Leopold III of Belgium, reigned as the fourth King of the Belgians from 1934 until 1951, when he abdicated in favour of the heir apparent, his son Baudouin. From 1944 until 1950, Leopold's brother, Charles, served as prince regent while Leopold was declared unable to reign. Leopold's controversial actions during the Second World War resulted in a political crisis known as the Royal Question.
Background
Prince Leopold was born in Brussels, the first child of King Albert I of the Belgians and his consort, Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria. His father became King of the Belgians, as Albert I, in 1909 and Prince Leopold became Duke of Brabant, heir to the Belgian throne.
Education
He was sent by his father to Eton College in the United Kingdom in 1915. After the war, in 1919, the Duke visited the Old Mission and Saint Anthony Seminary in Santa Barbara, California.
Career
After the outbreak of World War II, Leopold assumed supreme command of the Belgian army. In May 1940, as the Allies undertook the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of troops from the French seaport of Dunkirk, Belgian forces at the Leie (Lys) River in Belgium battled the advancing Germans. Leopold was forced to surrender his encircled forces on May 28. The Belgian government’s repudiation of his decision to remain with his troops, rather than join the London government in exile, laid the foundation for the postwar conflict over his claim to the throne.
Leopold was held prisoner by the Germans at his royal château near Brussels until 1944 and then in Austria to the end of the war. His letter to Adolf Hitler in 1942 is credited with saving an estimated 500,000 Belgian women and children from deportation to munitions factories in Germany.
After his brother Charles was appointed regent in 1944, Leopold remained in Switzerland (1945–1950), awaiting resolution of the "royal question," the controversy over his pending return to the throne. In a plebiscite held March 12, 1950, nearly 58 percent of the voters favoured the king’s return, largely reflecting Catholic Fleming support. But unrest fomented by Liberal, Socialist, and Walloon opposition led Leopold to renounce his sovereignty on August 11, 1950, in favour of his son Baudouin, who became king the following year.
Leopold and the princesse de Réthy continued to live in Laeken, however, the traditional home of Belgian kings, until his son’s marriage in 1960.
Connections
He married Princess Astrid of Sweden in a civil ceremony in Stockholm on 4 November 1926, followed by a religious ceremony in Brussels on 10 November. The marriage produced three children:
Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium, born at the Royal Palace of Brussels on 11 October 1927, Grand Duchess consort of Luxembourg. She was married on 9 April 1953 to Prince Jean, later Grand Duke of Luxembourg. She died at Fischbach Castle on 10 January 2005.
Prince Baudouin of Belgium, Duke of Brabant, Count of Hainaut, who became the fifth King of the Belgians as Baudouin, born at Stuyvenberg on the outskirts of Brussels on 7 September 1930, and died at Motril in Andalusia, Spain, on 31 July 1993.
Prince Albert of Belgium, Prince of Liège, who became the sixth King of the Belgians as Albert II, born at Stuyvenberg on 6 June 1934. He abdicated in July 2013.
He married Mary-Lilian Baels on September 11, 1941, whom he made princesse de Réthy; their children were Alexandre, Marie-Christine, and Maria Esmeralda.