Princess Mathilde, Duchess of Brabant

Princess Mathilde
Duchess of Brabant (more)
The Duchess of Brabant on 18 June 2010, at the pre-wedding events before the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden
Spouse Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant
Issue
Princess Elisabeth
Prince Gabriel
Prince Emmanuel
Princess Eléonore
Full name
Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine
House House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Father Count Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz
Mother Countess Anna Maria Komorowska
Born 20 January 1973 (1973-01-20) (age 39)
Uccle, Belgium
Styles of
Princess Mathilde,
Duchess of Brabant
Reference style Her Royal Highness
Spoken style Your Royal Highness
Alternative style Ma'am
Belgian Royal Family

HM The King
HM The Queen

HM Queen Fabiola

Extended royal family

Princess Mathilde, Duchess of Brabant, DHS (née: Ec. Mathilde Marie Christiane Ghislaine d'Udekem d'Acoz), is the wife of the heir apparent to the Belgian throne, Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant. Of Belgian and noble Polish ancestry; she is expected to be the first Belgian-born Queen consort of Belgium.

Contents

Biography

Early life and family

She was born Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz in Uccle on 20 January 1973. Though her grandfather and her uncle were barons, she and her father were members of the untitled nobility.

Mathilde's father was Count (formerly Jonkheer) Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz (Uccle, 28 April 1936 – Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve, 25 September 2008), son of Baron Charles d'Udekem d'Acoz (Ghent, 8 March 1885-Proven, 7 December 1968), who was of Walloon noble ancestry; her mother was Countess Anna Maria Komorowska (born 24 September 1946 in Białogard, Poland), daughter of Count Leon Michael Komorowski (Siedliska, 14 August 1907-1992) and Polish Princess Zofia María Sapieha of Krasiczyn, Clan Lis (Bobrek, 10 October 1919-Herstal, 14 August 1997). Upon her marriage to Prince Philippe of Belgium, the Duke of Brabant in 1999, King Albert II of the Belgians elevated the family d'Udekem d'Acoz from the baronial to the comital rank, hereditary in the male lineage. Upon the accession of her husband, Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant to the throne of Belgium she would be the first Belgian queen consort of native Belgian nationality.[1][2]

Mathilde is the oldest of five children. She has three younger sisters and one younger brother:

On 29 March 2008, Henri d'Udekem d'Acoz, Princess Mathilde's uncle, told a Belgian newspaper that his brother, Patrick had been admitted to the Erasmus Hospital in Anderlecht, and was dying. The Count was in an irreversible coma and in critical condition. Henri stated that his brother had been ill since January, and his illness had gradually put him into the coma. Henri noted that Mathilde had visited her father in the hospital, as had other members of the Royal Family.[3][4] On 25 September 2008, it was announced that the Count had died, aged 72, in Ottignies.[5]

Education

Princess Mathilde attended secondary school at the Institut de la Vierge Fidèle in Brussels. She then studied speech therapy at the Institut Libre Marie Haps in Brussels from 1991 to 1994 and earned a diploma with "grande distinction" (equivalent to magna cum laude).

Mathilde then worked as a speech therapist in her own practice in Brussels from 1995 to 1999. She also studied psychology at the Université catholique de Louvain and earned a diploma in psychology with "distinction" in 2002.

She speaks French, Dutch, English and Italian. Her mother, who spent most of her life outside of Poland, did not teach her Polish, thinking that it would not be necessary. Therefore, Mathilde knows only a few words in Polish.[6]

Marriage and children

The announcement of Mathilde's engagement to the Belgian heir-apparent, Prince Philippe, who had never been seriously linked with any woman, came as a surprise to the country. Mathilde married Prince Philippe on 4 December 1999 in Brussels, civilly at the Brussels Town Hall and religiously at the Cathedral of Saint Michel and Saint Gudula. She was made Princess of Belgium on 8 November 1999 (published on 13 November 1999 and effective from 4 December 1999).

The couple has four children:

Princess Elisabeth, the couple's eldest child, is the second-in-line to the throne behind her father and ahead of her brothers and sister, who are third-, fourth-, and fifth-in-line to succeed, owing to a change in Belgian succession laws in 1991.

Mathilde is also godmother to two princesses: Princess Alexia of the Netherlands and Princess Isabella of Denmark.

Titles, styles an honours

Titles

Before the wedding, by means of a Royal Order of 8 November 1999, Mathilde was made a princess of Belgium in her own right. This Royal Order entered into force on the date of the wedding. The wife of a Belgian prince used to receive this title automatically, but a special creation is now required. In addition, her father and two uncles were elevated to the rank of count.

Upon marriage itself, Mathilde became Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Brabant.

Belgian Honours

Foreign Honours

See also

Ancestors

References

  1. ^ Her predecessors were, in order of succession, French, Austrian, German, Swedish, Spanish, and Italian.
  2. ^ Lilian, Princess of Réthy was never officially designated as queen consort.
  3. ^ (French) RTL Info – 'Le père de la princesse Mathilde est mourant'
  4. ^ (Dutch) Vader prinses Mathilde ligt op sterven
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ Wprost Weekly, The Polish-Belgian Queen (Krolowa polsko-belgijska) 21 December-28, 2008

External links