King Philippe’s Christmas message: Dare to look at the world in a different light

In his annual seasonal address on Sunday, King Philippe insisted on the word “wonder”, repeating it seven times. He invited the nation to wonder at nature and the beauty of daily life, despite personal difficulties, insecurity in the world and threats to global stability.

According to the head of state, Belgium is doing well and should be positive. He said that the country’s good health is the result of a long history of solidarity and compromise. “The future of our democracies depends first of all on how we choose to look at things,” he added. In what appeared to be a political message, he said that this was a way of being forewarned against extremism and separatism, which was effecting numerous European countries today, notably Spain.

King Philippe’s message of hope also made reference to the immigrants that he and Queen Mathilda recently met in Vilvoorde. After five years of delivering his speech standing up – a break from tradition - the king returned to a sitting position for his address.