Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine Countess d'Udekem d'Acoz[a] (pronounced[matilddyd(ə)kɛmdakɔ]; born 20 January 1973) is Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Philippe. She is the first native-born Belgian queen, and has four children. She formerly worked as a speech therapist. She is involved with a range of organisations which address social issues including education, child poverty, intergenerational poverty, the position of women in society and literacy.
Jonkvrouw Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d'Udekem d'Acoz was born on 20 January 1973 at Edith Cavell Hospital in Uccle, Brussels, Belgium.[2][3] Her parents are Count Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz (1936–2008), a politician, and his wife, Countess Anna Maria Komorowska (b. 1946).[2][4][5][6] Mathilde has three sisters: Marie-Alix (1974–1997), Elisabeth (b. 1977, a speech therapist)[7] and Hélène (b. 1979, a lawyer), and one brother Charles-Henri (b. 1985, a lawyer).[8][9] Her godfather is her uncle, Count Raoul d'Udekem d'Acoz.[10]
Mathilde attended primary school in Bastogne and then attended secondary school at the Institut de la Vierge Fidèle in Brussels.[5] At the age of 18, Mathilde did voluntary work in the slums of Cairo for six weeks.[12] From 1991 until 1994, Mathilde attended the Institut Libre Marie Haps in Brussels, where she studied speech therapy and graduated magna cum laude.[5] She worked as a speech therapist in her own practice in Brussels from 1995 to 1999.[4] She also worked in several Brussels schools.[11] She earned a master's degree in psychology at the Université catholique de Louvain in 2002 with honours (cum laude).[4] Mathilde became the first member of the Belgian royal family with a Belgian university degree.[12] She also took a ten-day leadership course at Harvard University in 2011.[12]
Mathilde speaks French, Dutch, English and Italian.[12] She is also able to speak basic Spanish.[12] 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.[13]
Jonkvrouw Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz met Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant while playing tennis in 1996.[14] In September 1999, the Belgian Royal Court announced the engagement of Prince Philippe to Mathilde.[15] Mathilde was presented to the press and public at the Castle of Laeken on 13 September 1999.[12] 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 spent their honeymoon in the Maldives and India.[12]
Upon her marriage to Prince Philippe 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.[16]
Prince Gabriel, born 20 August 2003 at Erasmus Hospital in Anderlecht, Brussels
Prince Emmanuel, born 4 October 2005 at Erasmus Hospital in Anderlecht, Brussels
Princess Eléonore, born 16 April 2008 at Erasmus Hospital in Anderlecht, 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.[17]
Queen Mathilde is a godmother to Princess Alexia of the Netherlands and Princess Isabella of Denmark.[18][19] 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.[20][12][21][22] Belgian tradition stated that the seventh daughter from an uninterrupted line of girls has the privilege of asking the Queen to be her godmother.[23]
Queen Consort
King Albert II announced on 3 July 2013 that he would abdicate in favour of Philippe on 21 July 2013.[24] Approximately one hour after King Albert II's abdication, Prince Philippe was sworn in as King of the Belgians.[25] Upon his accession, Mathilde became the first queen consort of native Belgian nationality. (An earlier Belgian king, King Leopold III, had a Belgian second wife, Lilian, Princess of Réthy, who was not given the title of queen). Their eldest child, Princess Elisabeth, became heir apparent and is expected to become Belgium's first queen regnant.
Activities
Queen Mathilde is involved with a range of social issues including education, child poverty, intergenerational poverty, the position of women in society and literacy.[4]
Since 2009, Queen Mathilde has been the honorary president of Unicef Belgium.[4] She serves as the World Health Organization's Special Representative for immunization.[26] She also the honorary president of the Breast International Group, a non-profit organisation for academic breast cancer research groups from around the world.[4]
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.[27] The sector changes each year: examples include early years education, women's health, and protecting young people from violence.[28]
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.[4] The Queen is the honorary president of Child Focus, a foundation for missing and sexually exploited children.[4]
In 2018, Queen Mathilde became the honorary president of the Federal Council for Sustainable Development.[4] According to the royal tradition, Queen Mathilde became an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium.[4]
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).[29][30]
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
^Belgian women do not change their surname upon marriage.[1]
References
^"Giving a name". Diplomatie Belgium. 4 May 2022. Archived 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.
^ abc"Mathilde, queen of Belgium". Britannica. Archived from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 20 October 2020. Mathilde was the daughter of a judge and a countess, ...
^"The King, the Queen and their Family". Monarchie.be. The Belgian Monarchy. Archived from the original on 14 April 2023. 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. 14 January 2015. Archived from the original on 14 April 2023. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
^"Royal Decree". Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and International Cooperation. 22 December 2001. Archived from the original on 10 April 2023. Retrieved 9 April 2023.
^"外国人叙勲受章者名簿" [List of Foreign Conferment of Decorations (2016)]. Ministry of Foreign Affair of Japan (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2019.
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