Queen Mathilde of Belgium
Mathilde (born Jonkvrouw Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz [matild dyd(ə)kɛm dakɔ]; 20 January 1973) is Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Philippe. She is the first native-born Belgian queen. She has founded and assisted charities to decrease poverty in the country.
| Mathilde | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mathilde in 2017 | |||||
| Queen consort of the Belgians | |||||
| Tenure | 21 July 2013 – present | ||||
| Born | Jonkvrouw Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz 20 January 1973 Edith Cavell Hospital, Uccle, Brussels, Kingdom of Belgium | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | |||||
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| House | d'Udekem d'Acoz | ||||
| Father | Count Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz | ||||
| Mother | Countess Anna Maria Komorowska | ||||
| Religion | Roman Catholic | ||||
Early life and family
Jonkvrouw Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d'Udekem d'Acoz was born on 20 January 1973 at Edith Cavell Hospital in Uccle, Brussels, Belgium.[2] Her parents are Count Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz (1936-2008) and his wife, Countess Anna Maria Komorowska (b. 1946).[3][4][5] Mathilde has three sisters: Marie-Alix (1974—1997), Elisabeth and Hélène, and one brother Charles-Henri.[6] Her godfather is her uncle, Count Raoul d'Udekem d'Acoz.[7]
Upon Mathilde's marriage to Prince Philippe of Belgium, Duke of Brabant in 1999, King Albert II of Belgium elevated the d'Udekem d'Acoz family from the baronial to the comital rank, hereditary in the male lineage. Upon the accession of her husband, Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant to the throne of Belgium she became the first queen consort of native Belgian nationality.[8]
Education and career
Mathilde attended primary school in Bastogne and then attended secondary school at the Institut de la Vierge Fidèle in Brussels.[4] From 1991 until 1994, Mathilde attended the Institut Libre Marie Haps in Brussels, where she studied speech therapy and graduated magna cum laude.[4] She worked as a speech therapist in her own practice in Brussels from 1995 to 1999.[3] She also worked part-time at a primary school. She also studied psychology at the Université catholique de Louvain and earned a master's degree in psychology in 2002 with honours (cum laude).[3]
Mathilde speaks French, Dutch, English and Italian.[9] She is also able to speak basic Spanish.[9] Her mother, who has lived most of her life outside Poland, did not teach her Polish, thinking that it would not be necessary. Therefore, she knows only a few words of Polish.[10]
Marriage and children
In September 1999, Belgian Royal Court announced the engagement of Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant to Jonkvrouw Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz.[11] Mathilde was presented to the press and public at the Castle of Laeken on 13 September 1999.[9] The announcement of Mathilde's engagement to the Belgian heir-apparent Prince Philippe came as a surprise to the country. Mathilde married Philippe on 4 December 1999 in Brussels, civilly at the Brussels Town Hall and religiously at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. Mathilde's bridal gown was designed by Édouard Vermeulen. She was made Duchess of Brabant and a Princess of Belgium on 8 November 1999 (published on 13 November 1999 and effective from 4 December 1999). The couple reportedly spend their honeymoon in the Maldives and India.[9]
The couple have four children:
- Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, born 25 October 2001 at Erasmus Hospital in Brussels
- Prince Gabriel, born 20 August 2003 at Erasmus Hospital in Brussels
- Prince Emmanuel, born 4 October 2005 at Erasmus Hospital in Brussels
- Princess Eléonore, born 16 April 2008 at Erasmus Hospital in Brussels
Princess Elisabeth, the couple's eldest child, is the first in line to the throne and ahead of her younger brothers and sister, who are second, third, and fourth in line to succeed, owing to a change in Belgian succession laws in 1991, allowing for the eldest child to succeed, regardless of sex.[12]
Queen Mathilde is a godmother to Princess Alexia of the Netherlands and Princess Isabella of Denmark.[13][14] Queen Mathilde is also a godmother to girls named Hyle-Mathilde Blakaj, Zaineb Tebbi and Madinah Mohammed Ibrahim, the seventh daughters of families from Charleroi and Ghent.[15][9][16][17] Belgian tradition stated that the seventh daughter from an uninterrupted line of girls has the privilege of asking the Queen to be her godmother.[18]
Activities
Queen Mathilde is concerned with a range of social issues including education, child poverty, intergenerational poverty, the position of women in society and literacy.[3]
Since 2009, Queen Mathilde has been the honorary president of Unicef Belgium.[3] She serves as the World Health Organization's Special Representative for Immunization.[19] She also the honorary president of the Breast International Group, a non-profit organisation for academic breast cancer research groups from around the world.[3]
