5 queens called Matilda

As Belgium celebrates its national day and the second anniversary of the accession of King Philippe, it's also marking two years of having a home grown queen called Mathilde. The name was once a royal favourite but is rare in regal circles now. Here are 5 women who became queens called Matilda.

1. Mathilde of the Belgians

Mathilde Marie Christian Ghislaine was born the daughter of a baron in 1973. She worked as a speech therapist until her engagement to the the heir to the throne of Belgium was announced in 1999. Her marriage was the last royal wedding of the 20th century and following that she spent ten years building a reputation as a solid and reliable royal so by the time her husband became king in 2013 much of the focus on how well his reign would go was on Mathilde.

Since then she's proved herself an able consort and is working hard to bring her four children - Elisabeth, Gabriel, Emmanuel and Eleonore - into the world of royal engagements at a pace that suits them. Mathilde regularly tops approval ratings polls across the continent. This queen with one of the oldest royal names around is taking the concept of consort into the 21st century in style.

2.  Matilda of Flanders

For many the original and still the best. Matilda of Flanders had a pretty good opinion of herself and that confidence in her abilities has been shared by many over the centuries since she became a queen. The wife of William the Conqueror married him before he started conquering but her presence at his side helped consolidate his rule in Normandy and turn him from the illegitimate son of a duke with no time to marry and make legit babies into a bona fide powerhouse of Western Europe.

It's a shame that Matilda is often painted as a small woman who did a lovely job embroidering the Bayeux Tapestry. She was actually an active patron of the arts and had a sharp interest in politics herself as well as enough belief in her own abilities and the importance of her royal blood (her granddad was king of France) in William's rise to power to make sure no one forgot why she was special. The first Matilda made a template for queen consorts which remains today.

3.  The Lady of the English

Had things worked out slightly differently for this Matilda then the name might have ended up even more royal than it is now. This granddaughter of the Conqueror and his queen called Matilda came very close to being England's first queen regnant and had she managed that her name would have echoed through the centuries. She's still famous but as the queen that almost was.

This Matilda, daughter of Henry I, was just as confident as her granny but lacked some of her tact and diplomacy. She was able to manoevre herself into position to become queen of England while the Civil War of the 12th century raged but she alienated several of her supporters with her high handed manner at just the wrong moment and found herself without a strong enough power base. She ended up working to make her son, Henry, king and in so doing founded a fabulous royal dynasty that would rule for longer than any other. Not a bad legacy all in all.

4.  Caroline Matilda, the saucy consort

It's hard to believe that this queen with Matilda in her name only lived to be 23. She packed so much into her short life that it might have spanned a century. Instead, Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark has carved her name in history as a lover, a reformer and a bit of a plotter.

She was the daughter of Frederick, Prince of Wales who died before she was born. At the age of 15 she married King Christian VII of Denmark who had suffered from mental health problems since childhood. The marriage was chaotic and played out against a background of political machinations as different factions at court tried to gain control of the king. The queen developed a secret relationship with Christian's adviser, Johann Friedrich Struensee, who ended up virtually running the country until a plot led to his and Caroline Matilda's arrests. He was executed, she ended up in exile and died in Hanover of scarlet fever at a very young age.

5.  Edith Matilda, the queen who changed her name

Think that PR is a modern game? Think again. Back in 1100 when the House of Norman was trying to establish the rule won for it at the Battle of Hastings,  a new king called Henry married a princess of an old Scottish house who went by the name of Edith. Not for long. England's new queen decided to call herself Matilda - like many of the women of the new ruling regime - and that is how history remembers her.

This Queen Matilda is another consort whose reputation was moulded by later historians into compliant wife with little to say for herself. She actually seems to have been rather a feisty individual who was given an exemplary education by her trail blazing mother, Margaret of Scotland, and who kicked against the traditions of the day by turning down a list of wealth suitors. Once a queen, she became an enthusiastic patron of architecture, books and music and established two hospitals to treat leprosy. Her early death left her husband devastated. She isn't just a great queen, she is a great 'what if' of history.