They wanted a marriage at the Vatican at first, a setting promoted by both families, but the Belgian government did not approve of that.
They did not want to keep a fairytale wedding from the people of Belgium, who finally had an opportunity for organizing celebrations for their royal family.
The Pope, after some diplomatic pressure, refused them a marriage at the Vatican, saying he would understand if the couple would want to get married amidst their people.
After their marriage, the couple was blessed with three children: Philippe (1960), Astrid (1962) and Laurent (1963).
In the mid 1960′s, Prince Albert started leading most of the Belgian economic missions, and he traveled abroad a lot.
Princess Paola at first accompanied her husband, and the two soon alienated themselves from their children.
But after a while, Paola stopped accompanying her husband, reportedly because she was always bored, and as a result they grew apart more and more.
