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Modern Europe
The Belgian Dynasty
by William Willems, 2 October 2020
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FOLLOWING PAGES:
Confirming a Belgian Prime Minister
French Invent Seven Year Presidency
Makeup of the Netherlands
The Netherlands National Anthem
RULERS OF EUROPE:
Kings of the Belgians
Saxony (Wettins)
Saxe-Thuringen
Saxe-Meissen
Saxe-Coburg
Saxe-Gotha
Saxe-Weimar
Saxe-Altenbourg
Saxe-Saalfeld
French First Empire
Habsburg Austria
EXTERNAL LINKS:
The Belgian Dynasty
Belgium.be
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Princess Charlotte of Wales, daughter
of the prince who would later become King George IV of Great
Britain but who predeceased her father when she died in
childbirth in 1816
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King Leopold I (1831-1865)
The German Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
(or Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld) was selected as king of the Belgians. This
was the start of Belgium's own dynasty of kings and queens.
Leopold I had been married to Charlotte of Wales,
daughter of the later King George IV of Great Britain and Ireland,
but she had died in childbirth in 1816. Leopold's sister, Victoire
(Victoria), married King George's younger brother, Prince Edward,
duke of Kent and Strathearn, and gave birth to another Victoria,
queen from 1837. Uncle Leopold became her mentor.
Thanks to his family ties with Victoria and others,
and as the head of state of a neutral country, Leopold I exerted great
influence in Europe during his reign, becoming a leading figure in
European diplomacy. Leopold scrupulously maintained a neutral foreign
policy, although he immediately began to strengthen the Belgian army.
With assistance from France and England, he fought off attacks by
William I of the Netherlands, who refused until 1839 to recognise
Belgium as an independent kingdom.
Through marriages he strengthened his ties with France,
England, and Austria. He remarried, to Louise of Orléans, a French
princess who became the first queen of the Belgians. She was also
known as Louise-Marie and was the eldest daughter of the future king
of France, Louis-Philippe I. He helped to arrange the marriage of his
niece Victoria in Britain to his nephew, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg
and Gotha. He also helped negotiate the marriage of his daughter
Charlotte to Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico.
He was one of the most respected statesmen of his age,
known as the 'Nestor of Europe'.
King Leopold II (1865-1909)
Son of Leopold I. Married Marie-Henriette of
Habsburg-Lorraine, archduchess of Austria.
Leopold II set up, with the cooperation of the British
explorer, Stanley, the 'Study Committee on the Upper Congo', converted
in 1879 into the 'International Association of the Congo'. The Berlin
Conference recognised the independent state of the Congo and Leopold
II became the owner and absolute ruler of the Congo Free State from
1885 to 1908, through his own efforts. In 1890, during the Brussels
International Conference, a treaty was signed against the African slave
trade and slave smuggling. This treaty formed the basis of a campaign
against slavery in Africa.
In 1904, however, following excesses that had been
committed by Europeans in Africa, Leopold's reputation and his overseas
venture were questioned. The king set up an International Commission
of Inquiry, which recognised the merits of the royal action in Congo,
while also pointing out abuses and shortcomings.
In 1908 the independent State of Congo became a Belgian
colony named 'Belgian Congo'.
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King Leopold II of the Belgians, whose reputation was forever
tarnished by European activities in Africa, and by some Belgian
activities in particular in Congo
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King Albert I (1909-1934)
Leopold II had no male heir so Albert, son of Leopold's
II brother Prince Philippe, succeeded him as King Albert I. Married
Elisabeth of Bavaria. Three children: Leopold, Charles, and Marie-José
of Belgium.
He ruled during an eventful period in the history of
Belgium, which included the First World War, during which 90% of Belgium
was overrun, occupied, and ruled by the German empire.
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Britain had promised to defend Belgium under the
terms of the Treaty of London of 1839. When Germany attacked France
through Belgium in 1914, within hours Britain declared war on imperial
Germany and Austria-Hungary, and France and Russia (Britain's allies
from the Triple entente) followed within a few more days, getting
involved in what became a worldwide conflict. The small Belgian army
eventually retreated into France to join the allies there along what
became the trenches of the Western Front.
Belgium controlled not only Congo during its history
but also Ruanda-Urundi, which was a part of German East Africa. It
came under Belgian military occupation from 1916 to 1924 in the
aftermath of the First World War, when a Belgian military expedition
as part of the allied East African Campaign had driven the Germans
from the colony. The Treaty of Versailles divided the German East
Africa colonial empire between the allied League of Nations.
Ruanda-Urundi was officially awarded to Belgium as a mandate in 1922
until 1946 when the League of Nations was dissolved and succeeded by
the United Nations (UN). The mandate over Ruanda-Urundi was replaced
by a 'UN Trust Territory' still under Belgian administration.
