On Tuesday, Queen Mathilde of the Belgians carried out her first engagement since she was forced to cancel her agenda last week following one of the younger members of her family testing positive for Covid-19.
It is not known whether Her Majesty has been vaccinated against coronavirus, but a spokesperson for the Royal House said that both she and The King had undergone PCR tests that came back negative. However, out of an abundance of precaution, as well as respect for those who they would’ve been in contact with and in line with current regulations, the entire family decided to isolate for 7 days.
Tuesday was the first day that the Royals spent out of isolation, and Queen Mathilde returned to work by showing her support for one of her favourite causes: education.
Her Majesty visited Zottengem’s Royal Atheneum School, where a new method is being implemented, in which students are not divided in classrooms, but have a commentary approach and are individually followed. Her Majesty met students while touring some of the school’s facilities, like the library or the languages laboratory, and heard from school officials about the different phases of learning, the new teaching/learning method being implemented and the focus of the school on mental health for both children and teachers during the pandemic.
Queen Mathilde has always had a soft spot for children’s education, so much so that she worked as a speech therapist for young children before becoming a member of the Royal Family, after getting her degree in Speech Therapy in 1994. After getting married, in 2002 she earned her degree in Psychology.
On Tuesday, King Philippe also restarted his agenda after the forced isolation pause, by welcoming the President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau, His Excellency Umaro Sissoco Embaló, at Brussels Royal Palace.
The Belgians Royal Couple is likely preparing to see their nest partially empty, as their two older children, Princess Elisabeth and Prince Gabriel, are going to move the United Kingdom to study, with the Duchess of Brabant being enrolled in a three-year program in History and Politics at Lincoln College, Oxford University. Her brother will head to Warwickshire, where he is enrolled at The National Mathematics and Science College for a one-year STEM program, for which he has chosen Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Physics as his A-level subjects.
