Queen Mathilde and Prince Emmanuel of Belgium took part in the 20 kilometres through Brussels sporting event on Sunday.
The mother-son duo joined roughly 32000 more participants for the morning, as they ran or marched among the capital’s most iconic monuments.
Queen Mathilde opted for the march, and she finished 23584th (this also includes the people who ran the length of the race) in three hours, ten minutes and 41 seconds, according to the race’s official records. She competed with bib number 32250.
Prince Emmanuel, however, decided to run the entire 20 kilometres course, and finished in 8744th position, with a time of one hour, 47 minutes and 41 seconds. He competed with the number 12800.
Queen Mathilde and her children are not new to sporting events, especially ones that take place in Belgium’s capital. The entire family is regularly seen at biking days, and Queen Mathilde also ran the 2021 event last September.
Interestingly, while for the 2021 event she was signed in as “Mathilde de Belgique,” for this edition she was listed as “Sa Majesté La Reine” (Her Majesty the Queen), and Prince Emmanuel as “S.A.R. Le Prince Emmanuel de Belgique” (HRH the Prince Emmanuel of Belgium).
The race posted about Queen Mathilde’s presence last autumn, writing “HM the Queen did us the honour of being our best ambassadors….” Last year also marked the first time that marchers were included in the race, as until then, it was only open to runners.
This year, the course touched on one side of Brussels, before skirting on one side of Uccle and running parallel to a big park that spans between Watermael and Auderghem. Participants ran in a big ring, which was designed to not only accomodate seven refreshment points and 14 Red Cross tents, but also to give racers the best possible view of Brussels’s outskirts.
