King Philippe and Queen Mathilde recently undertook a visit to Chile; however, the royal couple ended up stranded in the South American country when their return journey was cancelled.
They were due to leave on Thursday, however, they have been forced to spend the last two days in Chile after a tyre on their plane was damaged. Philippe and Mathilde had boarded the plane; however, during the safety briefing, the flight was cancelled and the pair disembarked, spending the night at a nearby hotel.
There have been further delays to the flight, as a replacement tyre for the aircraft wasn’t officially approved. On Friday, royal journalist Wim Dehandschutter posted on X: “Belgian King Philippe/Queen Mathilde, who are stuck in Chile after their state visit, don’t yet know whether they will be able to leave today.
“Departure is at 4pm local time at the earliest (10pm in Belgium). If the repaired wheel is rejected, then it will be a 2nd extra night.”
A few hours later, he added: “Belgian King Philippe/Queen Mathilde, who are stuck in #Chile after their state visit due to airplane problems, can’t fly back today with B delegation. After >16h still no official approval for the repaired tire. The king addressed the delegation.”
© Getty ImagesIt has since been confirmed that Philippe and Mathilde are on their way home, with Wim sharing on Saturday: “Belgian King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, who were stuck in #Chile after their state visit for 2 days, will soon be able to fly back to Belgium.
“The two front wheels of the aircraft, which were damaged during the departure, have been repaired.”
It hadn’t been an easy start to their trip either, as they had to cut their trip short by a day after “technical problems” on their outbound journey delayed their departure.
Mathilde’s plane problems
It’s not been an easy year of flying for Queen Mathilde as she encountered issues earlier this year when she flew out to Costa Rica.
© Getty ImagesOn her outbound journey, her plane was forced to carry out a priority landing after the windshield was cracked during the flight.
A priority landing is given to planes when the aircraft has an emergency situation or other critical reason, allowing them to land before planes that otherwise would have been before them in the queue.
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