She set up the Princess Mathilde Fund (now the Queen Mathilde Fund) in 2001, which promotes the care of vulnerable people and awards an annual prize for good works in a particular sector.[20] The sector changes each year: examples include early years education, women's health, and protecting young people from violence.[21]
Queen Mathilde deploys the Queen's Charities to offer help to citizens who are struggling to cope with financial hardship in their daily lives and often turn to her as a last resort.[3] The Queen is the honorary president of Child Focus, a foundation for missing and sexually exploited children.[3]
Queen Mathilde is also a patron of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, an international competition founded in 1937 as an initiative of Queen Elisabeth and Belgian composer and violist Eugène Ysaÿe.[3]
In 2018, Queen Mathilde became the honorary president of the Federal Council for Sustainable Development.[3] According to the royal tradition, Queen Mathilde became an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium.[3]
Queen Mathilde is a member of the Schwab Foundation Board for Social Entrepreneurship. She was a United Nations Emissary for the International Year of Microcredit 2005, which focused in particular on financial inclusion and financial literacy. The Queen also attends the annual World Economic Forum in Davos.[3]
Queen Mathilde was named a United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Advocate in 2016, promoting the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (an agenda for global sustainable development).[22][23]
The Queen also presided at the ceremony awarding the King Baudouin International Development Prize.
The Queen will receive an Honorary Doctorate from the Hasselt University on May 30, 2023.
Honours
National
- Belgium: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold[citation needed]
Foreign
- Denmark: Knight of the Order of the Elephant, 2017.[24]
- France: Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour, 2018
- Finland: Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland[citation needed]
- Germany: Grand Cross Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany[citation needed]
- Greece: Grand Cross of the Order of the Redeemer 2 May 2022[25]
- Holy See:
- Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre[26]
- Dame of the Collar of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre 17 November 2015[27]
- Japan: Grand Cordon (Paulownia) of the Order of the Precious Crown[citation needed]
- Jordan: Grand Cordon of the Supreme Order of the Renaissance[28]
- Lithuania: Grand Cross of the Order of Vytautas the Great 24 October 2022[29]
- Luxembourg:
- Knight of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau, 2019
- Grand Cross of the Order of Adolphe of Nassau[citation needed]
- Netherlands:
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion, 2016.
- Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau[citation needed]
- Recipient of the King Willem-Alexander Inauguration Medal
- Norway: Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Olav[citation needed]
- Poland:
- Grand Cross of the Order of the White Eagle
- Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland[30][31]
- Portugal:
- Grand Cross of the Order of Christ, 2006.
- Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry, 2018.[32]
- Spain: Dame Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic 12 May 2000[33]
- Sweden:
- Commander Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Polar Star[citation needed]
- Recipient of the 70th Birthday Badge Medal of King Carl XVI Gustaf[citation needed]
Arms
| Alliance coat of arms of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde | Dual cypher of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians | Coat of arms of the House of d'Udekem d'Acoz | Coat of arms of Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz |
Footnotes
References
- ^ "Giving a name". Diplomatie Belgium. from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
Under Belgian law, marriage does not have any effect on the spouses' surnames. You keep the surname that you had before you were married.
- ^ https://soirmag.lesoir.be/487991/article/2023-01-11/decouvrez-lenfance-de-mathilde
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "The Queen". The Belgian Monarchy Official Website. from the original on 14 April 2023.
- ^ a b c "Mathilde, queen of Belgium". Britannica. from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
Mathilde was the daughter of a judge and a countess, ...
- ^ "Fietsreporter Wouter Deboot belandt "Met de wind mee" bij gravin Anna, de moeder van koningin Mathilde" [Bicycle reporter Wouter Deboot ends up "with the wind" at Countess Anna, Queen Mathilde's mother]. vrt.be (in Dutch). from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
- ^ Rey y Cabieses, Amadeo-Martín (27 September 2008). "Fallece a los 72 años Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz, padre de la princesa Matilde de Bélgica" [Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz, father of Princess Mathilde of Belgium, dies at 72]. monarquiaconfidencial.com (in Spanish). from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 13 April 2016.
