2024: The Year That Was

In the first half of year the royal family was involved in the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU.

Mathilde was present at the inaugural concert as well as three conferences, and she joined her husband for a visit to the European Commission.

Together they also hosted a dinner for young EU civil servants at Laeken castle.

Prince Gabriel took part in a high level reception with his fellow candidate officers of the ERM. 

There were two incoming state visits.

Grand Duke Henri & Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg visited Belgium in spring ...

... while the Sultan of Oman was Philippe & Mathilde's guest in winter.

In turn King Philippe & Queen Mathilde only made one state visit this year, an election year, to France.

Also making headlines: Pope Francis was on a 4-day official visit to Belgium.

This brings us to the international side of being a Queen: in 2024 Queen Mathilde visited eight countries.

1. In January Philippe & Mathilde were in Switzerland for the Economic Forum in Davos.

2. In February the Royal Couple spent a day in the Netherlands to visit Europol.

3. As SDG advocate for the United Nations, Mathilde visited Ivory Coast in March where she focused on female projects in medicine, education and business and on the hardship the cocoa industry is facing.

4. The UK: that same month, Mathilde was in London as a guest of Queen Camilla, for International Women's Day.

In July the King & Queen of the Belgians attended a war remembrance ceremony in London, alongside the Duke & Duchess of Gloucester.

Also in July, the family was in Oxford for Elisabeth's graduation.

5. Like each year, Mathilde & Philippe were spotted hiking a part of the Santiago trail in Spain with friends.

In December they were with Willem-Alexander & Maxima on a private hunting weekend near Toledo.

6. Part of the Easter holidays were spent in the quiet of their holiday home on the island of Yeu in France. Their summer holidays were spent there as well, as the entire family took turns in attending the Paris Olympics. 

In June Philippe & Mathilde attended the D Day commemorations in Caen.

In July we saw Mathilde & Philippe attending the Paris Olympics before their 4 adult children took on the job in August.

In the autumn the King & Queen and their son, Prince Gabriel were President Macron's guests at a Belgian state visit to France.

Gabriel was present at the state dinner because of his Erasmus term at the military academy Saint-Cyr at Coëtquidan in Bretagne, where his proud parents made a visit in December.

And finally the Royal Couple also returned to Paris for the re-opening of the Notre Dame cathedral, which was also a high level diplomatic affair.

7. In September King Philippe & Queen Mathilde attended the Informal Summit of German Speaking Countries in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

And in December they returned for a WWII commemoration.

8. Queen Mathilde was in the USA to attend the 79th General Assembly of the United Nations in New York. She is of course, as we know, a very active SDG advocate for the UN.

Now what about the young royals?

We saw Princess Elisabeth (23) for the first time in 2024 when Barack Obama was received at the royal palace, back in April.

In June all four siblings took part in the European elections.

A month later we saw the four of them again on the National Day. 

Two days later Belgians could once again be proud of their crown princess, as she graduated from Oxford with a bachelor's degree in Politics and History. 

For the first time Elisabeth was also spotted at weddings of friends: first in Bonn, Germany at the wedding of Archduke Pál von Habsburg-Lothringen & Antonia Lütz ...

... and later at the wedding of Countess Caroline de Lannoy & Henry de Spoelberch in Anvaing. 

In August Elisabeth was flanked by her brothers and sister at the Paris Olympics, a great decision to let the four of them step forward on this occasion.

In September these photos were shared of a radiant Elisabeth who'd started her masters in Public Policy at Harvard in the US. 

She seems to have settled in fast and beginning October Elisabeth de Saxe-Cobourg was one of the participants in the Cambridge half marathon.

By the end of December Elisabeth was back in Belgium just in time for the Christmas concert where she was the focus of all attention.

In April Prince Gabriel (21) was part of the Royal Military Academy's honorary guard at the Royal Palace when a high level reception for the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU took place.

At the national day celebrations in July.

In August Gabriel officially attended the Paris Olympics with his siblings.

On his birthday it was announced the Prince would be spending the rest of the year studying geopolitics at the Military Academy of Saint-Cyr in Coëtquidan, France. At the end of the year his proud parents made an official visit. 

In September Gabriel was present in Brussels at the mass officiated by Pope Francis.

Prince Gabriel had the honour of being the first of the royal children to officially attend a state banquet during a state visit. Here he is at the Elysée in Paris.

Prince Emmanuel (19) finished his schooling at the International School of Brussels by obtaining an International Baccalaureate. 

In June he visited the Red Devils with his dad.

In July he was in Oxford to be celebrate his sister's academic achievements.

In August Emmanuel officially attended the Paris Olympics with his siblings.

After summer he started intensive football training at the Mifra Academy in Zaragoza, Spain whilst also taking Spanish courses. This is probably a gap year for Philippe & Mathilde's third child. 2025 will tell which directions Emmanuel choses to take after this.

After the elections we first saw Princess Eléonore (16) in June when she & her brothers watched the Red Devils play in Germany.

In July we witnessed the strong bond Eléonore has with her sister when the family was in Oxford for Elisabeth's graduation.

She also wasn't afraid to play her part during the Paris Olympics.

In September we saw Eléonore riding her bike through Mechelen with her dad, for Car Free Sunday.

... and she was present in Brussels at the mass officiated by Pope Francis.

Finally, she was her sister's sidekick at the Christmas concert in December.

Now for the fashion side of things.

In 2024 there were nine glamorous gala appearances by our Queen.

This one was worn twice.

Both Princess Elisabeth and Princess Eléonore appeared in gala once.

Hats scored even better. We saw Mathilde wearing a hat on sixteen occasions throughout the year.

This one was worn twice this year.

These were Crown Princess Elisabeth's three hat outings.

In 2024 again some beautiful new pictures were released to mark special occasions, such as the family members' birthdays and anniversaries.

2024 was a beautiful, well rounded royal year. Now what's on the agenda for 2025?

In February Mathilde will make a UNICEF visit to Costa Rica.

In April King Philippe & Queen Mathilde will be visiting Vietnam, on their 16th state visit.

On 15 April King Philippe will celebrate his 65th birthday.

And maybe we'll be seeing Belgian royals at the royal wedding of Princess Marie Caroline von Liechtenstein (summer 2025) and at the inauguration of the new Grand Duke  & Grand Duchess in Luxembourg (early October 2025)!