Queen Mathilde of Belgium was born Jonkvrouw Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d’Udekem d’Acoz on 20 January 1973 at Edith Cavell Hospital in Uccle, Brussels.
She is the eldest daughter of Count Patrick d’Udekem d’Acoz and Countess Anna Maria Komorowska. She grew up at the family’s Château de Losange in Villers-la-Bonne-Eau.
On 4 December 1999 she married Prince Philippe, then Duke of Brabant; upon his accession to the throne on 21 July 2013 she became Queen of the Belgians, the first Belgian-born queen consort.
The couple have four children: Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant (the heir apparent), Prince Gabriel, Prince Emmanuel and Princess Eléonore.
Siblings
Queen Mathilde has four siblings. Her sisters are Marie-Alix (1974–1997), who died in a car accident; Elisabeth (born 1977), a speech therapist; and Hélène (born 1979), a lawyer.
Her brother is Charles-Henri (born 1985), also a lawyer.
The family belongs to the Belgian nobility, elevated to the rank of count at the time of Mathilde’s marriage.
Career
Before her marriage Mathilde trained as a speech therapist at the Institut Libre Marie Haps, graduating magna cum laude, and ran her own practice in Brussels from 1995 to 1999.
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She later earned a master’s degree in psychology from the Université catholique de Louvain.
As Duchess of Brabant and later as Queen she has focused on social issues, particularly education, child poverty, the position of women, literacy and the needs of vulnerable people.
She established the Queen Mathilde Fund (originally the Princess Mathilde Fund) to support initiatives helping those at risk.
She serves as honorary president of UNICEF Belgium, Child Focus and the Breast International Group, and is a United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Advocate.
She regularly accompanies the King on state visits and official engagements while maintaining an active programme of her own in Belgium and internationally.
Accolades
Queen Mathilde has received an honorary doctorate from Hasselt University in recognition of her social commitment.
She was awarded the Honorary National German Sustainability Award for her work on sustainable development and humanitarian causes.
As Queen of the Belgians she holds high national and foreign orders of knighthood, and her appointments as a United Nations SDG Advocate and Special Representative of the World Health Organization for immunisation further acknowledge her international contributions.
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