I phrased my previous post rather badly - of course you still benefit from a Camino, regardless of where you sleep or eat. I think I was trying to say something about being left in peace to walk as one wishes, whatever that looks like, regardless of one's "day job." And I was probably projecting a bit of my own ego, mea culpa. Bon Chemin!

 

[MinaKamina]

I guess they don't want the question "What do you do for a living" at the table since it would out them...

Or maybe they just tell it how it is if they are asked? What do I know...

He is retired from the military and now a painter. She is a speech therapist.

 

[SabsP]

He is retired from the military and now a painter. She is a speech therapist.

Brilliant!

 

[SabsP]

He is retired from the military and now a painter. She is a speech therapist.

And later on she also got her masters degree in psychology.
Plus she is the first Belgian queen born in Belgium.

 

[LizziM]

I think this is wonderful. I didn't think that royal families had the freedom or privacy to fully live their own lives and have experiences like the camino. I'm glad they're able to do it, and I'm glad the press has left them alone.

 

[Rita Flower]

I guess they don't want the question "What do you do for a living" at the table since it would out them...

Or maybe they just tell it how it is if they are asked? What do I know...

I think an answer like - I am a public servant - would be acurate. It would be sort of great to meet someone like the Belgian royals and not recognise them - to bless them with anonymity and a ‘normal’ conversation.

 

[Gerard Griffin]

I stayed in a fine albergue once run by a South African and a Dane who loved the Camino and ran the place together during the season. They were both great cooks and enjoyed assembling a bunch of walkers in the evening for good food and conversation. He liked to sit on his veranda in the mornings watching the pilgrims pass by, and one day he saw a lady pass by who attracted his attention; she was dressed in the best new gear, striding with confidence, and behind her were two big tough-looking young men, equally well equipped. He was curious and phoned a fellow hospitalero to see what he could find out. He was told that this was the President of Ireland, doing a week from Sarria, with her bodyguards. He was sorry they passed him by because he would've enjoyed hosting them, but it was not to be, alas.

One of the many things I love about the Camino is how democratic it is, how "inclusive". Where else in the this all-too-real modern world will you find rich and poor, young and old, left and right, cops and criminals and every other of the many sad polarities in our sundered world walking together, united, chatting companionably about their feet, their gear, their lives, their heartache and their dreams? All one, all for one and one for all. Surely this must be the way, the truth and the life. Where else?