The Royal Palace of Belgium released new portraits of Their Majesties King Philippe and Queen Mathilde ahead of His Majesty's 10 years anniversary of accession to the Belgian throne.
The new portraits were photographed by Michael Gronemberger at the Royal Palace of Laeken, the official residence of the King and Queen.
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| Official portrait. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians ©Michael Gronemberger/Belgian Royal Palace |
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By the time he abdicated the throne, King Albert II had been reigning in Belgium for nearly 20 years since he succeeded his childless older brother, King Baudouin, who died in Spain from heart attack on July 31, 1993.
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| His Majesty King Philippe of the Belgians |
Before he ascended the Belgian throne, King Philippe was known as Duke of Brabant, a title traditionally given to the Belgian throne's heir apparent.
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King Philippe is the 7th Belgian monarch since Belgium officially separated from the Kingdom of The Netherlands and became an independent country.Â
The first Belgian King was Leopold I in 1831. He was the maternal uncle of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and paternal uncle of her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Leopold was the first husband of Princess Charlotte of Wales, the first cousin of Queen Victoria who died from childbirth in 1817.Â
When Belgium became an independent country, he was elected to become the first Belgian king. He later remarried to a French princess, Marie Louise of Orleans whom he had four children.
During Queen Victoria's time, Britain and Belgium had the same royal house name: Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. However, King George V of the United Kingdom changed it to Windsor in 1917 during World War I.
His Belgian cousin, King Albert I, sought an independent national identity for Belgian royals away from their German roots, so he changed his royal house name to Belgium in 1920.
The proper title of the Belgian monarch is King of the Belgians rather than King of Belgium. The title indicates a popular monarchy linked to the people of Belgium rather than to territory or state.
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| His Majesty King Philippe of the Belgians. ©Michael Gronemberger/Belgian Royal Palace |
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| Her Majesty Queen Mathilde |
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New official portrait of Their Majesties King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians.
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Belgian Royals in the male line who needed a surname, bears the name Saxe-Coburg. The Belgian throne's succession has been restricted to male descendants since 1831. But in early 1990s, the Succession Law was altered to Absolute Primogeniture Succession, allowing female to succeed.
King Philippe's eldest child, Princess Elisabeth, the Duchess of Brabant, will be the first Queen regnant of Belgium when she ascend the throne someday.Â
Belgian Monarchs since 1831:
- Leopold I (1831-1865)
- Leopold II (1865-1909)
- Albert I (1909-1934)
- Leopold III (1934-1951)
- Baudouin (1951-1993)
- Albert II (1993-2013)
- Philippe (2013-present)
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