Former Queen of Belgium, Paola, has been taken into hospital today after she had a fall at her home in Brussels.
The Belgian Court has announced that Paola, 79, took another fall at Belvedere Castle, resulting in the fracture of the femoral neck, just below the ball of the hip joint. Tomorrow, doctors will operate on the injury at the Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc in the capital.
The accident comes as the Queen was hospitalised in December after falling and fracturing her spine, and was still in a convalescence period.
Because of this, King Albert – who abdicated in 2013 in favour of his son Phillipe – will not attend mass tomorrow. The service was to be held in memory of late members of the Royal Family in the Church of Our Lady in Laeken.
Queen Paola has faced a number of health issues in recent years: in September 2015, she was forced to have a ‘total rest period’, after it was announced she had a cardiac arrhythmia – an irregular heartbeat.
Paola will face a ‘rehabilitation of several months’, according to the palace.
