Editing Baudouin of Belgium (section)

== Death and funeral ==
Baudouin died from a heart attack on 31 July 1993, while on holiday at the Villa Astrida in the southern Spanish town of [[Motril]], after a 42-year reign.<ref>{{cite news |last=Purnell |first=Sonia |date=1 August 1993 |title=King of Belgium dies in Spain |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/751619649/ |url-access=subscription |accessdate=7 November 2023 |newspaper=[[The Sunday Telegraph]] |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Lyons |first1=Richard D. |date=1 August 1993 |title=Baudouin I, King of Belgium, Dies at 62 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/01/obituaries/baudouin-i-king-of-belgium-dies-at-62.html |access-date=27 July 2020 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> Although in March 1992 the king had been operated on for a [[mitral valve prolapse]] in Paris, his death still came unexpectedly, and sent much of Belgium into a period of deep mourning. His death notably stopped the 1993 [[24 Hours of Spa]] sportscar race, which had reached the 15-hour mark when the news broke.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://touringcarracing.net/Races/1993%20Spa.html|title=1993 Spa 24 Hours|publisher=touringcarracing.net|access-date=3 February 2025}}</ref>

Within hours, the gates and enclosure of the royal palace were covered with flowers that people brought spontaneously. A viewing of the body was held at the Royal Palace in central Brussels; 500,000 people (5% of the population) came to pay their respects. Many waited in line up to 14 hours in sweltering heat to see their king one last time. The funeral service was attended by all other European monarchs – including Queen [[Elizabeth II]] (the only state funeral she attended in person as monarch) – alongside Emperor [[Akihito]] of Japan. Non-royal guests at the funeral included more than twenty presidents and leaders. Only two reigning heads of state of sovereign states at the time were not invited: [[Saddam Hussein]], and [[Mobutu Sese Seko|Mobutu]], the first due to the [[Gulf War]], the latter due to him being declared [[persona non grata]] partly thanks to Mobutu exposing information about Baudouins [[Albert II of Belgium|brother]] and [[Queen Paola of Belgium|sister-in-law]]. The presidents and leaders who did attend the funeral inluded likes such as UN Secretary-General [[Boutros Boutros-Ghali]], European Commission President [[Jacques Delors]], French President [[François Mitterrand]], Egyptian President [[Hosni Mubarak]], German President [[Richard von Weizsäcker]], Polish President [[Lech Wałęsa]], Bosnian President [[Alija Izetbegović]], Italian President [[Oscar Luigi Scalfaro]], Canadian Governor General [[Ray Hnatyshyn]] and former US President [[Gerald Ford]].{{Citation needed|date=June 2023}}

King Baudouin was interred in the royal vault at the [[Church of Our Lady of Laeken]] in Brussels. He was succeeded by his younger brother, who became King [[Albert II of Belgium|Albert II]].