Royal Family Christmas Celebration and Palace Renovations: Latest Updates and News

2023-12-13 13:20:30

The royal family is getting into the Christmas spirit. If King Philippe and Queen Mathilde are not organizing a concert this year due to the renovation work underway at the Palace, they have invited around a hundred Belgians to a small reception. The big Christmas tree was also placed in front of the palace and the greeting cards were sent.

Next Tuesday, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde will receive around a hundred Belgians at a reception at the royal palace in Brussels before the end-of-year celebrations. The guests were selected from social organizations with which the royal couple has been in contact in recent years. These are volunteers, employees or people who have been supported by these initiatives.

Three of Philippe and Mathilde’s four children – Elisabeth, Emmanuel and Eléonore – will also attend the reception. The Crown Princess, who is following her third and final year of politics and history at Lincoln College in Oxford, United Kingdom, returns to Belgium for the holidays. Prince Gabriel will not be able to attend, as he is still in boarding school at the Royal Military School in Brussels next week.

Next Tuesday’s reception exceptionally replaces the traditional Christmas concert, for which the King and Queen usually invite people who have helped them in their work over the past year. But renovation work on the facade of the palace makes the organization of this event impossible. The imposing throne room, where musicians usually perform, is currently under construction.

At last year’s Christmas concert, Crown Princess Elisabeth attracted further praise for her glamorous appearance in a blue gala dress by American-Belgian designer Diane von Furstenberg.

The royal family during the 2022 Christmas concert. © Photo News

The renovation of the palace costs 5.5 million euros

The facade of the royal palace is currently under scaffolding. The major renovation work began last March and will last a year and a half. The stones will be polished and all the windows – 700 in total – will have double glazing. The aim is to make the palace more energy efficient. The oil boiler will also disappear. In the future, the building will be heated with natural gas.

“With the renovation work, the palace’s energy consumption should decrease by 20%,” the Secretary of State for Building Administration, Mathieu Michel (MR), told the press at the launch of the work. . The cost of the project amounts to 5.5 million euros.

Belgian Royal Palace
@MonarchieBe

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Members of the royal family have already gotten into the Christmas spirit. Philippe and Mathilde visited a Christmas market in the city of Dresden during a state visit to Germany last week. In the meantime, a large Christmas tree has been installed in front of the royal palace. It was offered by the province of Luxembourg and comes from the forest of King Albert.

This week, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde also sent their greeting cards. The sovereigns and their four children posed on the steps of Laeken Castle. In reality, the photo was taken at the end of the summer vacation, when all the children were still available.

Elisabeth left for Oxford shortly after the photoshoot. In recent months, Gabriel has also not been at Laeken Castle during the week, because he is at the boarding school for his military training. Emmanuel and Eléonore, who both study at an international school in Watermael-Boitsfort, still live at home.

The 2023 greetings card for the royal family Princess Eléonore, Prince Gabriel, King Philippe, Queen Mathilde, Princess Elisabeth and Prince Emmanuel. © Koninklijk Paleis/ Bas Bogaerts