Paris Olympics 2024

25 July 2024 

King Philippe & Queen Mathilde arrived by train in Paris for the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Dinner at the Louvre.

With Portuguese President Rebelo de Sousa and the Grand Duke & Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.

Arrival at 01:21

26 July 2024

Visit to Lotto House Belgium, a meeting place for Belgian fans.

Meeting Lorenzo Gatto and Jef Neve, followed by a concert.

Official welcome by President Macron at the Elysée.

Afterwards: a great photo shared by Luxembourg Court of Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, Queen Letizia of Spain and Queen Mathilde chatting away with a drink.

Attending the (rainy) opening ceremony.

27 July 2024

Visit to the Olympic Village in Saint-Denis.

At the men's cyclist time trial event.

Watching the Red Lions Belgian male hockey team take on Ireland.

From 7 August 2024 to 10 August 2024 Crown Princess Elisabeth (22), Prince Gabriel (20), Prince Emmanuel (18) and Princess Eléonore (16) will be cheering Belgium on from their VIP seats. 

7 August 2024

Watching the -49kg weightlifting competition.

8 August 2024

At the 100m hurdles race, women's heptahtlon, watching Nafi Thiam and Noor Vidts at the Stade de France.

A visit to the Fondation Biermans-Lapôtre, a Belgo-Lux universitary accommodation at the Cité Universitaire in Paris. The Princes posed in front of a statue of their great-grandmother, Queen Astrid.

The Princes also made a stop at the Belgian embassy in Paris. 

Watching Fabio Van den Bossche win a bronze medal at track cykling (keirin). 

They ended the day with a visit to the Belgium House.

9 August 2024

At the hockey game between Argentina and Belgium's national team the Red Panthers.

At the female basketball game between France and Belgian national team the Belgian Cats.

Watching the athletics competitions, joined by their "uncle" Henri from Luxembourg.

10 August 2024

After the marathon: meeting silver medalist Bashir Abdi and Koen Naert.

Visit to the International Broadcast Centre at the media village of the Paris Olympics.

Back to the Stade de France to watch the cermony for Nafi Thiam and Noor Vidts.

Greeted by Crown Prince Haakon of Norway.

With Prince Albert of Monaco.

Watching the men and women's relay 4x400.

At the end of the day Princess Eléonore returned home to Belgium. Elisabeth & her brother however have decided they will stay on a day longer than planned! 

11 August 2024

At the bronze medal basketball game between Australia and the Belgian Cats.

Elisabeth with PM Alexander De Croo

Residence: Losange

Queen Mathilde and her four siblings grew up in the rural hamlet of Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, a part of the town Bastogne which is right on the border of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.

The family lived in a castle situated a 300 hectare park.

In 1529 a first castle was built on the spot where the pond is. In the 1940s remnants of the ancient château were found in the pond.

The later castle known as "Losange" was built in the early 1700s by Herman de Trappé.

Many generations later it was used as a summer residence by Count Frédérik "Fritz" van den Steen de Jehay, who was married to Baroness Henriette Snoy, one of queen Elisabeth's ladies-in-waiting. During the 1920s and 1930s she had the castle modernized to the look it has today.

Count Fritz died in 1918 when he fell from his horse. His widow kept on using Losange until she died in 1957. As an intimate of Belgian court, she let the royals enjoy her château in the Ardennes. In 1926 Crown Prince Léopold stopped by.

In 1928 Léopold made another visit, accompanied by his young wife, Princess Astrid and his sister, Princess Marie-José. 

Marie-José even used the castle to host a private celebration of her engagement to Italian Crown Prince Umberto in 1929.

In the Second World War the castle suffered greatly during the Battle of the Bulge. However Countess

Snoy had it restaured after the war.

When she died, Losange and its grounds were put up for sale and bought by Countess Suzanne van Outryve d'Ydewalle, Mathilde's paternal grandmother. She gave it to one of her sons, 22-year old Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz who was studying agronomy and forestry. At first he lived in a dependance and not in the main building.

In 1972 Patrick married Polish Countess Anna Komorowska and together they undertook a thorough restauration of their castle, which had been uninhabited since 1957.

Their 5 children grew up in the castle and on the estate. Anna's parents lived close by, in the village of Honville where Patrick had bought a house for his in-laws.

Patrick became mayor of the hamlet until it was integrated in the larger commune of Bastogne. He was a judge at the court of commerce of Bastogne and opened a discotheque in 1962 called "Los Angeles", a pun in reference to his home Losange which was at a mere 3 kilometers of the once very popular dancing.

The different rooms of the castle all have a name: la chambre du Vicaire, du Cardinal, de la Comtesse ... Mathilde's room was above the chapel and was called 'la lingerie'. 

Scouting groups were allowed to camp on the grounds of the Losange estate. Mathilde used to bring them their mail from home, by bike.

In 2008 Patrick d'Udekem died from the consequences of a brain hemorrhage. Nowadays the castle still belongs to Mathilde's mother. The four surviving children, including Mathilde have started the "Groupement Forestier de Losange", a legal construction that mangages the resources of the estate and its belongings. It also ensures the estate won't get divided in case one of the d'Udekem siblings should die. The heir of the deceased will get a share in the Foundation, instead of actual goods.

Losange can be seen from the road but can't be visited by the public.