Queen Mathilde mixes past and present on visit to East Flanders

Queen Mathilde paid a visit to East Flanders on Wednesday, visiting local businesses to learn more about production.

King Philippe had originally been scheduled to join his wife; however, with a new government deal struck overnight, His Majesty had to remain in Brussels to meet with his government officials.

Queen Mathilde’s visit began at Inex, a family-run dairy that focuses on providing sustainable food options and operations.

“Queen Mathilde showed a lot of interest in sustainability and expressed her appreciation for the staff. That pleasantly surprised me,” the dairy’s CEO, Steven Dierickx, told reporters after The Queen’s visit.

“She has taken plenty of time to talk to some of our employees. She was also very interested in the production process. She mainly asked a lot of questions about sustainability. Our new state-of-the-art production line and the production of Inex milk in an innovative PET packaging received a lot of praise. That bottle contains a minimum of 25 per cent recycled PET, is 20 per cent lighter than other plastic (PE) bottles and therefore has a 20 per cent lower CO2 footprint.”

Queen Mathilde next visited Fisheye, a creative production house that supports events in Belgium by creating unforgettable user experiences. The Queen toured the facilities dedicated to content, design and tech, and then viewed the prop production warehouse, where she received a specially-printed 3D print of the Fisheye logo.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Fisheye switched from working on its own projects to creating plexiglass screens for use in businesses and hospitals. “We have the knowledge and the materials in-house and we were able to continue to work,” Kris Goubert, Fisheye founder told reporters.

Queen Mathilde told the team there: “It’s impressive to see the diversity of in-house skills at Fisheye.”

Her Majesty’s final engagement of the day was a tour at the Castle of Laarne, a museum inside a 14^th century castle that has recently re-opened following the pandemic. Tours are now offered in bubbles with an interactive video guide for patrons.

Queen Mathilde was given a tour of the facilities and signed the Golden Book for visitors before departing back to Brussels.