The Belgian Royal Palace has released a new photograph of Queen Mathilde as she marks her 49th birthday today.
The image was taken by Bas Bogaerts in the Royal Domain of Laeken – a private park on the grounds of the Palace of Laeken in Brussels.
Mathilde was born on 20 January 1973 into a Belgian aristocratic family.
She studied speech therapy and psychology at university and worked as a speech therapist in Brussels before her marriage. She also received a master’s degree in psychology.
Mathilde’s engagement to the then-heir to the Belgian throne, Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, was announced in 1999. The pair wed on 4 December 1999, and she became Princess Mathilde, Duchess of Brabant.
The couple has four children: Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant (b. 2001), Prince Gabriel (b. 2003), Prince Emmanuel (b. 2005) and Princess Eléonore (b. 2008).
She became the Queen of the Belgians upon her husband’s ascension to the Belgian throne after the abdication of his father, King Albert II, on 21 July 2013.
Mathilde is Belgium’s first native Belgian queen.
