Baudouin. Close to the Heart

Impossible to rule (1x3)

Air date: Jul 24, 2013

The third episode recollects the days of when Baudouin was 'impossible to rule', when he refused to sign the 1990 law on abortion in the spring of 1990. The king invokes his conscience not to sign the law. His conscience was sculpted on the true faith that cardinal Suenens taught him. Suenens was a prominent figure in the King's life, ever since he, along with the help of the Irish Veronica O'Brien, found a suitable bride in Fabiola de Mora y Aragón. Baudouin was ever grateful to the cardinal for Fabiola, and followed the pair Suenens - O'Brien into the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. The situation around the refusal to give Royal Assent to the abortion bill also showed a private grief: Baudouin and Fabiola remained childless after multiple miscarriages.