King Philippe and Queen Mathilde were received by Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican for a private audience. On October 27, Their Majesties met Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace. During the audience, Queen Mathilde exercised her Privilège du Blanc — the special papal privilege that allows certain Catholic queens and consorts to wear white in the presence of the Pope.
According to traditional protocol for papal audiences, women are required to wear a modest black dress with sleeves, along with a black mantilla. There is an exception to this rule, known as le privilège du blanc (the privilege of the white), a custom of the Catholic Church that permits certain designated female royals — all of whom are queens or princesses of Catholic countries — to wear white clothing during an audience with the Pope.
Only seven royal women are granted this privilege: Queen Letizia of Spain, Queen Mathilde of Belgium, Princess Charlene of Monaco, Grand Duchess Stéphanie of Luxembourg, and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, as well as two former queens — Queen Paola of Belgium and Queen Sofia of Spain.
Diese kleine Schleife an dem Kleid sprengt den kompletten Stil. Reichte es nicht an Stoff sie größer zu fertigen oder fügte man das nur so dazu, vielleicht wurde es von ihrem Kommunionkleid abgetrennt, so sieht das aus. Der Schleier ist wunderschön. - Dorothe -
ReplyDeleteYes the very small bow is not enhancing dress nor wearer. She’s always lovely but here her posture is bent over and sunk in - perhaps to not feel so tall next to the pope? - and the dress looks much better when she stands straight.
DeleteYes the very small bow is hardly visible. Her posture is bending over because of the mantilla. Not because she is so tall next to the pope. Queen Mathilde is tall next to a lot of people. I can imagine if you wear a rather large mantilla, although it is certainly well attached in her hair, you could have the feeling it is gliding away.
DeleteFor those who don't know the difference between a mantilla and a hideous brides tulle veil and headdress, as evidenced by the comments in a recent previous post, this is a mantilla.
ReplyDeleteQ.Mathilde looks very appropriate though I'd have liked her dress to have been just an inch or two longer because the current length looks out of proportion to her height in some photos.
- Anon 9:13
Right.
DeleteExactly! This is a mantilla.
DeleteConfused re the reference to “hideous brides (sic) veil and headdress” reference above?
DeleteWell, a veil is not necessarily a mantilla but a mantilla is certainly a (special kind of) veil. But I am puzzled about why "hideous brides (you meant brides'?) tulle veil and headdress" play a role here.
Delete@Anon 20:11 and 23:57, in a post last week about another private papal audience, commenters were calling the wearer's hideous (to me, but that's not the point) tulle veil and headdress a mantilla. My point here is that this (what Mathilde is wearing) is what a mantilla is. Simple (for humility), and in lace. The other get-up closely resembled a brides veil and headpiece in black, and even more if it had been in white.
Delete- Anon 9:13
You do love using the word "hideous" in your posts, don't you?
DeleteNot to be preachy but, punctuation is important; "... a hideous brides tulle veil ...." Perhaps you meant, "bride's" instead? I'm assuming you don't mean all brides are hideous as implied … but maybe you do.
@Anon 16:03 No, I don't love using the word hideous. I've only used it once when responding to the original post 2 days ago, and repeated it again in this post to be consistent. I fully know what the word means and used it intentionally. I suspect that were I to meet you, I'd probably use it to describe you too.
DeleteI used the word 'brides' as an adjective, not as a possessive, but you who is such an expert in English grammar were probably too full of yourself to even know the difference. If pointing out wrongly perceived grammatical errors is the best you can do, I'm quite fine with that. Not my problem.
- Anon 9:13
Perfect, her veil/mantilla lace is gorgeous
ReplyDeleteMathilde is immaculately dressed for this papal audience. Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThe white gown of Queen Mathilde is somewhat simple, probably intentionally so, but far too short and would have looked more elegant if it had been longer.
ReplyDelete🌞 Virginia
A longer dress is not equal to elegance. We see to much long dresses on this blog which are too long to be elegant.
DeleteVirginia, I looked again at the dress after your thoughts here. I actually think she got the length exactly right. With her exceptionally long legs, if she has too much skirt material it ends up looking very heavy and widens her hips. At this length the dress already has a plenty long skirt, sitting well beneath her knee, without throwing off the proportions.
DeleteLa reine Mathilde parfaitement vêtue de blanc porte à merveille cette mantille !
ReplyDeleteTwo of the last weeks most working ‘royals’ meet! The prince of the catholic church and the Queen of Belgium!! Very nice, the dress is boring, and could be a little longer
ReplyDeleteLa robe de la reine est belle et totalement à mon goût. J’aime l’encolure.
ReplyDeleteAussi, elle semble avoir opté pour des tons pâles.
Cette paire d’escarpins de couleur chair est tout aussi belle.
-Astrid.
The white dress has been made by Saïd Meer, the tailor of the castle in Laeken. She wore it for the first time in 2023 for a visit to pope Francis. She rewore it for a visit of pope Francis to Brussels in 2024. And now she is wearing it for the 3rd time for a visit to Pope Leo. The mantilla is the real stuff. A dress to visit the head of the Catholic church must be simple. One does not visit the pope in a dress style you wear to go to a gala. I am glad that Queen Mathilde does not always wear long dresses like many of her colleagues. She can still afford to show her legs, why hide them ?
ReplyDeleteThank you for the intel. I was not aware of the history of her dress.
DeleteThe mantilla looks very bridal but it also frames her beautiful face beautifully. Does anyone know its provenance? Beautiful Belgian lace with a history?
ReplyDeleteWell I was thinking myself about that. Is it a piece of the Royal family ? Comes it from Queen Mathilde's family ? If I find the time, I will look it up and let you know.
DeleteGreat 00:51, thanks!
Delete@ 03:28
DeleteIn the meantime I did some research. I found photos on the internet of Queen Paola when visiting the Vatican in a white dress and mantilla. The mantilla she wore was thinner than Queen Mathilde's. It was also less white. It cannot be the same. I also tried to find photos of Queen Fabiola visiting the pope. The photos were not very clear. In the beginning the mantilla's were almost as long as bride veils. Impossible however to see a ressemblance with the one Queen Mathilde is wearing. I think Queen Mathilde's is not that old. It must be a piece she bought just before her first visit to a pope in the Vatican..
His Holiness Pope Leo XIV is a messenger of love, peace and justice.
ReplyDeleteHaving seen HM in the Dior dress,and how flattering that style suited her,I wish she had gone for a similar style. A tie waist is not the most flattering. I would have loved the dress to have been a longer. But,her lace mantilla is exquisite.
ReplyDeleteLowri.
@ Lowri
DeleteIf you have read my comment Anon. 27/10 19:52 you would have known that Queen Mathilde's white dress is older than the pink Dior dress she wore during the morning. Maybe that is why you don't like the little bow (hardly visible) and you find the dress too short.
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