Leopold III of Belgium
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Leopold III, Léopold Philippe Charles Albert Meinrad Hubertus Marie Miguel (November 3, 1901 – September 25, 1983) reigned as King of the Belgians from 1934 until 1951, when he abdicated in favour of his Heir Apparent, his son Baudouin.
Leopold III was born in Brussels as Prince Leopold of Belgium, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Saxony, and succeeded to the throne of Belgium on February 23, 1934 on the death of his father, King Albert I of Belgium.
Crown Prince Leopold, just a teenager, fought as a private during World War I with the 12th Belgian Regiment. At the end of the War, in 1919, the Crown Prince Leopold was enrolled at St. Anthony Seminary in Santa Barbara, California.
In Stockholm, on November 4, 1926, he married Princess Astrid of Sweden who became Queen Astrid of the Belgians. She was born in Stockholm on November 17, 1905, the youngest daughter of Prince Charles of Sweden and Princess Ingeborg of Denmark.
Their children:
- Joséphine-Charlotte Ingeborg Elisabeth Marie-José Marguerite Astrid, Princess of Belgium, born at the Royal Palace of Brussels on October 11, 1927, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. She was married on April 9, 1953 to Prince Jean, Grand-Duke of Luxembourg. She died at the Château de Fischbach on January 10, 2005.
- Baudouin Albert Charles Léopold Axel Marie Gustave, Prince of Belgium, who became the fifth King of the Belgians as Baudouin I, born at Stuyvenberg outside of Brussels on September 7, 1930, and died at Motril, Spain on July 31, 1993.
- Albert Félix Humbert Théodore Christian Eugène Marie, Prince of Liège, Prince of Belgium, born at Stuyvenberg in Brussels on June 6, 1934. He is the reigning king of the Belgians as Albert II.
On August 29, 1935, while the King and Queen were driving along the winding, narrow roads near their villa at Küssnacht am Rigi, Schwyz, Switzerland on the shores of Lake of Lucerne, Leopold lost control of the vehicle and the car plunged down in the lake, killing Astrid.
On September 11, 1941, King Leopold III married a second time, morganatically, to Lilian Baels, who was born in Highbury, London on November 28, 1916. Known as Princess de Rethy, she died on June 7, 2002.
They had three children, who don't have the right of succession:
- Alexander Emmanuel Henry Albert Marie Léopold, Prince of Belgium, born in Brussels on July 18, 1942. In 1991 he married Lea Inga Dora Wohlman, a marriage revealed only seven years later. She was created a Princess of Belgium in her own right.
- Marie-Christine Daphné Astrid Elisabeth Léopoldine, Princess of Belgium, born in Brussels on February 6, 1951. Her first marriage, to Paul Drucker in 1981, lasted 40 days (though they weren't formally divorced till 1985); she subsequently married Jean-Paul Gourges in 1989.
- Maria-Esmeralda Adélaïde Lilian Anne Léopoldine, Princess of Belgium, born in Brussels on September 30, 1956, a journalist, her professional name is Esmeralda de Réthy. She married Salvador Moncada, a noted pharmacologist, in 1998. They have a son and a daughter.
During World War II, the German army invaded Belgium and King Leopold, along with the majority of the Belgian army, was surrounded by the Germans and quickly surrendered. His action incurred the violent disapproval of the Belgian people and brought accusations of treason. King Leopold rejected cooperation with the Nazis and refused to administer Belgium in accordance with their dictates. Despite his defiance of the Germans, the Belgian government-in-exile in London refused to recognize his right to rule. The Germans held him under house arrest at the royal castle in Brussels.
Heinrich Himmler ordered King Leopold deported to Germany. Princess Liliane followed with the family in another car the following day under an SS armed guard. The Nazis held the family in a fort at Hirschstein an der Elbe in Saxony during the winter of 1944-45, and then at Strobl, near Salzburg, Austria. They were freed by the U.S. Army in May of 1945.
On his return to Belgium after the war, he was met with bitter opposition because of his wartime conduct and the legislature elected Leopold's brother Prince Charles (1903-1983) as Regent. Leopold went into exile in Switzerland while a 1946 commission of inquiry exonerated him of treason. Nonetheless, controversy concerning his loyalty continued, notwithstanding that a referendum had shown a small majority in favour of his return. On his return to Belgium in 1950, he was met with strikes and other protests. To avoid tearing his country apart, and to preserve the monarchy, King Leopold III abdicated on July 16, 1951 in favour of his 20-year-old son Baudouin. After his abdication, he retained the personal title and style of H.M. King Leopold III.
In retirement, he followed his passion as an amateur social anthropologist and travelled the world. He went for instance in Senegal and strongly criticized the Belgian decolonization process.
King Leopold III died in 1983 at Woluwe-Saint-Lambert. He is interred with his wives in the royal vault at the Church of Our Lady in Laeken.