Sovereign: Albert II King of the Belgians (Stuyvenberg Castle, Belgium, June 6th, 1934).
Son of Leopold III King of the Belgians (1901-1983) and 1) Astrid Princess of Sweden (1905-1935).
Succeeds his brother Baudouin (1930-July 31st, 1993).
Inauguration: Parliament, Brussels, Belgium, August 9th, 1993.
Motto: "Eendracht maakt macht" (Union is strength).
Religion: Roman Catholic.
Married (1959): Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria (1937).
Children:
* Philippe Duke of Brabant (Belvédère Castle, Laeken, Belgium, April 15th, 1960), heir to the throne. Married (1999): Jonkvrouwe Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz (1973). They have four children: Elisabeth (2001), Gabriel (2003), Emmanuel (2005) and Eléonore (2008).
* Astrid Princess of Belgium (1962), married (1984): Lorenz Archduke of Austria-Este (1955), Prince of Belgium (since 1995). They have five children: Amedeo (1986), Maria-Laura (1988), Joachim (1991), Luisa-Maria (1995) and Laetitia Maria (2003), all Archdukes and Archduchesses of Austria-Este and Princes and Princesses of Belgium.
* Laurent Prince of Belgium (1963), married (2003): Claire Coombs (1974). They have three children: Louise (2004), Nicolas and Aymeric (2005).
Address:
Royal Palace
Brederodestraat 16
1000 Brussels
Belgium
Titles: The sovereign is His Majesty, King of the Belgians. The other members of the royal family are styled Royal Highness and Prince/Princess of Belgium. The children of Princess Astrid are styled His/Her Imperial and Royal Highness and are Archdukes/Archduchesses of Austria-Este, Prince/Princess of Belgium. Until World War I the family also bore the German titles Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony.
Succession: Until 1991 the Constitution said: the constitutional power of the King is hereditary in direct, natural and legal line from HRH Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, from male to male descendant, in order of birth, and with the eternal exclusion of women and their descendance. However on March 8th, 1992, the Salian Law was replaced by the absolute rule about the right of the first born, with the result that now the princesses have the same rights of succession as their brothers. The King can't be head of state of another country at the same time, unless a 2/3 majority of both parliaments agree with it. When there is no descendance anymore the King has the right to appoint his successor. The Chambers have to agree with that choice with 2/3 majority. A Prince looses his right of succession when he marries without asking permission. The King is able to give this Prince his rights back.
History
In 843 the area of the present Belgium was divided between France and Lorraine by the grandsons of King Charles the Great. Through the Middle Ages the Counts of Flanders were liege to the French Kings. Brabant, Hainault, Limburg and Luxemburg stayed a part of the German State. At the end of the 14th century the Dukes of Burgundy tried to unite the "Low Countries" to get a huge state in the west of Europe. However, after the death of Duke Charles the Bold the House of Habsburg inherited the land. The war (1568-1648) between the Spanish King Philip II and the northern part of the Low Countries led to the independency of this part of the Low Countries as the Republic of the Seven United Provinces. The south came to the Austrian Habsburgs after 1700. On January 11th, 1790, the States General in Brussels declared the United Belgian States independent. Afterwards it became a part of the French Republic and later the French Empire. In 1814 Belgium was reunited with the northern part of the Low Countries. Together they became the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The Belgians were not happy with this union -one of the biggest contrast was that the south was catholic and the north predominantly protestant- and in August 1830 a revolution began. Although the Dutch King Willem I sent Crown Prince Willem, and later his younger son Prince Frederik, to the south, leading a big army, in September that army was forced to leave Brussels. On October 4th, 1830, the provisional government declared Belgium independent, and in November they choose to reject the dynasty of the Nassau family. After other states in the world recognized the country as an independent state, the government looked out for a monarch. The second son of King Louis-Philippe of France, the Duke of Némours, was asked, but refused. Finally on June 4th 1831 Leopold Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was chosen. He had been married to the British Princess Charlotte, who had died in childbed in 1817. The new King was welcomed in Brussels on July 21st, 1831, and on the same day he took the oath as King Leopold I. Soon afterwards the Dutch tried to win back Belgium for the last time. With the help of France Belgium stayed independent, but lost Maastricht and a part of Luxemburg and Limburg. Until 1839 the Dutch refused to acknowledge the independency of the Belgian State. A year after he became King Leopold I married Louise-Marie, a daughter of King Louis-Philippe of France, to secure the survival of his dynasty. She gave birth to three sons: the oldest died soon after his birth, the second became King Leopold II, and the third Philippe Count of Flanders later secured the survival of the dynasty.
In 1865 King Leopold I died and was followed by his son Leopold II, who took the oath on December 17th, 1865. His sister Charlotte, married to Archduke Maximilian of Austria King of Mexico, became a widow when her husband was killed in Queretaro in 1867, and soon afterwards she showed signs of insanity. Leopold II reigned in a democratic country, which restricted his power. Congo, a state in Africa, became a part of Belgium officially in 1885, although it was conquered some years before. King Leopold II died in 1909 after having married for the second time with his mistress the Baroness of Vaughan. His first wife Marie-Henriette Archduchess of Austria had already died in 1902. From the first marriage four daughters and a son were born. The son, Leopold, died, only 10-years old, in 1869. Heir to the throne now was Leopold II's brother Philippe, who died in 1905. Philippe's oldest son Baudouin had died in 1891, and thus the new heir to the throne was the younger son, who became King Albert I, who took the oath on December 23rd, 1909. In 1900 he had married Elisabeth Duchess of Bavaria and they had three children: Leopold, Charles and Marie-José. The new King was very popular and in World War I (1914-1918) he became even more popular because of his resistance against the German troups. The King stayed in De Panne, in the only independent part of Belgium on the west coast of the country, and leaded his army from there. The Queen helped the wounded as much as she could. When the King fell down in the Ardennes during a mountaineering-trip in 1934 and died, the whole country mourned.
The new King Leopold III married Princess Astrid of Sweden in 1926 and they got three children in the following years: Joséphine-Charlotte (1927), Baudouin (1930) and Albert (1934). In 1935 Belgium mourned again when the new Queen Astrid died in a car-crash during the holidays in Switzerland. In 1940 Belgium was conquered by the German troups. Leopold III decided to stay in Belgium, like his father had done in World War I, although the government had fled the country. During the war the King remarried with Lilian Baels. In 1944 the royal family was taken to Germany and afterwards to Austria and held prisoner. When Belgium was freed later that year Leopold III's brother Charles became the regent, which he stayed until 1950. Leopold III had returned to Belgium in 1945, but the Belgian people didn't wish to get him back as a King because of his behaviour during the war. In 1950 finally a referendum was held, and Leopold III returned to Belgium. On August 1st, 1950, he was forced to give the throne to his oldest son Baudouin I, who reigned as a regent until he took the oath on July 16, 1951. Leopold III didn't die until 1983. Baudouin I declared Congo an independent republic in 1960. Later that year he married Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragon, but they never got children. Philippe, the oldest son of his younger brother Albert and his wife Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria (they met at the coronation of Pope John XXIII in Rome), was seen as the next king. However when King Baudouin I suddenly died in 1993, it was Albert himself who became King Albert II.
The Kings of Belgium
| Leopold I (1790-1865) | 1831-1865 |
| Leopold II (1835-1909) | 1865-1909 |
| Albert I (1875-1934) | 1909-1934 |
| Leopold III (1901-1983) | 1934-abd. 1951 |
| Charles (1903-1983) | Regent: 1944-1950 |
| Baudouin (1930-1993) | 1951-1993 |
| Albert II (1934-) | 1993- |