During her royal visit to Costa Rica, Belgian Queen Mathilde’s plane had to make an emergency landing. It was reported that the front windshield of the royal plane cracked during the flight.

Queen Mathilde’s visit to Costa Rica started with a dangerous flight.

During Sunday’s flight, a crack appeared on the windshield, forcing the royal plane to make a priority landing. Mathilde was headed to the country for a three-day solo trip organized by UNICEF Belgium and UNICEF Costa Rica. The safety measure allows the plane to skip the queue and land before the waiting planes in case of emergencies. However, the staff on the plane managed to safely guide the royal aircraft, and it landed safely at San Jose Juan Santamaria International Airport, 15 minutes earlier than planned. According to the Daily Mail newspaper, although the incident raised concerns for the crew on board, the royal passengers seemed unaware of the minor accident. Royal commentator Wim Dehandschutter wrote on X: “According to this account and the local media, the plane carrying Belgian Queen Mathilde landed in Costa Rica with a cracked windshield. I was on that plane. As passengers, we did not notice anything and did not receive any notification during the flight or landing.” Dehandschutter added: “Our KLM plane left Schiphol 20 minutes late, there was turbulence, and the landing was quite rough, but nothing seemed worrisome. So, I was a bit surprised when I read the news about an ’emergency landing’ in the local media and on X.”