Queen Mathilde

dinsdag 26 december 2023

Fashion Flashback: Elisabeth's Necklaces

zaterdag 23 december 2023

Private: Hof van Cleve

Last weekend, 16 December 2023, King Philippe & Queen Mathilde had dinner at Hof van Cleve, a three star Michelin restaurant in Kruishoutem.

The date for their visit to the restaurant must have been chosen carefully as it was chef Peter Goossens's last week in his top notch restaurant. He's decided to pass on his cheff's hat to successor Floris Van der Veken.

Visitors reported Philippe wearing a dark suit and Mathilde a red & black dress. Staff refused to comment on the visit, which was private.

The Royal Couple and the chef have met before.

vrijdag 22 december 2023

Jewels: Sterlé Gold & Diamond Cuff

At the new year's reception for Belgian authorities in January 2020 we saw Queen Mathilde wearing this gold and diamond cuff for the first time.

Royal jewel enthousiast Benjamin Vaesen discovered its origins.

The bracelet is made by Sterlé. It's not a unique piece, several were made and several appeared at auction over the past years.

Other details:

Of textured gold design, accented with diamonds designed as stylized flames.

Diamonds weighing a total of approximately 5.30 carats.

Tapered internal circumference approximately 7¾ inches at widest and 6⅞ inches at narrowest.

14 karat white and yellow gold.

Gross weight approximately 81 dwts.

Sterlé was a French jeweller famous for his 1940s and 1950s designs.

In 1934, Pierre Sterlé opened a workshop on Rue St-Anne. Some of Paris’s finest jewellers patronized him, including Boucheron, Chaumet, Ostertag. In 1939, having established a loyal following, Sterlé began to produce pieces exclusively for individuals. In 1945, he moved to 43 Avenue de l’Opéra near the Place Vendôme. Like the jewellers at Boivin before him, and JAR after him, Sterlé thought of himself as a highly exclusive designer and refused to occupy a ground-level location where he would have to display his jewels in window cases, open to public view. His pieces were thus produced for, and seen by, a select few. If jewellery historians are to be believed, his clients and fellow jewellers considered him “a revolutionary figure” because of his work’s originality and his technical expertise.1 His favorite motifs included birds, wings, feathers, animals, and flowers. His designs were executed in a baroque, asymmetrical style and were typically embellished with a combination of precious and semi-precious gemstones. Some of them also featured “angel wire,” a mesh of sorts, which he created in 1957.2 During the 1960s, he sold his business to Chaumet. In the 1970s, he created “Oriental-style” jewellery for the firm.

donderdag 21 december 2023

Christmas Visit 2023: Françoise Schervier

21 December 2023

For their Christmas Visit, King Philippe & Queen Mathilde visited the residential care home Françoise Schervier in Mehagne, Chaudfontaine.

This Home uses the Montessori method where autonomy and participation of the residents are essential. This way, even though the elderly residents can no longer live by themselves, a maximum of autonomy is preserved for them.

Video: https://www.rtc.be/article/info/societe/visite-royale-a-la-maison-de-repos-francoise-schervier_1517606_325.html?fbclid=IwAR18rPI-w-6EmnBJ0x0vxOurZsGi681jZjyDaoVywUO1bZhPT-fZeGjJKDs

woensdag 20 december 2023

Christmas Visit 2023: Elisabeth visits "Her Hospital"

20 December 2023

Crown Princess Elisabeth made her first official Christmas Visit! It took place at the Children's Hospital Prinses Elisabeth in Ghent. You may remember Elisabeth officially opening the new premises in 2011, at the tender age of 9!

Elisabeth was awaited by Professor Doctor Sabine Van Daele, who guided her through the hospital, Governor of the Province Oost-Vlaanderen, Carina Van Cauter and mayor of Ghent, Mathias De Clerq.

Elisabeth was wearing a new Dries Van Noten trousers suit and top, combined with her mother's Carolina Herrera earrings.

When she was a teenager and still studying in Brussels, Elisabeth used to make an incognito call with her mother at the Hospital around Christmas time, but so far it was a private matter not involving any press.

The Duchess of Brabant was given an update of the Hospital's current situation and its plans for the future.

Then it was time to meet with patients and nursing staff.

Kinderziekenhuis Prinses Elisabeth treats children up to the age of 15, or 18 in case of chronic disease. Parents can spend the night with their children and there are adapted facilities such as play rooms and a school.