The information has been officially confirmed by the Royal Palace to RTBF. King Philippe and Queen Mathilde decided to host Ukrainian refugees.
According to our information, the couple would provide two apartments that might accommodate three refugee families. These are accommodations located in properties belonging to the Royal Donation.
“These are accommodations whose original purpose was to be made available to social agencies to accommodate people on low incomes, a mission that corresponds well to what we wish to achieve with the royal donation”, explains Jan Smets, president of the Royal Donation. However, “given the refugee crisis, we will make these houses available for emergency reception”, continues Jan Smets.
This reception will be done as quickly as possible, we communicate on the side of the royal donation. “These are single-family homes that will be available at the beginning of April, the time to furnish them and do small jobs”explains the president of the Royal Donation.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and the arrival in Belgium of Ukrainians fleeing their country, the royal couple has already gone to meet these refugees on the ground, in Brussels, to realize what they were going through.
This Wednesday followingnoon, King Philippe visited the registration center for Ukrainian refugees, at Palace 8 of Heysel. He went there to meet the families who had fled the war.
For the historian, specialist in the royal family, Vincent Dujardin, contacted by RTBF, the king “sends a strong signal to the Belgian people”. “Be welcoming”, he would like to say. This is “walk the talk” and “lead by example”.
This reception of refugees by the royal couple comes as pMore than three million Ukrainians have fled their war-torn country, according to UNHCR figures (UN). Every day, around 2,000 arrive in Belgium.
