Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d'Udekem d'Acoz (; 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, and the position of women in society and literacy.

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. Her parents are Count Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz (1936–2008), a politician, and his wife, Countess Anna Maria Komorowska (b. 1946). Mathilde has three sisters: Marie-Alix (1974–1997), Elisabeth (b. 1977, a speech therapist) and Hélène (b. 1979, a lawyer), and one brother Charles-Henri (b. 1985, a lawyer). Her godfather is her uncle, Count Raoul d'Udekem d'Acoz. Mathilde grew up in the Château de Losange in . At the age of 17, she lived with her three sisters in an apartment at , Schaarbeek.

Education and career

Mathilde attended primary school in Bastogne and then attended secondary school at the Institut de la Vierge Fidèle in Brussels. At the age of 18, Mathilde did voluntary work in the slums of Cairo for six weeks. From 1991 until 1994, Mathilde attended the

Institut Libre Marie Haps The Institut libre Marie Haps (ILMH) was a former French language, French-speaking institution of higher education in Brussels, Belgium, founded by Marie Haps in 1919. Since 1995 it has become a constituent part of Haute École Léonard de Vinci ex ...

in Brussels, where she studied speech therapy and graduated magna cum laude. She worked as a speech therapist in her own practice in Brussels from 1995 to 1999. She also worked in several Brussels schools. She earned a master's degree in psychology at the

Université catholique de Louvain UCLouvain (or Université catholique de Louvain , French for Catholic University of Louvain, officially in English the University of Louvain) is Belgium's largest French-speaking university and one of the oldest in Europe (originally establishe ...

in 2002 with honours (cum laude). Mathilde became the first member of the Belgian royal family with a Belgian university degree. She also took a ten-day leadership course at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in 2011. Mathilde speaks French, Dutch, English and Italian. She is also able to speak basic Spanish. Her mother, a member of the Polish aristocratic Komorowski family but 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.

Marriage and children

''Jonkvrouw'' Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz met Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant while playing tennis in 1996. In September 1999, the Belgian Royal Court announced the engagement of Prince Philippe to Mathilde. Mathilde was presented to the press and public at the Castle of Laeken on 13 September 1999. 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 Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, 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. 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. The couple have four children: * Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant, born 25 October 2001 at Erasmus Hospital in Anderlecht, Brussels * 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. Queen Mathilde is a godmother to Princess Alexia of the Netherlands and Princess Isabella of Denmark. 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 Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

and

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

. Belgian tradition stated that the seventh daughter from an uninterrupted line of girls has the privilege of asking the Queen to be her godmother.

Queen Consort

King Albert II announced on 3 July 2013 that he would abdicate in favour of Philippe on 21 July 2013. Approximately one hour after King Albert II's abdication, Prince Philippe was sworn in as King of the Belgians. Upon his accession, Mathilde became the first

queen consort A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king, and usually shares her spouse's social Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and status. She holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles and may be crowned and anointed, but hi ...

of native Belgian nationality. (An earlier Belgian king, King Leopold III, had a Belgian second wife,

Lilian, Princess of Réthy Princess Lilian of Belgium, Princess of Réthy (born Mary Lilian Henriette Lucie Josephine Ghislaine Baels; – ) was the second wife of King Leopold III of Belgium. Born in the United Kingdom and raised in Belgium, she became a volunteer a ...

, 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 A queen regnant (: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank, title and position to a king. She reigns ''suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a kingdom; as opposed to a queen consort, who is married to a reigning ...

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. Since 2009, Queen Mathilde has been the honorary president of

Unicef UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

Belgium. She serves as the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

's Special Representative for

immunization Immunization, or immunisation, is the process by which an individual's immune system becomes fortified against an infectious agent (known as the antigen, immunogen). When this system is exposed to molecules that are foreign to the body, called ' ...

. She also the honorary president of the Breast International Group, a non-profit organisation for academic breast cancer research groups from around the world. 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. The sector changes each year: examples include early years education, women's health, and protecting young people from violence. 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. The Queen is the honorary president of Child Focus, a foundation for missing and sexually exploited children. 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. In 2018, Queen Mathilde became the honorary president of the Federal Council for Sustainable Development. According to the royal tradition, Queen Mathilde became an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium. Queen Mathilde is a member of the board of the Schwab Foundation 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 The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental organization, international advocacy non-governmental organization and think tank, based in Cologny, Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German ...

in Davos. Queen Mathilde was named a ''United Nations Sustainable Development Goal Advocate'' in 2016, promoting the 17

Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

(an agenda for global sustainable development). The Queen also presided at the ceremony awarding the King Baudouin International Development Prize. She also received an Honorary Doctorate from Hasselt University on 30 May 2023.

Honours

National

*: Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold

Foreign

*: Knight of the

Order of the Elephant The Order of the Elephant () is a Denmark, Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional monarchy in ...

, 2017. *: Grand Cross of the National Order of the Legion of Honour, 2018. *: Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland *: Grand Cross Special Class of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry () is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese ''infante'' Prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of the Age of Discovery. M ...

, 2018. *: Dame Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic 12 May 2000 *: ** Member Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Polar Star ** Recipient of the 70th Birthday Badge Medal of King Carl XVI Gustaf

Arms

Footnotes

References

External links

Official biography from the Belgian Royal Family website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mathilde Of Belgium 1973 births Living people Princesses of Belgium Queens consort of Belgium Duchesses of Brabant House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Belgium) House of Belgium Princesses of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Belgian people of Polish descent Belgian nobility Belgian Roman Catholics Polish Roman Catholics Sapieha family Speech and language pathologists People from Uccle Université catholique de Louvain alumni Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star Dames Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Grand Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland Grand Crosses of the Order of Christ (Portugal) Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau Members of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre Grand Crosses Special Class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Grand Cordons of the Order of the Precious Crown Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour Recipients of Supreme Order of the Renaissance (Jordan) Komorowski family Princesses by marriage