Queen Mathilde Turns 50

Her Majesty Queen Mathilde celebrates her 50th birthday today. She was born Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d’Udekem d’Acoz on January 20, 1973, in Uccle, Belgium. Daughter of Count and Countess Patrick d’Udekem d’Acoz, the Queen has three sisters, Marie-Alix (died in 1997), Elisabeth and Hélène, and a brother, Charles-Henri.
Mathilde started her schooling in Bastogne and completed her secondary education in Brussels. Then Mathilde studied Speech Therapy at the Haute École Léonard de Vinci and completed her studies with a Master’s Degree in Psychology at the Université Catholique de Louvain in 2002. Between 1995 and 1999 Mathilde worked as a speech therapist.
On September 10, 1999, Mathilde becomes engaged to the then Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium.
Philippe and Mathilde married on December 4, 1999 at the City Hall of Brussels. On the same day in the Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula in Brussels.
Queen Mathilde and King Philippe have four children: Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, born on October 25, 2001; Prince Gabriel, born on August 20, 2003; Prince Emmanuel, born on October 4, 2005 and Princess Eléonore, born on April 16, 2008.
Queen Mathilde holds several patronages in the field of “education, child poverty, intergenerational poverty, the position of women in our society, financial literacy and mental well-being”. The Queen is Honorary President of UNICEF Belgium, in 2001 she established the Princess Mathilde Fund (now the Queen Mathilde Fund) to promote the care of vulnerable people and, in 2016, she was appointed as Advocate for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals by the then Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon. To mark this special birthday the Belgian Royal Court released two new photos of the Queen.

https://twitter.com/MonarchieBe/status/1616269416181780482?s=20&t=V9-5l0OJC-Kt7vQ_xKgmEw

Filed under Belgium
Tagged Birthday, Queen Mathilde of the Belgians.