Philippe of Belgium (°1960)

The prince Philippe Léopold Louis Marie of Belgium, duke of the Brabant , oldest son of Albert II, current king of the Belgian and the queen Paola, was born the April 15th 1960 with the Château from the View-point). He is crown prince (royal prince) to the Belgian Royal family.

Its godfather is his paternal grandfather the king Léopold III and its godmother is her maternal grandmother Luisa Ruffo di Calabria. The baptism is celebrated one month later in the church Saint-Jacques-on-Coudenberg (Brussels).

Since the beginning of the dynasty in 1831, Philippe is the first crown prince to have Belgian ancestors, thanks to Laure Mosselman of Chenoy, the grandmother paternal and of Brussels of the Paola queen.

Formation

Prince Philippe carries out in French his studies primary and his the first three secondary years with the College Saint-Michel of Etterbeek. He is then internal during his three last years of humanity in Dutch with the abbey of Zevenkerken to Bruges St Andre.

From 1978 to 1981, Philippe follows the courses to the military royal School of Brussels with the 118e Promotion All Weapons. Appointed second lieutenant in 1980, the prince receives his wings of fighter pilot of the hands of king Baudouin on July 9th, 1982. After the air force, it joined the terrestrial force at the hard school of the regiment paracommando.

After its military formation, it remains two months with the Trinity College of the Université of Oxford and continues its studies as from September 1983 with the Graduate School of the Université of Stanford in California. June 16th, 1985, it there obtains the diploma of Master off Arts in political sciences and becomes the first member of the Belgian Royal family to hold an university degree.

From September 1992, it receives a public equipment to be able to surround itself by its own advisers, and more those of his father or his uncle.

Crown prince

Following the death of king Baudouin on July 31st, 1993, Philippe becomes officially crown prince and receives the title of Duc of the Brabant. He succeeds his father with the presidency of honor of the Belgian Office of the foreign trade. Each year, it chairs several economic missions abroad several days. The presence of the son of the King to the head of a delegation facilitates the signing of contracts enormously and gives a more important press coverage for the Belgian companies. Of return in Belgium, he visits factories or companies, meets owners and is interested in the economic projects of the government.

From October 1993 in May 1997, prince Philippe assumes the presidency of the National council of the sustainable development, which had been born following the conference of Rio. When in 1997, this institution transformed itself into Federal council of sustainable development, it accepted the presidency of honor of it. In September 2002, it led with the Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt the Belgian delegation the top of the United Nations on sustainable development Johannesburg in South Africa.

As the habit wants it, the crown prince lends oath on June 21st, 1994 as senator of right and is joined there a few years later by his older sister, the princess Astrid and his brother, the prince Laurent.

May 29th, 1998, it launches the Funds Prince Philippe, which has the role of contributing to maintain a permanent dialog between the three communities Belgium. It aims at supporting exchanges, meetings and a dialog between groups of citizens (mainly of the schools), in order to stimulate a greater mutual recognition in the respect of the specificity and the culture of each one. The Funds Prince Philippe knows much success.

He married the December 4th 1999, Mathilde d' Udekem d' Acoz, become princess of Belgium and duchess of the Brabant by his marriage. The couple lives with the castle of Laeken and has three children: the princess Elisabeth (born the October 25th 2001) who will be perhaps a day the first queen of the Belgians, the prince Gabriel (born the August 20th 2003) and the prince Emmanuel (born the October 4th 2005).

Since 2000, prince Philippe grants his High patronage to ONG Plan Belgium. In 2002, it received the title of honorary doctor of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. The prince is also the honorary president of the international polar Fondation and Bio, an Belgian society of investment for the countries in the process of development.

In 2004, Philippe (44 years old) makes a success of his practical examinations of pilot of helicopter to the air base of Brustem on board his own apparatus, a Robinson R44 red registered 00-PFB. Among its other passions: astronomy, sciences and philosophy.

Decorations

At the time of its 30e birthday in 1990, prince Philippe receives the Large Cord of the Ordre of Léopold, highest Belgian decoration.

It received following foreign decorations:

Grand Cross about Orange-Nassau (Netherlands, 1993)
Grand Cross about the Liberator San Martin (Argentinian, 1994)
Large Cord of the Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum (Japan, 1994)
Knight Grand Cross of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem (1995)
Grand Cross about the Condor of the Andes (Bolivia, 1996)
Large Cord of the Military Order of Aviz (Portugal, 1997)
Grand Cross about the Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1998)
Grand Cross of Honor and Devotion about Malta (1998)
Knight about the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau (Luxembourg, 1999)
Grand Cross about Isabelle the Catholic (Spain, 2000)
Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Seraphes (Sweden, 2001)
Knight about the Elephant (Denmark, 2002)
Grand Cross of the Royal Order of Saint-Olav (Norway, 2003)
Grand Cross about the White Rose (Finland, 2004)
Grand Cross about the Merit of the Republic of Poland (2004)
Grand Cross about the Honor (Greece, 2005)
Grand Cross about Christ (Portugal, 2005)

He is honorary member of the Club of Rome.

References

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