Her position was confirmed in the 2 March 1993 Royal Decree of H.R.H. King Baudouin, on the Proposition of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Willy Claes, during the Presidency of William Jefferson Clinton.

Since that time she served in San Francisco as Honorary Consul of Belgium for Northern California and Northern Nevada, volunteering her services from facilities provided by Software Research, Inc., where she works as Vice President, Corporate Communications.

In December 2012 Rita indicated to Ambassador Rudi Veestraeten, Consul General of Belgium in Los Angeles, that she wished to be relieved of the daily operational duties of the Consular Office, and made a number of recommendations of prominent and qualified Bay Area Belgians as an appropriate successor.

In early July 2013 Ambassador Veestraeten announced the appointment of Nathalie Delrue-McGuire as Honorary Consul of Belgium, San Francisco. She will be handling all operational consular matters in the future.

The change of mandate was made official by the 21 May 2013 Royal Decree of H.R.H. Albert II, King of the Belgians, effective 30 June 2013.

The 21 May 2013 Royal Decree by H.R.H. Albert II gave Rita the permanent honorific title of Consul of Belgium and membership as Knight in the Order of Leopold (Ridder in de Leopoldsorde) .