Two of the most popular royals in Europe will be meeting up this autumn for a series of appearances.
Queen Mary of Denmark will be heading to Belgium in September for a State Visit and her host will be Queen Mathilde.
Both women are hugely popular and their joint appearances will be much anticipated.
King Frederik X of Denmark and Queen Mary are to make a three day State Visit to Belgium, starting on September 8. And among their engagements will be a glittering State Banquet, hosted by King Philippe and Queen Mathilde.
The State Visit is designed to bolster ties between Denmark and Belgium and it promises to be packed, meaning plenty of appearances by Mary and Mathilde.
The King and Queen of Denmark will arrive in Brussels where they will be given an official welcome. Given the friendship between Mathilde and Mary, this promises to be a more relaxed version of the ceremonial that usually comes with such arrivals.
Day one will also see Frederik and Mary meet the Belgian Prime Minister, the Federal Parliament and the Mayor of Brussels.
The next day will see the Danish royals head to the Lauzelle Forest, accompanied by researchers and students from the University of Louvain. The forest is famous as an ecological restoration project as well as a field laboratory. It’s also a public park and Mary and Frederik will see how all this works together.
They will also meet 40 Danish companies working in Brussels and head to the Danish Church in Brussels which is marking its fiftieth anniversary this year. There’s another meet up with Mathilde and Philippe that evening for a gala event, this time with Mary and Frederik as hosts.
The final day of the State Visit, September 10, will see the King and Queen of Denmark head to Antwerp for an overview of the city’s development into one of the most popular cultural centres in Europe. King Frederik and Queen Mary will then welcome guests on board their royal yacht, Dannebrog, for a lunch reception before sailing away as their State Visit comes to an end.
Both Queen Mary and Queen Mathilde are regularly voted the most popular member of their respective royal families. And both have another thing in common. On the days their husbands became kings, the biggest cheers from the crowds came for the new queens.
