Happy 23rd Birthday, Gabriel!

20 August 2026

To mark his 23rd birthday, Court published these photos of Prince Gabriel during a climb on the Mont Blanc in France, earlier this month.

Together with a friend, William Vermeulen, Gabriel undertook a climb up to the Refuge Albert Ier named after after his 2xgreat grandfather, King Albert I of the Belgians. 

With their guide, Diego Simari.

Next week we'll be seeing Gabriel again, alongside his parents and his big sister Elisabeth, for his official graduation ceremony. 

Start of the Summer Holidays

On 23 July 2026 a group of girl scouts from Hasselt ran into Philippe & Mathilde who had gone for a forest walk, hand in hand, at Han-sur-Lesse.

The girls started screaming and once their initial shock was over, they were able to have a talk with the king & queen who came across as "quite normal and very kind". The surprise encounter ended with this snapshot. 

Han-sur-Lesse is close to Ciergnon where Philippe & Mathilde must have been staying in the days after 21 July (National Day). Normally they leave Belgium for a holiday straight after the 21st, but this year they stayed at Ciergnon for a couple of days before leaving for Vienna, where they attended the wedding of Archduchess Isabel of Austria.

On 26 July 2026 they arrived in Nantes, France, on their way to their holiday home on the Ile d'Yeu.

Emmanuel Releases new Single

At the end of July 2026, Prince Emmanuel (20), AKA DJ Vyntrix, released a new single called "WONDER".  

Earlier he'd announced that he was continuing the project on his own, as his French music partner, Elzéar de Monspey had left the project. 

On 5 August Emmanuel posted this message of thanks on instagram (under @vyntrix.music, not his personal private account). From the start the DJ Vyntrix project has been receiving a lot of positive acclaim in Belgium, both from the general public as from professional DJs. 

To be clear, Emmanuel is still studying. His DJing is a successful hobby.