Tiara time!
The long-awaited state visit of the Belgian royal couple to Germany started yesterday. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde were received in the German capital with a good dose of snow and the necessary fanfare. And as usual, the day ended with a beautiful state banquet!
Grand reception
Are you, as head of state, flying to Germany for an official visit? Then you will immediately be welcomed with a lot of special attention within German airspace. This is evident from snapshots from the Belgian government plane (which royalty expert Wim Dehandschieter reports is simply ‘a chartered Airbus”> on which the entire delegation flew to Berlin:
Our eastern neighbors have the habit of escorting a visiting head of state (in this case King Philippe) to the landing site with fighter planes. In any case, it produces impressive pictures!
Once we had both feet back on the ground, the official welcome ceremony took place at Bellevue Palace. Here the royal couple was warmly received by German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, Elke Büdenbender.
Magnificent state banquet
After chatting with the local schoolchildren, shaking countless hands, and posing friendly (with a snowball) at the Brandenburg Gate, it was time for the glittering highlight of the visit in the evening: the beautiful state banquet!
Here we had dinner, toasts, speeches, and plenty of chatting and laughter – of course in style with the necessary tiaras.
Queen Mathilde was dressed in a deep red (hello Christmas atmosphere!) off-the-shoulder gown from Armani Privé with a deep V-neck. She accentuated this with a set of beautiful jewels and the relatively simple bandeau setting of the Diadem of the Nine Provinces.
Image: NL Image
Extra fun: it seems that first lady Elke has subtly coordinated her gala outfit with HRH. She is also dressed in red with an impressive off-shoulder dress.
It is not the first time that we have seen the lawyer make an appearance in matching outfits with a high person. At the end of last year she also appeared several times in outfits that she seemed to have matched perfectly with the Spanish Reina during the state visit of Felipe and Letizia.
Speeches
Of course, a state visit is about more than fashionable outfits. This was evident from King Philip’s speech. In it, the monarch stated that the ties between the two countries are ‘iron strong’, and that Germany and Belgium are ‘strong partners’, “even now that peace is being tested in Ukraine, in the Middle East, and in so many other places. .”
Today and tomorrow the Belgians still have a busy program in Germany, and then the fun is over again. In any case, we’ll keep a close eye on the snaps!
Source: HLN, Pickx | Image: NL Image
