Back to school in Belgium

It's been a while since we saw a king take his kids to school but Philippe of the Belgians took charge of three of his four children this morning to help them on their first day back in class.  The new king of the Belgians made sure his heiress, Princess Elisabeth, and her brother, Gabriel, and sister, Eleonore, had their new dictionaries, protractors and pens not to mention their packed lunches and dropped them at the school gates for the beginning of another academic year.  Mum Mathilde took Prince Emmanuel to his school and then it was back to work for both the new king and queen.

 

King Philippe is back to work as a monarch but number one on the to do list is get the kids to school on time

 

This is a real back to school for Philippe himself as well - he became King of the Belgians on July 21st since when we've only seen the new royal family occasionally.  They posed for photos at the start of their summer holiday in Yeu and the new king and queen attended the memorial service for King Baudouin not long after that.  There was also a quick trip to the European hockey championships for the king.  But the beginning of September marks the start of their reign proper and on September 1st both Philippe and Mathilde appeared at the Cavalcade of Hanswijck, giving a royal presence to the famous procession that takes place in Mechelen every 25 years.

 

 

The King and Queen of the Belgians get back to public life and a month marking the full start of their time as monarchs

 



And it's so far, so good for the new king as Philippe's approval rating has shot up since becoming monarch according to a new poll.  The survey was carried out for two Belgian newspapers - De Morgen and Le Soir - and the TV stations RTL and TVM.  It found 69% of people say they trust Philippe now but before he became king that was 51%.  A solid start for Europe's newest king as he gets back to school himself.