Leopold I of Belgium

Leopold I
King of the Belgians
File:Leopold I; King of the Belgians Order of the Garter .jpg Painting by Sir Thomas Lawrence
Reign	21 July, 1831 – 10 December, 1865 (34 years)
Predecessor	first king
Successor	Leopold II
Issue	Prince Louis-Philippe Leopold II Prince Philippe Empress Carlota of Mexico
House	Wettin (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha line)
Father	Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Mother	Countess Augusta Reuss

Leopold I (Leopold George Christian Frederick of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, later of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) (16 December, 1790 in Coburg – 10 December, 1865 in Laeken/Laken) was from 21 July, 1831 the first King of the Belgians. He was the founder of the Belgian line of the House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. His children included Leopold II of Belgium and Empress Carlota of Mexico.

Early life

He was the youngest son of Franz Frederick Anton, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Countess Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf, and later became a prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha after the territorial swap by his father of Ehrenburg Castle in the Bavarian town of Coburg. He was also an uncle of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

In 1795, as a mere child, Leopold was appointed colonel of the Izmaylovsky Imperial Regiment in Russia. Seven years later he became a major general. When Napoleonic troops occupied the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg in 1806 Leopold went to Paris. Napoléon offered him the position of adjutant, but he refused. Instead he took up a military career in the Imperial Russian cavalry. He campaigned against Napoléon, and distinguished himself at the Battle of Kulm at the head of his cuirassier division. In 1815, Leopold reached the rank of lieutenant general in the Imperial Russian Army.

In Carlton House on 2 May, 1816, he married Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, the only legitimate child of the British Prince Regent (later King George IV of the United Kingdom) and therefore heiress to the British throne, and was created a British field-marshal and Knight of the Garter. On 5 November, 1817, Princess Charlotte was delivered of a stillborn son; she herself died the following day. Had she lived, she would have become Queen of the United Kingdom on the death of her father, and Leopold presumably would have been her consort, and never chosen King of the Belgians. Despite Charlotte's death, the Prince Regent granted Prince Leopold the British style of Royal Highness by Order-in-Council on 6 April 1818. In honor of his first wife, Leopold and Louise-Marie of France, his second wife, named their first daughter Charlotte, who would later become Empress Carlota of Mexico.

On 2 July, 1829, Leopold participated in nuptials of doubtful validity (a private marriage-contract with no religious or public ceremony) with the actress Caroline Bauer, created Countess of Montgomery, a cousin of his advisor, Christian Friedrich Freiherr von Stockmar. The 'marriage' reportedly ended in 1831 and the following year he married Louise-Marie.

King of the Belgians

Styles of King Leopold I of the Belgians
Reference style	His Majesty
Spoken style	Your Majesty
Alternative style	Sire

After Belgium asserted its independence from the Netherlands on 4 October 1830, the Belgian National Congress, considered several candidates and eventually asked Leopold to become king of the newly formed country. He accepted and became "King of the Belgians" on 26 June, 1831. He swore allegiance to the constitution in front of the Saint Jacob's Church at Coudenbergh Place in Brussels on 21 July 1831. This day became the Belgian national holiday. Jules Van Praet would become his personal secretary.

King Leopold I, Queen Louise-Marie, Crown Prince Leopold, Prince Philippe, Princess Marie-Charlotte

Less than two weeks later, on 2 August, the Netherlands invaded Belgium. Skirmishes continued for eight years, but in 1839 the two countries signed the Treaty of London establishing Belgium's independence.

With the opening of the railway line between Brussels and Mechelen on 5 May, 1835, one of King Leopold's fondest hopes—to build the first railway in continental Europe—became a reality.

In 1840, Leopold arranged the marriage of his niece, Queen Victoria, the daughter of his sister, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, to his nephew, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, son of his brother, Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Even before she succeeded to the throne, Leopold had been advising the then-Princess Victoria by letter, and after her accession, he was one of the great influences on her in the early days of her monarchy.

In 1842, Leopold tried unsuccessfully to pass laws to regulate female and child labor. A wave of revolutions passed over Europe after the deposition of King Louis-Philippe from the French throne in 1848. Belgium remained neutral, mainly because of Leopold's diplomatic efforts.

On 11 October, 1850, Leopold again lost a young wife, as Queen Louise-Marie died of tuberculosis at age 38. At 11:45 am on 10 December 1865, the king died in Laken. He lies buried in the Royal vault at the Church of Our Lady, Laken Cemetery, Brussels, Belgium.

Ancestry

Leopold's ancestors in three generations

Leopold I of Belgium	Father: Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld	Paternal Grandfather: Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld	Paternal Great-grandfather: Francis Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Anna Sophie, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
		Paternal Grandmother: Sophia Antonia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel	Paternal Great-grandfather: Ferdinand Albert II of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
			Paternal Great-grandmother: Antoinetta Amelia of Wolfenbüttel-Blackenburg
	Mother: Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf	Maternal Grandfather: Count Heinrich XXIV Reuss of Ebersdorf and Lobenstein	Maternal Great-grandfather: Heinrich XXIII Reuss of Ebersdorf and Lobenstein
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Sophie Theodora of Castell-Remlingen
		Maternal Grandmother: Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg	Maternal Great-grandfather: Georg August of Erbach-Schönberg
			Maternal Great-grandmother: Ferdinande Henriette of Stolberg-Gedern

Patrilineal descent

Descent before Conrad the Great is taken from [1] and may be inaccurate.

House of Wettin

1. Burkhard I, Duke of Thuringia, d. 870
2. Burchard, Duke of Thuringia, 836 - 908
3. (possibly) Burkhard III of Grabfeldgau, 866 - 913
4. Dedi I, Count of Hessegau, 896 - 957
5. (probably) Dietrich I of Wettin, d. 976
6. (possibly) Dedi II, Count of Hessegau, 946 - 1009
7. Dietrich II of Wettin, 991 - 1034
8. Thimo I of Wettin, d. 1099
9. Thimo II the Brave, Count of Wettin, d. 1118
10. Conrad, Margrave of Meissen, 1098 - 1157
11. Otto II, Margrave of Meissen, 1125 - 1190
12. Dietrich I, Margrave of Meissen, 1162 - 1221
13. Henry III, Margrave of Meissen, c. 1215 - 1288
14. Albert II, Margrave of Meissen, 1240 - 1314
15. Frederick I, Margrave of Meissen, 1257 - 1323
16. Frederick II, Margrave of Meissen, 1310 - 1349
17. Frederick III, Landgrave of Thuringia, 1332 - 1381
18. Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, 1370 - 1428
19. Frederick II, Elector of Saxony, 1412 - 1464
20. Ernest, Elector of Saxony, 1441 - 1486
21. John, Elector of Saxony, 1468 - 1532
22. John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony, 1503 - 1554
23. Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 1530 - 1573
24. John II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, 1570 - 1605
25. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha, 1601 - 1675
26. John Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1658 - 1729
27. Francis Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1697 - 1764
28. Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1724 - 1800
29. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, 1750 - 1806

File:2006 Belgium 1250 Euro 175 years Belgian Dynasty front.JPG

175^th Anniversary of the Belgian Dynasty Coin

See also

• Kings of Belgium family tree
• Leopold I of Belgium has left such a legacy behind that he was selected as a motive for a very recent commemorative coin: the 12.50 euro 175^th Anniversary of the Belgian Dynasty Coin. The obverse shows his portrait facing left.
• Crown Council of Belgium
• Louis-Joseph Seutin (1793-1862), personal doctor.