It came as a great surprise. No one imagined the 39-year-old Prince would ever marry. He was seen as an awkward and introverted guy, kind of boring, and certainly not a suave Prince Charming with a love life ripe for press articles. So they left him alone.
Prince Philippe, the then heir to the Belgian throne put this freedom to good use. He managed to date a 26-year-old speech therapist from the Belgian nobility for three years in secret. The announcement of their engagement in September 1999, left the country clamoring for the couple’s photocall - the press didn’t even have a good recent photograph of the new future Queen.
Of course, there were rumors right away that this was an arranged marriage. Philippe denied it when he met the press, saying that no one had introduced Mathilde to him and that it was indeed love at first sight (those rumors about a proposal are still hanging around today, after four children and more than a decade of marriage). It was a fairly perfect match: Mathilde d’Udekem was young and pretty, came from a good background (she was a jonkvrouw, a lower grade of nobility), she had an honorable career, and she possessed enough warmth and charisma to spill some over to her stiff husband. Plus, she was actually born in Belgium (She will be the first-ever Belgian-born queen consort).
As Duke of Brabant, Philippe was carefully groomed to be king, with training as a fighter pilot followed by studies in constitutional history at Oxford and political science at Stanford. But he appeared stiff and forced in public appearances. Good natured laughter over the crown prince, as the Flemish newspaper De Standaard said, became almost a national sport.
The daughter of a judge and a countess, Mathilde was his opposite. As a young adult, Mathilde volunteered with organizations for the disabled, spent time as an au pair, and went backpacking with friends in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. After the announcement of their engagement, Mathilde won over hearts and minds and was looked on as the ideal bride for the reticent Philippe.
The wedding was held in December and included plenty of movement - to the Brussels Town Hall for the civil wedding, and then to the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula for the religious wedding, and then on to the reception - so a winter coat dress was called for. Obviously, a Belgian designer was needed to add to this national celebration, and Edouard Vermeulen of Natan was the choice. The coat he created was a silk crepe design with a tall collar and long sleeves. At the front, it closed with buttons and had a trim line around the waist. The coat covered a simple sheath dress beneath. At the back, the coat swept out to a long and dramatic train, 4 or 5 meters in length, which took some effort to manage in the course of an active wedding day. On top of the train rested the veil, a family heirloom from Queen Paola’s family dating back to 1877. Mathilde’s tiara was on loan from Queen Paola as well. It is said, Queen Paola never loans her tiaras to anyone. So this was a special occasion indeed.
The big, informal party at the Laeken Palace held after the wedding ceremony saw the participation of 1,000 ordinary Belgians invited from every corner of the nation.
Every single citizen in Belgium was happy. Everyone knew Mathilde with her youth, charisma, and beauty, will bring a breath of fresh air into the stuffy royal household. As the mayor of Brussels during the civil wedding ceremony said, the whole of Belgium had fallen for her charms!
-Aditha
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