Over 500 foreign royal family members and dignitaries were in attendance at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, including the King and Queen of Belgium. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde attended as representatives for their country but also as relations of the Queen.
The Belgian royal family is distantly related to the Queen through her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria. Belgium is one of the few countries which still has a monarchical system.
King Philippe ascended the throne in 2013 after his father abdicated due to health reasons. He was sworn in approximately an hour after the abdication, which also made his daughter Princess Elisabeth his heir apparent and the assumed first queen regnant for Belgium.
Read more: The Queen's funeral live stream and updates as Elizabeth II laid to rest
Who is King Philippe?
King Philippe of Belgium was born on April 15, 1960, to then Prince Albert and Princess Paola. He was sent to the Belgian Royal Military Academy between 1978 and 1981, during which he was appointed second lieutenant.
He continued his education at Trinity College, Oxford and then went on to do a Masters in political science at Stanford University, California. King Philippe continued his military career and achieved his pilot’s wings as well as becoming a parachutist and commando.
A year into his reign, King Philippe aided in the forming a coalition government after the 2014 federal election. In 2020, the King announced regret for "acts of violence and cruelty" committed by the nation in Belgian Congo.
Who is Queen Mathilde?
The wife of the King of Belgium is Queen Mathilde, who is the first ever native-born Belgian queen. She was born on January 20, 1973 in Uccle, Belgium and her full birth name is Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d'Udekem d'Acoz.
Queen Mathilde married Philippe in 1999, before he was king, and together they have four children: Princess Elisabeth, Prince Gabriel, Prince Emmanuel, and Princess Eléonore. Princess Elisabeth will not be overtaken by her youngest brothers in the line to the throne due to a succession law which changed in 1991.
The marriage of Philippe and Mathilde was seen to have a unifying effect on Belgium between the French-south and Dutch-north of the country. Their ceremony was conducted in English, French and Dutch.
Mathilde is the patron of many charities and concerns herself with issues around poverty, children’s welfare and women’s place in society. She serves in the World Health Organisation and created the Queen Mathilde Fund which promotes the care of vulnerable people and awards an annual prize for good works in a particular sector.
How are they related to the Queen?
As with many royal families across the globe, the Belgian royal family is related to the British royals. They share many ancestors throughout history due to royal marriages and historic political alliances.
The Belgian line is descended from King Leopold I who was the first king of Belgium. King Leopold I was the uncle of Queen Victoria - her grandfather Franz, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, was his father.
They are also related through King Christian IX of Denmark, known as the grandfather of Europe due to his far reaching family tree. King Charles and King Philippe are both his great-great-great-grandsons.
King Charles, then as the Prince of Wales, represented the British monarchy in place of the Queen at the wedding of Philippe and Mathilde. King Philippe is the Queen’s third cousin and King Charles’ third cousin, once removed.
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