Belgian royal couple completes journey to Compostela

After eight years, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, the Belgian royal couple, have completed their pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.

In recent years, the royal couple regularly donned their hiking boots during the Easter holiday and covered part of the Camino, the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, during Holy Week. On Wednesday, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde completed the last stretch and reached their final goal together with their children, Prince Gabriel (21), Prince Emmanuel (19), and Princess Eléonore (17). Crown Princess Elisabeth (23) was unable to join for the first time in years, as she is studying at Harvard.

The deeply religious monarchs started their pilgrimage in 2017 and did not travel to Spain to cover part of the Camino only during the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021. They never walked alone, as bodyguards and friends accompanied them on their journey.

Unlike average pilgrims, they did not stay in dormitories of local hostels, but rather chose a luxury hotel from which they were transported each morning by private vehicles to the spot where they had stopped the previous day.

(PP with DC - Source: Nieuwsblad - Picture: © picture alliance/dpa | Uwe Anspach)