This transition was accompanied by a promise that
the Belgians would prepare the territory for independence, which came
largely because of African anti-colonial nationalism that was emerging
in the Belgian Congo in the late 1950s and which rolled quickly down
to its neighbours in Ruanda-Urundi. The Belgians became convinced that
they could no longer control the territory. Revolts and violence against
the Tutsi, the ruling class which controlled a mostly-Hutu population,
which became known as the Rwandan Revolution occurred in the events
that led to independence in 1962. Ruanda-Urundi developed into the
independent states of Rwanda and Burundi.
In the aftermath of the First World War another region,
which had formerly been part of imperial Germany, was allocated to
Belgium according to the Treaty of Versailles; the region of
Eupen-Malmedy was formally annexed in 1920 as part of Belgium and
later of the province of Liège in 1925. Eventually the region became
known as the German-speaking 'East-Cantons', one of Belgium's three
federal communities.
Two years after the end of the war, just like his
cousin had already done in Great Britain, the king quietly dropped
the name Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and changed the family name to 'of
Belgium'.
Albert died in 1934 in a climbing accident in the
Ardennes.
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King Albert I of the Belgians had to witness the imperial German
invasion of his country while the bulk of his armed forces
retreated into France to join the Allied defensive lines there
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Besides growing war fever, 1914 Britain was
struggling against the suffragette movement
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SUFFRAGIST "How dreadfully you've been treated by
your husband!"
WOMAN "Well, it might have been worse."
SUFFRAGIST "How could it have been worse?"
WOMAN "Well, I might have been in the same position
as yourself - having no husband!"
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King Leopold III (1934-1944)
Succeeded his father, Albert I. Married Princess
Astrid of Sweden, mother of Josephine-Charlotte, grand-duchess of
Luxembourg and Baudouin, future king. Queen Astrid died in a car
accident in Switzerland in 1935.
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On the eve of the Second World War in 1939, Belgium
announced a policy of neutrality. Until then the country had been an
explicit ally of France and the United Kingdom. The king hoped that
this would spare Belgium from the imminent German threat.
On 10 May 1940, Nazi Germany invaded Belgium
nevertheless. King Leopold, as commander-in-chief of the Belgian
army, was compelled to surrender unconditionally, against the
wishes of the government which had withdrawn to France. This would
be one of the reasons for the 'Royal Question' in 1950 which would
lead to the abdication of the king.
In 1941 Leopold remarried, to Mrs Lilian Baels, who
then took the title of princess de Rethy. Three children were born
of this marriage: Alexandre, Marie-Christine, and Marie-Esmeralda.
During the subsequent German occupation, Leopold
was held under house arrest in his palace where he was praised for
stoically sharing the suffering of ordinary Belgians. The day after
allied troops landed on the continent on 6 June 1944, the king and
his family were deported to Germany and later to Austria by the
Nazis.
Regent Prince Charles (1944-1950)
Upon the liberation of Belgium, King Leopold III
was still a prisoner following his enforced deportation. As the
constitution provided for the possibility of a regency his brother,
Prince Charles, count of Flanders, was made regent by the combined
chambers of the Belgian parliament.
The royal family was liberated by American troops in
1945. Due to opposition from part of the population and also to the
political situation in Belgium, Prince Charles, the king, and his
family did not return immediately to Belgium but moved instead to
Switzerland. Prince Charles continued to rule as regent due to Leopold
III's 'impossibility of reigning'. He exercised the royal prerogatives
until 1950.
An important political milestone was the introduction
in 1948 of votes for women in parliamentary elections.
On the international stage, a number of facts have
a bearing on the story: the 'Foundation of the Benelux', an economic
union between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg in 1944, as
well as Belgian membership of the United Nations Organisation (UNO)
in 1945, of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in 1948,
and the Council of Europe in 1949.
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Leopold III faced the unenviable choice of
fleeing his country to retain an independent voice or remaining
with his subjects in state captivity
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During the regency, home policy was dominated however
by the 'Royal Question', and the consequences of the Second World War.
This was a major political crisis in Belgium that lasted from 1945 to
1951, which concerned whether King Leopold III could return to the
country and resume his constitutional role amid allegations that his
actions during the war had been contrary to the provisions of the
Belgian constitution.
The crisis emerged from the division between
Leopold and his government during the German invasion of 1940.
Leopold, who was suspected of authoritarian sympathies, had taken
command of the Belgian army at the outbreak of war. Considering his
constitutional position as commander-in-chief which took precedence
over his civil role as head of state, he refused to abandon his army
and join the Belgian government in exile in France. Leopold's refusal
to obey the government marked a constitutional crisis. After having
negotiated the surrender to the Germans in 1940, Leopold was widely
condemned.
The 'Royal Question' was eventually resolved by the
abdication of Leopold in favour of his son, Baudouin, in 1951.
Another issue was that the war had pushed traditional
disagreements between the Flemish and Walloon populations into the
background, but they did not disappear.
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Prince Charles, count of Flanders and brother of the captive
King Leopold III, took on the role of regent in order to help
steer post-war Belgium through its recovery after five years of
Nazi German occupation
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Continued in Part 3
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Main Sources
The Belgian Dynasty website of the Royal
Family of Belgium
The Belgium.be Official Information &
Services website
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Text copyright © William Willems.
An original feature for the History Files. |
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