Source: De Morgen, June 4, in EuroTopics
…We have stomached a lot already. But the way the relationship between the current king and his father has developed in the past months is a disgrace….
Now King Albert has given a long interview to the private TV stations RTL and VTM. This itself is a historical first. But to do so without consulting his son, let alone asking for his consent, is practically giving him the finger.
It begs the question: if even the old king doesn’t recognise or respect the authority of the new king, why should his subjects behave any differently?
Eric Koch’s new book, New Beginnings, was launched on September 20. The book is available from 
I guess maybe ‘abdication’ has a different meaning in Belgian (French/Flemish) - i.e. stay out of the way. I don’t believe the immediate past Pope has been giving interviews, or the immediate past Queen of the Netherlands either. OTOH not every royal family can get along as swimmingly. I suppose one could think of other examples of failure to do so, if one thought about it for a while…
Note from the Pedantry Department: “It begs the question: if even the old king…” Of course, this flagrant misuse of “beg the question” is Euro-Topics’ doing — our esteemed BlogMeister would never do such a thing. It’s often seen, but still it makes my teeth hurt. Properly speaking (or writing), to beg the question means to take for granted the very matter in dispute — a form of circular reasoning. An example: Interviewer: “Your resumé looks impressive but I need another reference.” Bill: “Jill can give me a good reference.” Interviewer: “Excellent! But how do I know that Jill is trustworthy?” Bill: “No problem; I can vouch for her.”