As the wife of King Philippe of Belgium, Queen Mathilde has a busy schedule supporting her husband in state affairs.
But the mother-of-four also dedicates a lot of her time to social issues, visiting charities, institutions and medical centres, and making sure she is aware of the Belgium people's needs.
She has a wide range of interests in education, child poverty, intergenerational poverty, literacy, and the position of women in society.
Mathilde deploys the Queen's Charities to offer help to citizens who are struggling to cope with financial hardship in their daily lives, and often turn to her as a last resort.
She is also Honorary President of the Queen Mathilde Fund, which promotes the care of vulnerable people and awards an annual prize for good works in a particular sector. She is also Honorary President of Child Focus, UNICEF Belgium, and Breast International Group, a non-profit organisation for academic breast cancer research groups from around the world.
Mathilde has also undertaken a number of humanitarian missions, mainly in Africa, highlighting areas such as children's rights, health issues, poverty reduction, education, good governance, the empowerment of women, HIV/AIDS and orphans, and non-communicable diseases.
Like this story? Sign up to our newsletter to get other stories like this delivered straight to your inbox.
