King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium on an official visit from June 7 to 13 in Democratic Republic of Congo

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The King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium while getting off from the airplane at N'djili International Airport in Kinshasa, the capital of DRC



The King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium arrived in Kinshasa the capital of Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday June 7 and will stay in the country until Monday June 13, 2022. 

The Belgian couple's agenda includes discussions with Congolese officials in Kinshasa. In the Congolese capital, the highlight of their presence will undoubtedly be the decoration with the highest distinction of Corporal Albert Kunyunku who is the last living veteran. He had fought in the Second World War and has just celebrated his 100th birthday. 

Belgian Royal Couple greeting DRC Presidential Couple


Belgian sovereigns will also visit the Academy of Fine Arts in the Congolese capital. Subsequently, the royal couple and their entire delegation will travel to Lubumbashi on Friday, June 10. Their on-site program includes a visit to the Belgian school, as well as development projects funded by Enabel, the Belgian development agency. 

A meeting is also planned with Congolese students. From the Katangese city, the delegation will head for Bukavu to meet the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Dr. Denis Mukwege. They will go to the hospital and the Panzi foundation. Two institutions renowned worldwide for their model of holistic care for survivors of sexual violence. 

Belgian King Phillipe and DRC President, Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo in the official welcoming ceremony


The royal couple will also receive Belgian nationals for private dinners. Moreover, this visit comes as Belgium prepares to return not only thousands of Congolese works of art which are in the Royal Museum of Tervuren, but also a tooth of Patrice-Emery Lumumba. An official ceremony for the return of this “relic” is scheduled for June 20 in Brussels. The Belgian royal couple will be accompanied by a large government delegation made up of Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, Foreign Minister Sophie Wilmès, and the Minister for Development Cooperation. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde are initially expected to arrive in the DRC in June 2020 for the celebration of 60 years of DRC independence. 

Belgian Queen Mathilde and DRC First Lady, Dénise Nyakeru Tshisekedi


The trip had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Two years later, and at the invitation of President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, the Belgian Royal Couple was expected in Kinshasa last March, but the situation of the war between Russia and Ukraine did not allow the Belgian sovereigns to visit the congolese country.

It should be noted that two years ago, on June 30, 2020, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the independence of the former Belgian Congo, King Philippe had expressed in a letter to Mr. Tshisekedi his "deepest regrets" for the "wounds" of colonization, a historic first. He had then regretted the "acts of violence and cruelty" committed at the time when his ancestor Leopold II had made the Congo his personal property from 1885 to 1908, before the half-century of presence of the Belgian State in this huge country located in the center of the african continent. 

Some Congolese, like the government spokesperson, Patrick Muyaya Katembwe, want to see it as the beginning of a "new partnership", "uninhibited", "equal to equal", while others are still demanding apologies and reparations for the suffering endured and the "looting" of the wealth of the DRC.


Cassien Tribunal Aungane, Editor

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