Filip, King of Belgians, didn’t quite know where to look when Belgian foreign minister Maxime Prévot(Francophone centrist) explicitly thanked him in public for his help in bringing stranded Belgians home from the Middle East. ‘Thanks to your appeal to the emir, we were able to organise the repatriation flights directly from Dubai’ Prévot told his audience. King Filip as the fixer-in-chief, in a country known for its sense of compromise and the ability of its politicians to worm their way out of a fix. King Filip’s call to the emir was certainly not the first time he had helped the people of Belgium thanks to his wide network of international contacts.
Meet Belgium’s fixer-in-chief, King Filip, thanks to his network of international contacts (VIDEO)
Colin Clapson
Published:
No Trump in Davos without King Filip
Belgium witnessed a special head to head at the World Economic Forum in Davos(Switzerland) in January: Prime minister Bart De Wever(Flemish nationalist N-VA) and King Filip in conversation with US President Donald J. Trump and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
It did only last for fifteen minutes. No details about the content of the discussion were revealed either, although PM De Wever promised he would raise the issue of Greenland. Trump has his eye on the island that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and for Belgium, that is a red flag.
The meeting had already been arranged before the fuss about Trump’s eagerness to take control of Greenland surfaced. The fact that it went ahead is entirely thanks to the King.
Following technical problems with his plane, President Trump had to make last-minute changes to his schedule. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz saw his appointment in Davos cancelled, but Filip, King of Belgians, did not. The American president is and remains fascinated by royalty.
Call it King Filip’s charm. After all hadn’t he invited Donald Trump round for coffee just a few months after his first inauguration.
It’s May 2017. President Trump is in Brussels for a visit to NATO headquarters. His first, significant stop is the royal palace for “a very brief meeting in a businesslike atmosphere”.
Less than two years ago: around 50 heads of state and government attended the grand reopening of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris (France). That evening, it was Filip, King of Belgians, who had been invited to join Donald Trump at a coveted table during the dinner.
Release of Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele from an Iranian jail cell
In May 2023, Belgium and Iran reach agreement on a prisoner exchange, brokered by Oman. Belgian aid worker Olivier Vandecasteele and three other Europeans, who had been detained on charges including espionage, were released in exchange for the release of Assadollah Assadi, a convicted Iranian terrorist. Assadi, a serving diplomat, was accused of involvement in the attempted bombing of a gathering of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an Iranian opposition movement, in the suburbs of Paris (France). A Belgian court sentenced him to twenty years in jail following a conviction on terrorism and attempted murder charges.
Olivier Vandecasteele arrives at Melsbroek military air base outside Brussels. Here he receives a warm welcome from friends and family. Vandecasteele spent 455 days in an Iranian jail accused of espionage. He was released in return for the release of the Iranian convicted terrorist Assadollah Assadi.
A call to Oman
Not everyone in Belgium is euphoric. There are concerns, what are termed “Iran’s blackmail politics” have been a complete success”. Be that as it may: once again, it appears the king had been on the phone. This time with Oman. The previous sultan, Qaboos bin Said al-Said, could certainly be called a friend.
Sultan Qaboos had welcomed King Filip to the capital, Muscat, whilst, as crown prince, he was on a private visit. Upon the sultan’s death in 2020, Filip attended his funeral. Sultan Qaboos had, incidentally, been treated for cancer in Leuven (Belgium).
In 2022, an official visit to his successor, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, follows. King Filip and Queen Mathilde stay at the royal palace. Filip is the first Western leader to be warmly welcomed by the new sultan.
Two years later, Sultan Haitham pays a state visit to Belgium. In turn, he stays at Filip’s home, Laken Castle.
In the very early days of the coronavirus pandemic, face masks were a precious commodity for healthcare workers as there was a severe shortage.
China ‘suddenly’ donated 500,000 face masks and 30,000 test kits to Belgium, via online retail giant Alibaba. Once again it turns out that it was King Filip, who arranged the delivery.
There is great respect for royal families in China, whilst King Filip too is known to be fascinated by the Middle Kingdom. This has turned out to be a win-win situation for Belgium and the oriental power.
President Xi Jinping is an old acquaintance. Between 2008 and 2013, Xi Jinping was China’s first vice-president with special responsibility for ties with the European Union. In that role, he often visited Brussels, where King Filip served as his host.
The two men have not forgotten each other. Xi Jinping is the first head of state to pay a state visit to Belgium when Filip becomes King of Belgians on his father’s abdication.
Filip’s first outbound state visit, in 2015, was also to China, where he met Jack Ma, the businessman and billionaire, who founded Alibaba and is now involved in Alibaba’s AI efforts.
With Queen Mathilde, the King also attended a private dinner with Xi Jinping and his wife, the celebrated soprano Peng Liyuan. “It’s the sort of invite many ordinary people would give an arm and a leg for,” explains Veerle De Vos, China expert at VRT NEWS.
A dinner like that is, in fact, exceptional, even for high-ranking officials. President Xi Jinping had previously only invited US President Barack Obama on a similar occasion.
Without Filip, no privileged information out of Morocco
Following the deadly terrorist attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015, an international manhunt was launched for suspect Salah Abdeslam, a French national, who grew up in Brussels.
The Belgian intelligence services were unable to obtain information about the fugitive from their colleagues in Morocco. King Filip stepped in and spoke directly to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI.
Following that phone call, the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior consulted with the offices of Belgium’s Minister Jan Jambon.
Closer cooperation becomes possible and 18 weeks after the attacks Abdeslam is captured in a house in Molenbeek (Brussels).
Filip’s phone call would have remained under the radar had it not been for a leak in the Moroccan press and an official communiqué in Morocco.