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Queen Fabiola of Belgium
	1928-2014
Belgium's former queen Fabiola, the Spanish-born widow of the popular king Baudouin, who was recently at the centre of a row over her yearly allowance, died on Friday aged 86.
A devout Catholic who burst on the scene 55 years ago, Fabiola was celebrated for bringing spark to a sullen king struggling to connect with a post-colonial Belgium divided into French- and Dutch-speaking communities.
The national flag at the royal place in Brussels flew at half mast. State funeral arrangements were not yet decided with the government set to meet on the matter.
"Their majesties the king and queen and members of the royal family announce with very great sadness the death of Her Majesty Queen Fabiola this evening at Stuyvenberg Castle in Brussels," a statement from the royal palace of King Philippe said.
Born Dona Fabiola de Mora y Aragon on June 11, 1928, in Madrid to Spanish nobility, she married Baudouin in December 1960 - the same year that Congo won its independence from Belgium. The couple never had children.
The fifth queen of the Belgians, she withdrew from the public eye after the sudden death of King Baudouin in 1993 on holiday in Spain, while her brother-in-law Albert and Queen Paola took the throne.
In July 2013, she looked on as King Albert II passed the crown to her nephew Philippe, to whom she was close until her death.
Prime Minister Charles Michel said all Belgians saluted her devotion to the nation. "We will remember a great woman who will forever be part of the history of our country," he said.
The years after Baudouin's death were hard on Fabiola, challenged by illness and then ensnared in a financial scandal.
She sparked uproar in Belgium in 2012 with the creation of a private foundation widely seen as a way to avoid paying the country's 70 per cent inheritance tax. She later dissolved the charitable vehicle, and her annual income from the state was reduced from €1.4 million (US$1.8 million) to around €900,000.
Former prime minister Elio Di Rupo campaigned against her, but he paid tribute to a woman "who would be remembered for her presence and availability, notably to society's most fragile".


Tributes paid after Belgium's former queen Fabiola dies aged 86

Former queen Fabiola was charismatic and controversial. Photo: AFP

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World

Belgium's former queen Fabiola, the Spanish-born widow of the popular king Baudouin, who was recently at the centre of a row over her yearly allowance, died on Friday aged 86.
