Albert I reigned as the third King of the Belgians from 1909 to 1934.
Background
Albert was born in Brussels on April 8, 1875.
He was the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and his wife, Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Prince Philippe was the third (second surviving) son of Leopold I, the first King of the Belgians, and his wife, Marie-Louise of France, and the younger brother of King Leopold II of Belgium. Princess Marie was a relative of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, and a member of the non-reigning, Catholic branch of the Hohenzollern family. Albert grew up in the Palace of the Count of Flanders, initially as third in the line of succession to the Belgian throne as his reigning Uncle Leopold II's son had already died. When, however, Albert's older brother, Prince Baudouin of Belgium, who had been subsequently prepared for the throne, also died young, Albert, at the age of 16, unexpectedly became second in line (after his father) to the Belgian Crown.
Career
Albert began his reign on the death of Leopold II in 1909.
Both Albert's granduncle Leopold I and uncle Leopold II accepted the principle that Belgium was a parliamentary monarchy, but they had often taken a very strong executive stance toward Parliament. During Albert's reign the principle would be firmly established that the prime minister and his cabinet must enjoy the confidence of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of Parliament, and must be responsible to that body. During the years before World War I, the Catholic party emerged as the majority party within the Chamber of Deputies. The major issue in Belgian public life was universal manhood suffrage. In 1893 the Chamber had enacted it, but the measure was modified to award plural votes on the basis of marital status, education, and occupation. The Belgian Labor party launched a series of demonstrations and strikes to force the repeal of this law and the adoption of the "one man, one vote" principle, but to no avail.
With the onset of World War I on August 1, 1914, Albert refused a German ultimatum demanding free passage of German troops over Belgian soil. He assumed command of the Belgian army and staged a successful retreat onto French soil where he established headquarters at La Panne. During the war the government-in-exile constituted a national union of Liberals, Catholics, and, for the first time, the Belgian Labor party. In 1918 Albert led the Allied offensive which recovered the Belgian coast.
With the end of the war Belgium returned to cabinet regimes and normal parliamentary politics, and the years from 1918 to 1929 were spent in restoration and reconstruction. In 1919 the controversial vote structure was repealed and replaced by a "one man, one vote" statute. Belgium was struck very hard by the global economic crisis after 1929, and the last 5 years of Albert's reign were marked by strong efforts to control rising unemployment and sociopolitical strife.
On February 17, 1934, Albert I was killed while mountain climbing at Marche-les-Dames in southern Belgium. He was succeeded by his older son, Leopold, who reigned as Leopold III.
Achievements
Albert I was the king of the Belgians, who led the Belgian army during World War I and guided his country’s postwar recovery.
Celebrating 175 years of Belgian Dynasty and the 100th anniversary of his accession, Albert I was selected as the main motif of a high-value collectors' coin: the Belgian 12. 5 euro Albert I commemorative coin, minted in 2008. The obverse shows a portrait of the king.
King Albert was a devout Catholic. Many stories illustrate his deep and tender piety. For instance, when his former tutor General De Grunne, in his old age, entered the Benedictine monastery of Maredsous in Belgium, King Albert wrote a letter to him in which he spoke of the joy of giving oneself to God. He said: "May you spend many years at Maredsous in the supreme comfort of soul that is given, to natures touched by grace, by faith in God's infinite power and confidence in His goodness. " To another friend, a Chinese diplomat, who became a Catholic monk, Albert wrote: "Consecrating oneself wholly to the service of Our Lord gives, to those touched by grace, the peace of soul which is the supreme happiness here below. " Albert used to tell his children: "As you nourish your body, so you should nourish your soul. " In an interesting meditation on what he viewed as the harm that would result if Christian ideals were abandoned in Belgium, he said: "Every time society has distanced itself from the Gospel, which preached humility, fraternity, and peace, the people have been unhappy, because the pagan civilization of ancient Rome, which they wanted to replace it with, is based only on pride and the abuse of force" (Commemorative speech for the war dead of the Battle of the Yser, given by Dom Marie-Albert, Abbot of Orval Abbey, Belgium, in 1936 ).
Membership
In 1919 he was elected an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati.
Interests
He was a passionate alpinist.
Connections
Albert was married in Munich on 2 October 1900 to Duchess Elisabeth Gabrielle Valérie Marie in Bavaria, a Wittelsbach princess whom he had met at a family funeral. A daughter of Karl-Theodor, Duke in Bavaria, and his second wife, the Infanta Maria Josepha of Portugal, she was born at Possenhofen Castle, Bavaria, Germany, on 25 July 1876, and died on 23 November 1965.
The civil wedding was acted by Friedrich Krafft Graf von Crailsheim in the Throne Hall, and the religious wedding was acted by the Cardinal von Stein, assisted by Jakob von Türk, Cofessionar of the King of Bavaria.
Based on the letters written during their engagement and marriage (cited extensively in the memoirs of their daughter, Marie-José) the young couple appear to have been deeply in love. The letters express a deep mutual affection based on a rare affinity of spirit. They also make clear that Albert and Elisabeth continually supported and encouraged each other in their challenging roles as king and queen. The spouses shared an intense commitment to their country and family and a keen interest in human progress of all kinds. Together, they cultivated the friendship of prominent scientists, artists, mathematicians, musicians, and philosophers, turning their court at Laeken into a kind of cultural salon.
Albert and Elisabeth had three children.
Father:
Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders
(24 March 1837 – 17 November 1905)
Mother:
Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, later Princess Marie of Belgium, Countess of Flanders
