3505) 25th wedding anniversary of King Philippe and Queen Matilda, Belgium: A 12 ½ Euro Gold Coin issued by the Royal Dutch Mint (RDM) at their facilities in Houten, Netherlands under license from the Royal Belgian Mint: Date/Year of Coin issue: 16.10.2024:
The Header/Banner presents the Reverse and Obverse of the gold 12 ½ Euro coins featuring the Couple.
Philippe was born on the 15th April 1960 and is the eldest son of King Albert II and Paola Ruffo di Calabria, daughter of the 6th Duke of Guardia Lombarda.
Philippe was educated at Trinity College, Oxford and Stanford University, California where he graduated in 1985 with an MA degree in political science. The King is also a trained fighter pilot as well as a parachutist and a commando fighter.
Philippe was destined to become Belgium’s future monarch as his uncle, King Baudouin had no children of his own.
Prince Philippe was raised and educated to this very task though it was expected to be very far off in the future. However, King Baudouin died unexpectedly in 1993 after forty two years as monarch at the age of sixty two.
Concerned that his son Prince Philippe would be tasked with the responsibility of King before marrying, and as he was technically next in line, Albert, Prince of Liege and younger brother of King Baudouin succeeded his late brother as King Albert II.
The decision enabled the naturally shy Prince Philippe to pursue a personal life free of the responsibilities and media attention of being the country’s head of state.
In 1996, Prince Philippe met a young woman while playing tennis, Lady Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz (born 1973) who is the daughter of the Belgian nobleman Count Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz.
She is a trained speech therapist and worked at a practise in Brussels as well as in secondary schools in the capital.
Their engagement was announced in September 1999 by the Royal Court and as the media had no previous indication Prince Philippe was dating anyone seriously, the announcement came as a surprise to the country.
The couple were married on the 4th December 1999 in a religious ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels.
Before her marriage to the heir to the throne, Matilda was created Duchess of Brabant and a Princess of Belgium on the 8th November 1999 by King Albert II.
Almost two years later in October 2001, the couple’s first child was born, Princess Elisabeth who is the King’s current heir.
Three more children were born to the couple, Gabriel in 2003, Emmanuel in 2005 and Eléonore in 2008. As grandchildren, and now children of the monarch, they all bear the title HRH Prince or Princess of Belgium.
It has been said that Matilda has had a definite positive influence on her husband who is known to be naturally shy with crowds.
She is also known to be outgoing, engaging and since joining the Royal family, has become especially popular with many Belgians.
In June 2013, King Albert II announced he intended to abdicate the throne after twenty years as monarch and that Prince Philippe along with Princess Matilda would assume their place as King and Queen.
On Belgium’s national day, the 21st July, King Albert II formally abdicated and one hour later in the presence of the Belgian Parliament, Prince Philippe was invested and sworn in as the seventh King of the Belgians.
As such Princess Matilda became the first native-born Belgian Queen.
The Gold Coins:
The gold 12 ½ Euro Gold Proof Coins have been minted by the Royal Dutch Mint at their facilities in Houten, Netherlands under license from the Royal Belgian Mint.
Designed by Iris Bruijns, the Reverse features front-facing portraits of King Philippe and Queen Matilda.
The portraits are replicated from actual photographs taken by Court photographer Michel Gronemberger in 2023 on the occasion of the King’s tenth anniversary as Belgian monarch.
Above the portraits in the middle is the numeral "25" representing the couple’s 25th wedding anniversary.
Below and superimposed over the portraits is the royal combined monogram of the King and Queen’s initials – "F" (for the Dutch spelling of Filip) "P" and "M" which is crowned at the top.
The Obverse of the gold 12 ½ Euro Gold Proof Coins includes an effigy of King Philip designed by Royal Belgian Mint artisan Luc Luycx, facing right along with his personal crowned monogram placed to the right and text surrounding the image of the King which reads "BELGIE – BELGIQUE – BELGIEN" (representing the official three languages of Belgium".
The denomination "12 ½ EURO" is placed below the primary design and the year of issue 2024 is shown in a vertical direction.
The specifications of the Gold Coin are:
Denomination Metal Weight Diameter Quality Mintage Limit
12 ½ Euro .999 Gold 1.25 g. 14 mm. Proof 2,500
- Available from the 16th October, each coin is encapsulated and presented in a custom case accompanied with a Certificate of Authenticity (COA).
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Anand Varma has commented:
ReplyDelete"Majestic way to celebrate Royal marriage anniversary .. great historical moment .. it's value is priceless 👍"
The Belgians are very proud of their Royal couple. They do everything in style. Thanks for visiting this post Anand.
DeleteRajan Trikha has commented:
ReplyDelete"Informative and interesting post👍👍."
Thank you so much, Trikha sahab.
DeleteSantosh Khanna has commented:
ReplyDelete"A VERY interesting article. Thanks for sharing this informative and interesting post."
Thank you so much Khanna sahab.
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