Her Majesty arrived this Monday in Laos where she carried out a three-day mission on behalf of Unicef ​​Belgium.

Landing on Monday, February 20th 2017 at the capital's airport, Vientiane, where she was greeted with an enormous bouquet of lilies and other white flowers. This journey, the young woman of 44 years was without her husband King Philip. She is not there as the Queen but as honorary president of Unicef ​​Belgium.

In photos : Mathilde and Philippe at the Mass of the Dead, without Albert II

Queen Mathilde will stay in this Southeast Asian country for three days. Her mission is organized in collaboration with the UNICEF office in Laos and the Embassy of Belgium in Bangkok. "It aims to increase awareness of quality education, including health and mental health, and the issues of child survival and malnutrition," the Palais said in a statement. "In her capacity as an advocate of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (MDGs), the Queen also wishes to draw attention to the implementation of the" to leave no one behind "SDOs, strengthening local actions by Unicef As well as the efforts of local authorities in favor of the rights of children and women, "he added.

For the first Laotian day, Mathilde of Belgium traded the outfit she wore on the plane - navy blue trousers, white top pair with peep toe pumps, pearl earrings and long jacket of these two colors with herringbone pattern by Scapa - for her white dress enamelled with rectangles in red, pink, purple and green shades by Natan, Flirty Water Snake Clutch by DIANE VON FURSTENBERG. She then met, with the Vice-President of the People's Democratic Republic of Laos Phankham Viphavanh at the Presidential Palace, with Foreign Minister Khamphao Ernthavanh and with Unicef ​​Laos Hongwei Gao and Members of the Lao Women's Union (LWU). This important women's organization created in 1955 promotes the status and role of women in Laos and the unity among women of different ethnic groups and social strata throughout the country.
Photo credits: Paris Match

Decidedly Queen Paola is quite unlucky in this winter 2016-2017. While she had left the Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc in Brussels on last January 3rd after a week of hospitalization following a vertebral fracture and had to continue her convalescence at her Castle Belvedere for several months, She is urgently admitted again to this hospital. The Palace announced this sad news last Thursday, February 16th 2017, stating that she had a fall and had fractured the neck of the femur. "It will be operated at the Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc in Brussels" has it just been clarified.

Sixth queen of the Belgians, the 79 year old born princess Ruffo di Calabria in Italy. Her husband, former King Albert II, ruled Belgium from 1993 to 2013, when he abdicated in favor of his eldest son, was 82 years old.

The wife of the former Belgian sovereign - who has retained in Belgium the title of queen - has had to face several health problems in recent years. In the summer of 2015, suffering from cardiac arrhythmia, Paola was forced to a total rest period . On December 28th 2016, the mother of King Philippe, Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent was hospitalized at the Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc in Brussels for a vertebral fracture following a fall. No details had been revealed as to the exact circumstances of the injury, but it had been pointed out that it had not resulted in neurological complications and that the life of the septuagenarian was not in danger.

Last Wednesday, February 15th 2017, Their Majesties King Philippe and his wife the Queen Mathilde went to Verviers, a commune in the province of Liège in the west of the country, not far from the German and Dutch borders. Three appointments were scheduled. The Royal Belgian couple first met with employees, volunteers and users of the Télé-Service association on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. It helps people in precarious situations.

Then Mathilde, dressed in a black and green Natan set with a Japanese motif, and Philippe visited the incubator for start-up The Faktory where young entrepreneurs expected them. They have completed their trip to ConstruForm, the new training center for construction trades of the IFAPME (Institute for Work and Leisure Studies) and the self-employed and SMEs.

