Matilda married her husband, the present-day Belgian King Philip, in 1999.
On January 20, 1973, Queen Matilda of Belgium, the wife of King Philip of Belgium, was born in Uccle, near Brussels. Her birth name was Mathilde d’Udekem d’Acoz, and at this time she is the only noblewoman among all royal wives in Europe. Namely, Matilda belongs to the Belgian noble family d’Udekem d’Acoz, who has owned the Baron’s title since 1816. Matilda’s grandfather was a baron, and the father and she personally belonged to ordinary nobility (only the eldest sons inherit the baron title).
Matilda has been referred to as Jonkvrouw (the name for nobles in Belgium) since birth. The title has the male form of Jonkheer and corresponds to the famous German title of junkers (once the junkies represented an important stock in Prussia). According to her mother, Matilda comes from the Polish count family Komorowski. One of Matil’s ancestors was Prince (Prince) Władysław Leon Sapieha, brother of Prince Adam Cardinal Adam Stanislaw Bonifacy Józef Sapieha.
Matilda grew up in Losange Castle in southern Belgium. She married her husband, the present-day Belgian King Philip, in 1999. No other royal surrogate in Europe today is of noble origin (there are five in total: Queen Sonja of Norway, Queen Silvia of Sweden, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, Queen Letizia of Spain and the aforementioned Queen Matilda of Belgium). This is a proof of considerable social change, because hundreds of years ago it was virtually inconceivable for kings to marry citizens (even if it did, such a marriage would be considered morganatic, ie descendants would not be entitled to inherit the throne).
