1999 Royal Wedding
The wedding of Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, and Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz took place on 4 December 1999 in Brussels, Belgium. The civil proceedings were conducted at Brussels Town Hall while the religious ceremony took place at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula. The wedding has been described as the social event of the decade within Belgium and it was the last royal wedding of the second millennium.
The bride and groom.
Philippe, then Duke of Brabant, is the eldest son of King Albert II and Queen Paola. Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz is a descendant of Belgian and Polish nobility. After the wedding, Mathilde became the duchess of Brabant and a princess of Belgium on 8 November 1999 (published on 13 November 1999 and effective from 4 December 1999). In 2013, Philippe and Mathilde became the king and queen of the Belgians. Mathilde is the first Belgian born queen in the country's history.
Wedding events.
The first of the day's main events took place in the Gothic setting of Brussels Town Hall where Philippe and Mathilde contracted a civil marriage in the French, Dutch and German languages. Mathilde's bridal gown was designed by Edouard Vermeulen. Philippe wore the uniform of a Belgian Air Force colonel. Thereafter the couple traveled to the nearby Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula to marry according to the rites of the Roman Catholic Church. An evening reception took place in the Palace of Laeken, a royal residence.
Popular reactions and effects.
The run up to the wedding was said to have led to widespread feelings of positive sentiment in Belgium, with the potential for greater unity between the country's Dutch-speaking north and French-speaking south. Around 50,000 people lined the streets of Brussels on the occasion of Philippe and Mathilde's wedding. As many as 200,000 people had been expected but the lower numbers were perhaps on account of the bitterly cold weather on the day. After the wedding, some popular culture academics commented that the wedding had had a unifying effect on the Belgian people as well as marking a new phase of positivity in the country. The BBC, however, reported that academics and political commentators in Belgium deemed that the national rift was too great for the wedding to have much effect.
References.
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