royalty“I couldn’t be myself until I became king.” King Filip (63) speaks so remarkably uninhibited in a unique documentary that VRT 1 and RTBF broadcast on the occasion of his 10 years as king. A camera crew was allowed to follow Filip exclusively for a year and a half, during the rare and confidential moments where cameras usually do not come.
King Filip is very sincere and honest in the documentary ‘Filip, a year with the King of the Belgians’. He also talks about his difficult childhood: “I also realized that life was not easy, very quickly. The people’s look was not obvious, judgmental, at school and so on, that was harsh. I was different, a little bit different.” He was the first in the history of the monarchy to attend a normal school. “Whether I was at peace with my fate? I looked around a lot, observed, but I was not very social,” says Filip. “During that period I was not available or open. That only came much later. Actually, only when I became king.” Never before has King Philip shown himself in this way, with so much candor, spontaneity and depth.
In addition, he does not shy away from his feelings. “Every person goes through difficult periods, has been hurt, by others, by life, but many people hide their sensitivity,” the king explains. “It is important not to think that one is alone. I think that if one knows that we are all hurt somewhere, then one can put one’s own problems into perspective and also use one’s own problems to understand and help others.” In the documentary the king himself is heard talking, the director made recordings of their conversations as a memory aid. But afterwards he wanted to use those recordings anyway. After some negotiations, the king agreed. “I think that gives the film its power,” says director Nicolas Delvaulx. He previously made the remarkable report on Queen Paola. In ‘Paola, Côté Jardin’ she spoke openly for the first time about her relationship problems with King Albert.
(Read more below the photo)
Queen Paola, King Albert and director Nicolas Delvaulx © RTBf
“I admire my wife”
King Philip felt more and more comfortable as a prince and only when he took the oath could he say it was right. “Something clicked. I think people understood who I was a little more. Because I could be myself then,” he says honestly. And he also compliments his wife, Queen Mathilde: “I admire the way my wife deals with people, I have a lot of support from her. There is also something we have in common in our family, when we are together, we laugh a lot. We have humor, and that is important to us.”
‘Filip, a year with the King of the Belgians’: on Monday, December 18 at 8:55 PM on VRT 1 and VRT MAX.
LOOK. King Philip rides through Antwerp by bicycle
READ ALSO:
King Philippe relives memorable moment from childhood during state visit to Berlin
Director Nicolas Delvaulx was given ‘carte blanche’ for a documentary about Queen Paola: “She realizes that she is not popular” (+)
“The way she praised Filip made many German men fall in love”: German expert on Queen Mathilde (+)
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2023-12-11 08:31:12
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