This displacement, which was punctuated by crowd baths, resembled at first sight others whom King Philip and Queen Mathilde perform throughout the year in the four corners of their kingdom. At first sight only. For, as the Belgian journalist Julien Modave pointed out in a report on "RTL Info" , this visit was not insignificant. "It is even symbolically important because it is the first time in more than 21 years that a king sets foot here on the territory verviétois, is to say so obviously his passage was much awaited," he explained . "And it's also important, since since January 15, 2015, since the attacks were thwarted here in Verviers, well the city does not necessarily enjoy an excellent reputation. And yet entrepreneurs decided that Verviers was a breeding ground for economic development, "the reporter added. In other words, this royal visit was truly historic for the local population.
Photo Credits: Paris Match

"Every child deserves a safe childhood." It was in her words that Queen Mathilde began her speech, delivered in English , this Friday, February 10th 2017 at the Egmont Palace in Brussels. In the company of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and European Affairs Didier Reynders, the wife of the King of the Belgians Philippe opened an international conference dealing with children and armed conflicts.

This was organized by Belgium on the occasion of the International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers. The Palais emphasized that the exchanges focused on "UN child protection policies and regional organizations such as the African Union, the European Union and NATO. The objective is to identify best practices and thus improve the protection of children in armed conflicts ".

Seven months earlier, on Monday, July 11th 2016, Mathilde of Belgium was already speaking on this subject , but in New York. As she flew to Big Apple with Didier Reynders, during a two-day working visit to the United Nations, she spoke about the plight of children in armed conflicts as honorary president of 'Unicef ​​Belgium. It is in this capacity, but also as "advocate of the SDGs", the objectives of sustainable development of the United Nations, that it concluded its speech this Friday, in these terms: "As an Attorney of the objectives of sustainable development And Honorary President of Unicef ​​Belgium, I am personally committed to continuing my efforts to improve the plight of children affected by armed conflict ".
Photo Credits: PAris Match

This Thursday, February 9th 2017, Mathilde was in Liege. The Belgian Queen was expected at the Haute École Mosane premises. She was going to discuss more about the "Côte-à-côte" project, which consists of supervision by students of young people in difficulty who attend a school of homework in a district of the city.

This appointment was motivated by the fact that "Côte-à-Coeur" received € 10,000 funding as part of the "Reine Mathilde Foundation's "Each one Teach one" call for projects. "Through this project, it is about (re) giving these young people a taste for learning. This is not only beneficial for the young beneficiaries but also for the students, who are future teachers, because they are thus aware of the social reality of the students they meet, "explained the communication officer of the school in the Belgian press, as reported by "the Future" .


Dressed in a straight, short-sleeved with large rusty, orange and black stripes dress by Natan, which she wore on the outside under a rusty woolen bolero, tuned to an orange belt, orange croc skin Giorgio Armani bag and pumps, Queen Mathilde spoke with the students involved. With a big smile, the 44-year old woman took the pose with them for a photo souvenir of her coming. And it was with the same conviviality that, when she left the school, she leaned towards very young children who waited to see her and exchanged a few words with them.
Photo Credit: Paris Match

Her Majesty visited on February 2nd the local section of Etterbeek of the ATD Fourth World Movement.

All dressed in black, Queen Mathilde visited this Thursday February 2nd 2017 at the Maison Quart Monde in Etterbeek, a commune near to the City of Brussels. The Queen consort met with active people in this international movement "fighting for human rights, with the aim of ensuring access of the poor to exercise their rights and Progress towards the eradication of extreme poverty ". Most of them had experience of poverty themselves.

During the visit, Queen Mathilde listened to seven witnesses. "A young Flemish man described his resumption of studies in computer science. A facilitator described the functioning of the street library that he runs in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean. A permanent from ATD Fourth World explained the importance of fighting prejudices about the poor and poverty, "reports the Belgian media. And to add that a couple spoke about his life in an area originally intended for vacationers, lack of social housing, explaining the solidarities that are organized there. "The Queen asked questions, notably about the stress felt because of the harshness of certain experiments or about the solidarities established with the young people," says the "RTBF".

Founded in 1957 in Noisy-le-Grand in Paris suburbs by French priest Joseph Wresinski, ATD Fourth World has seen its Belgian declination officially created in 1971 . The structure of the movement in Belgium is based on four non-profit-making associations, each with its own specificity, but sharing common objectives.
Photo Credits: PAris Match