- ^ El Bakkali, Lina (25 March 2023). "Graaf Raoul d'Udekem d'Acoz, oom van koningin Mathilde, is overleden" [Count Raoul d'Udekem d'Acoz, uncle of Queen Mathilde, has passed away]. vrt.be (in Dutch). from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
- ^ "Royal Decree of 8 November 1999" (PDF). www.ejustice.just.fgov.be. 14 July 2004. (PDF) from the original on 9 April 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
- ^ a b c d e Cardoen, Sandra (20 January 2023). "Schoenmaat 39, een eindwerk tussen de luiers en "mama Robocop": 50 weetjes over koningin Mathilde die vandaag 50 is" [Shoe size 39, a thesis between diapers and "mama Robocop": 50 facts about Queen Mathilde who is 50 today]. vrt.be (in Dutch). from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
- ^ "Królowa polsko-belgijska". Wprost.Pl (in Polish). 14 December 2008. from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
- ^ "Philippe, king of Belgium". Britannica. from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
- ^ "The King, the Queen and their Family". Monarchie.be. The Belgian Monarchy. from the original on 24 January 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2018.
In the past, only boys could become Kings. The Constitution was changed in 1991: Princesses can now also ascend the throne and become Queen. Princess Elisabeth, who is the eldest of four children of King Philippe, is therefore the heiress of the Belgian monarchy. When she succeeds her father King Philippe, Princess Elisabeth will be the first woman to become Head of State in Belgium.
- ^ "Princess Alexia". Dutch Royal House. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
- ^ "H.K.H. Prinsesse Isabellas dåb" [HRH Princess Isabella's christening]. Danish Royal House. Archived from the original on 15 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
- ^ Grossard, François (8 October 2020). "La petite Hyle Mathilde est la première carolo a devenir la filleule de la Reine Mathilde" [Little Hyle Mathilde is the first Carolo to become Queen Mathilde's goddaughter]. Telesambre (in French). Charleroi. Archived from the original on 18 March 2023. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
- ^ "Koningin Mathilde schenkt Gentse metekind... zilveren schaal" [Queen Mathilde presents Ghent godchild... silver bowl]. HLN (in Dutch). 13 April 2017. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
- ^ "Zevende dochter op rij van dit Gents gezin krijgt koningin Mathilde als meter: "Misschien komt er nog een achtste"" [Seventh daughter in a row of this Ghent family will have Queen Mathilde as godmother: "Maybe there will be an eighth"]. HLN (in Dutch). 9 July 2021. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2023.
- ^ Desmecht, Jeroen (9 July 2021). "Koningin Mathilde wordt meter van Gentse Madinah" [Queen Mathilde becomes godmother of Ghent Madinah]. vrt.be (in Dutch). Archived from the original on 27 February 2023. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
- ^ "Princess Mathilde of Belgium to visit Albania as WHO special representative: focus on frontline health workers and immunization". Euro.who.int. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ "The Belgian Monarchy". Monarchie.be. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ KBS[dead link]
- ^ Martin. "Sustainable Development Goals Advocates". Retrieved 19 December 2018.
- ^ "SDG ADVOCATES 2019-2020". United Nations. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- ^ "Modtagere af danske dekorationer". kongehuset.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 29 January 2019.
- ^ "Συνάντηση με τον Βασιλιά και την Βασίλισσα των Βέλγων – Προεδρία της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας".
- ^ "Archives – sudinfo.be". Sudpresse.be. 14 June 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
- ^ "Le Roi et la Reine sont devenus chevaliers de collier".
- ^ "Nuevo duelo de reinas: una Rania muy demodé no puede con una Matilde sublime. Noticias de Casas Reales". Vanitatis.elconfidencial.com. 18 May 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ "Lithuanian president confers state awards to King and Queen of Belgium ahead of visit".
- ^ "The Belgian Monarchy". Monarchie.be. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
- ^ "Postanowienie Prezydenta Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej z dnia 18 października 2004 r. o nadaniu orderów". prawo.sejm.gov.pl. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
- ^ "La reina Matilde de Bélgica, una burbuja Freixenet en su cena de gala en Portugal". El Confidencial. 23 October 2018. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
- ^ "BOE núm. 115" (PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado. 13 May 2000. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
External links
- Official biography from the Belgian Royal Family website