Happy 50th Birthday To Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium!

Happy 50th birthday to Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium!🎂🎉👑For her special day the Belgian Royal Palace released two new photos of Her Majesty. 

HM Queen Mathilde of Belgium ©Belgian Royal Palace

She was born Baroness Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d'Udekem d'Acoz on January 20, 1973, in Uccle, Belgium to Baron Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz and Countess Anna Komorowska, a Polish aristocrat. 

Upon her marriage to Prince Philippe, the Duke of Brabant on December 4, 1999, her father in law, King Albert II, elevated her father to a Count.

Their official announcement of engagement on September 10, 1999.

Baroness Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz and Prince Philippe of Belgium, the Duke of Brabant. September 10, 1999

She descended from the aristocratic families in Belgium and Poland, and the first Belgian Queen consort to ever born in Belgium. The previous Queen consorts of Belgium were all foreign royals and aristocrats.

She obtained her Speech Therapy degree from the Institut Libre Marie Haps in Brussels and graduated magna cum laude. She then worked as a speech therapist in her own practice in Brussels from 1995 until her royal wedding to the future King Philippe in December 1999. 

Royal Wedding on December 4, 1999

In 2002, she obtained her Master's degree in Psychology at the Université catholique de Louvain with honours (cum laude). Weeks ago, it was announced by the Belgian Royal Palace that the Queen will receive an Honorary Doctorate from the Hasselt University on May 30, 2023.

Following her wedding to Prince Philippe, the eldest son of King Albert II of Belgium and Queen Paola, she was styled Princess Mathilde, the Duchess of Brabant. On July 21, 2013, King Albert II abdicated the Belgian throne in favor of King Philippe.

The Duke and Duchess of Brabant and their newborn daughter, Princess Elisabeth, in October 2001. © Belgian Royal Palace 

Queen Mathilde promotes and supported social concerns in education, child poverty, intergenerational poverty, the position of women in society and literacy.

Her Majesty Queen Mathilde of Belgium 

She has been the honorary president of UNICEF in Belgium since 2009. And also the honorary president of the Breast International Group, a non-profit organisation for academic breast cancer research groups from around the world. She is also the honorary president of Child Focus, a foundation for missing and sexually exploited children.

In 2001, to support her charity works, she established the Princess Mathilde Fund, now Queen Mathilde Fund. It provides support to the vulnerable people, awarding 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.

Her Charity fund also offers help to citizens who are struggling to cope with financial hardship in their daily lives. 

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde and their four children © Belgian Royal Palace 

Queen Mathilde is a patron of the Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, an international competition founded in 1937 as an initiative of Queen Elisabeth (wife of King Albert I of Belgium) and Belgian composer and violist Eugène Ysaÿe.

Queen Mathilde speaks French, Dutch, English, and Italian. And can understand and speak Spanish and a little bit of Polish.

Queen Mathilde shared four daughters with Prince Philippe, namely Princess Elisabeth, Prince Gabriel, Prince Emmanuel, and Princess Eleonore.