Queen Mathilde: Residence: Laeken Castle

When Mathilde d'Udekem got engaged to Crown Prince Philippe she must have often set foot in his impressive home, an apartment in the castle of Laeken.

The castle was built in 1785 for Archduchess Marie Christine of Austria, who was governess of the Southern Netherlands. It was designed by Charles de Wailly and the building works were supervised by Louis Montoyer. At first it was called Schoonenberg.

A view from the backside of the castle, at the time of its construction.

Ten years later, in 1795, Archduchess Marie Christine and her husband, Albert von Sachsen-Teschen fled the castle and the country when the French invaded the Netherlands and became its new rulers.

The French initially used the castle for military purposes and even as a prison. In 1803 it was sold to broker Jean-Baptist Terrade who planned to have it demolished so he could sell the building material. Demolishing works had already begun when it was bought by Napoléon Bonaparte in 1804.

Architect François-Joseph Henry had it restaured. A library was added and so were empire style furniture and tapestries. Napoléon spent some time at Laeken now and then ... contrary to his first wife Joséphine de Beauharnais who never visited, even though she had received the castle & grounds as a gift in exchange for the Elysée in Paris.

In the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands was founded (1815-1830) with the Dutch King Willem I as Monarch. Willem used Laeken castle as a summer residence. Under his rule the orangerie and a theatre were added.

In 1831, when Belgium was founded, the new country offered the castle to its first king, Leopold I.

The castle as it was in 1843, the time of Leopold I.

On 1 January 1890, when Leopold II was king, a large fire partially destroyed the castle.

At the time of the fire King Leopold II & Queen Marie-Henriette were attending a new year's reception at the royal palace, some 7 kilometers from Laeken. Only their youngest daughter, Princess Clémentine, then 18 years old, was at home. She was rescued by her chamber maid Antoinette. Clémentine's governess, Mademoiselle Drancourt died in the flames. The fire also destroyed the cupola and Napoleon's library.

After the fire.

This disaster gave King Leopold II the opportunity to rethink the entire castle. He had it substantially enlarged with two new wings, one of which also connects the castle to the greenhouses. In 1902 the construction began, supervised by architects Balat and Giraud. Thus the castle of Laeken became the way it still is today.

It was Leopold's intention to create a large, impressive castle that could also house congresses and other important events. To this effect he had a private railway station built on the royal grounds. Leopold never had the time to see the station in use. In 1909 he died and his nephew and successor, King Albert I stopped the ongoing works, leaving the railway building unfinished. Since then, no large alterations have been made to the castle.

The railway buiding which has never been in use.

The royal stables no longer house any horses ...

A chaumière (cottage) was added on the estate by Queen Elisabeth. A keen artist, she used it as her atelier. It has been preserved as it was when she died in 1965.

The cottage can also be accessed via the azalea greenhouse.

From 1935 to 1944 King Leopold III and his children lived at Laeken, until the nazis sent them as hostages to Germany. After the political turmoil that followed, Leopold III and his new wife, Princess Lilian and the children from this second marriage came to live at Laeken in 1950.

Leopold III, Lilian and their 3 children moved out of Laeken in 1960 when Leopold's son, King Baudouin married Fabiola de Mora y Aragón. After the death of King Baudouin, Queen Fabiola still remained at Laeken for 5 years. She moved out in 1998.

Crown Prince Philippe started living at Laeken castle at the start of the 1990s, once he'd finished his studies at Stanford University.

When Mathilde married Philippe in 1999, she officially moved in with him.

After a few years they changed apartments and moved from the right wing of the building to an apartment in the left wing.

Some parts of the castle are used for official activities ...

Hall d'Honneur

The Dôme

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La salle à manger.

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Le salon des sciences.

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... Others are kept for private use only.

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A Royal Copenhagen "Flora Danica" porcelain set against the wall: https://floradanica.royalcopenhagen.com/

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These old postcards also show interesting parts of the beautiful building:

A lateral view on the subsequent drawing rooms ("les salons vus à l'enfilade").

The gallery leading to His Majesty The King's appartments ("Galerie d'introduction aux appartements de S.M. Le Roi")

The Eastern Octogon ("L'octogon de l'Est")

The underground gallery ("La Galerie souterraine").

The library.

The private theatre. It's no longer in use because of safiety regulations.

The state kitchens.

The castle is set in a private park of 186 hectares, a late design of Capability Brown. Sixty gardeners maintain the park and the greenhouses on a daily basis.

In 2010 this aerial shot of Philippe & Mathilde's private backyard was still visible on Google Maps. It has since been blurred out.

In the park there's a playhouse for the children that was commissioned by Queen Astrid in the 1930s as a copy of her own childhood playhouse on the Fridhem estate in Sweden.

Le Pavillon des Princes.

The greenhouses were built in the early 1870s by Alphonse Balat for King Leopold II. They're open to the general public during 3 weeks each spring.

One of the greenhouse buildings houses a private swimming pool from the 1930s.

There's also a private tennis court on the grounds.

The Greenhouses have often served as the background for official occasions:

1881: King Leopold II & Queen Marie-Henriette welcome the Wiener Männergesangverein with their daughter Stéphanie and son-in-law Rudolf of Austria.

1922: King Albert I & Queen Elisabeth pose with the British royal couple King George V & Queen Mary.

1966: Queen Elizabeth II & the Duke of Edinburgh admiring the Winter Garden.

The family can enjoy the view of the Japanese tower and the Chinese pavillion.

The royal park also houses other Belgian royals: Albert & Paola in the Belvédère (although they spend most of the year in Rome and France) ...

Princess Paola at the Belvédère in 1974.

... and Astrid & Lorenz in their newly built villa "Schonenberg". Their son, prince Amedeo & his wife, Lili Rosboch spent the first year of their marriage in an adjacent farm style building - before moving to Basel, Switzerland in 2017.

Amedeo & Lili's former home

The park also houses castle Stuyvenberg where Queen Fabiola lived from 1993 until her death in 2014. It has now been rented to Baroness Michèle Sioen & Marnix Galle, who renovated it and moved in in 2018.