Twenty Belgians have been granted titles of nobility or honorary decorations in one of the national Orders, the Royal Palace announced on Friday. Nine received the titles of baron or baroness.
Among them are Delphine Heenen, founder of the KickCancer organisation; author and psychologist Emmanuel Keirse; Daniel Thierry, founder of CARE Belgium; and Lutgarde Lynen, a doctor specialising in internal medicine and infectious diseases who also led the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp.
Anne D’Ieteren, a former athlete who served with the Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee and chaired the Belgian Paralympic Committee, was named a baroness, as were fashion designer Ann Demeulemeester and Kaloma Bamiriyo, founder of the Congolese Association for Community Development Support (ACADEC).
Emeritus Professor Pierre Van Damme from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at Antwerp University and former director of the Vaccinopolis research centre, along with Emmanuel Cornu, president of the Benelux Office for Intellectual Property and of the Grand Catholic Conferences, received the title of baron.
Contemporary artist Francis De Smedt, known as Francis Alÿs, was made a knight.
Baron Jan Huyghebaert, the recent president of the Queen Elisabeth Competition board, was appointed Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown. Lawyer and musician Simon Gronowski, former president of the Union of Jewish Deportees in Belgium, also received this honorary title.
Louis De Cannière, founder of Incofin Investment Management; Arnaud Marchant, director of the Plotkin European Institute for Vaccinology and research director of the Scientific Research Fund; Saskia Van Uffelen, who held senior positions in key IT and communications firms; Jean Waterschoot, CEO of Texaf and economic diplomacy adviser in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); and Catherine De Bolle, former police commissioner-general during the 2016 Brussels attacks and now director of Europol, were awarded the title of Commander of the Order of Leopold.
Finally, Chantal Couvreur, founder of the first palliative care service and co-founder of the Belgian Federation of Palliative Care, was made Commander of the Order of the Crown, as were painter Samuel Dillemans and Jacqueline de Montjoye, who has contributed to numerous social, cultural, and patriotic associations.
