Belgian Royal FAQs

Who is the present monarch of Belgian?
King Albert II is the present monarch.  He succeeded his brother King Baudouin upon his death on July 31, 1993.

What is King Albert’s address?
The Private Secretary to HM The King
Palais de Bruxelles
B-1000 Brussels, Belgium

What are the current laws of succession?
Belgium’s line of succession to the throne is based upon cognatic primogeniture where males and females have equal succession rights.

Have women always been able to be the Belgian monarch?
The succession law was changed in 1991 to allow female succession.  Before 1991, the Salic Law, which prohibits female succession, was in effect.  Princess Elisabeth, the eldest child of Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant will be Belgium’s first Queen Regnant.

What is the Belgian Royal Family’s last name?
The Belgian Royal Family’s last name is Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.  The first King of the Belgians was Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1790-1865).

How long has there been a monarchy in Belgium?
The Belgian monarchy has existed since 1831.  In 1831, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was elected King of the Belgians after Belgium gained its independence from the Netherlands.  The new King Leopold I was the uncle of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.  He was also the widower of Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child and heir of King George IV of the United Kingdom. Had she not died in childbirth, Charlotte would have succeeded her father.

How does one address the Royal Family?
King Albert II is addressed as His Majesty The King of the Belgians and his wife is addressed as Her Majesty The Queen of the Belgians.  The children of the monarch are addressed as His/Her Royal Highness.  Currently, all the grandchildren of the monarch, not just the male-line grandchildren, are also addressed as His/Her Royal Highness.  All the children of Princess Astrid, King Albert’s only daughter, were created His/Her Royal Highness Prince/Princess of Belgium by Royal Decree on December 2, 1991.

Can a member of the Belgian Royal Family marry whomever s/he chooses?
Members of the Belgian Royal Family must have the consent of the monarch to marry.

What does the Belgian flag mean?
The Belgian flag has three equal vertical bands of the colors black, yellow, and red.  The colors were taken from the colors of the Duchy of Brabant and were worn during the Belgian fight for independence from the Netherlands.

What is the Royal Family’s coat of arms?
Information about the Belgian Royal Coat of Arms can be found at: Coat of Arms of Belgium

Have any Belgian royals become consorts of monarchs?

Princess Charlotte, daughter of King Leopold I, married Archduke Maximilian of Austria in 1857.  Maximilian was offered the throne of Mexico in 1864. He ruled for three years as Emperor Maximilian of Mexico before being overthrown and executed by a firing squad.  Charlotte, known as Empress Carlotta, had suffered from paranoia even before her husband’s execution.  She never recovered and lived the rest of her life in seclusion at Miramar Castle near Trieste, Italy, and then at the Castle of Bouchout in Meise, Belgium where she died at age 87.

Princess Marie José, daughter of Albert I, married King Umberto II of Italy, then the Crown Prince, in 1930.  Umberto served as king for 33 days in 1946 before the Italian monarchy was abolished.  While in exile, Umberto and Marie José separated, but never divorced.  Marie José lived the rest of her life Switzerland.  In 2001, she died in of lung cancer in Geneva, Switzerland at the age of 94.

Princess Joséphine-Charlotte, daughter of Leopold III, married Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, then the Hereditary Grand Duke, in 1953.  The couple had five children including the present Grand Duke, Henri.  Grand Duke Jean abdicated in favor of his son in 2001.  Joséphine-Charlotte died of lung cancer in 2005 at the age of 77.

While not consorts of monarchs, sisters Princess Stephanie and Princess Clementine, both daughters of King Leopold II, could have been consorts.

In 1881, Princess Stephanie, daughter of King Leopold II, married Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, the son and heir of Emperor Franz Josef.  The marriage was at first a happy one, but difficulties soon ensued.  In 1889, at the hunting lodge of Mayerling, Rudolf was found dead with Baroness Mary Vetsera, his seventeen year old mistress, apparently the victims of suicide pact.  After Rudolf’s death, Stephanie had difficult relationships with the Hapsburgs and her father.  It was necessary for her to take legal action against her father to obtain her inheritance.  In 1900, Stephanie’s second marriage to a Hungarian count, Elemér Lónyay de Nagy-Lónya et Vásáros-Namény, caused a further deterioration in the relationship with her father.  She died in Pannonhalma, Hungary in 1945 at the age of 81.

Princess Clementine, daughter of King Leopold II, married Napoléon Victor Bonaparte, Bonapartist pretender to the throne of France, in 1910.  Clementine and Victor first met in 1888 when Clementine was 16.  An attraction developed, but King Leopold II refused to consent to a marriage.  In 1903, when Clementine was 31, she again asked for permission to marry Victor and again she was denied permission.  King Leopold II died in 1909 and Clementine asked his successor, her cousin King Albert I, for permission to marry Victor and received it. In 1910, at the age of 38, Clementine finally married her great love.  The couple had two children.  Clementine died in 1955 at the age of 83.

How is King Albert II related to other current European monarchs?

Denmark: Queen Margrethe II and King Albert II are both descendants of King Oscar II of Sweden.  Margrethe is his great great granddaughter and Albert is his great grandson.

Liechtenstein: Prince Hans-Adam II and King Albert II are both descendants of King Miguel I of Portugal. Hans-Adam is his great great grandson and Albert is his great great grandson.

Luxembourg: Grand Duke Henri is King Albert II's nephew. Albert's sister Josephine-Charlotte was Henri’s mother.

Monaco: Prince Albert II and King Albert II are both descendants of Karl Ludwig, Grand Duke of Baden. Albert of Monaco is his great great great great grandson and Albert of the Belgians is his great great great grandson.

The Netherlands: Queen Beatrix and King Albert II are both descendants of Wilhelm von Nassau-Weilburg, Duke of Nassau. Beatrix is his great great great granddaughter and Albert is his great great grandson.

Norway: King Harald V and King Albert II are both descendants of Prince Carl of Sweden. Harald is his grandson and Albert is his grandson.

Spain: King Juan Carlos and King Albert II are both descendants of King Louis Philippe I of France. Juan Carlos is his great great great grandson and Albert is his great great great grandson.

Sweden: King Carl XVI Gustaf and King Albert II are both descendants of King Oscar II of Sweden. Carl Gustaf is his great great grandson and Albert is his great grandson.

United Kingdom: Queen Elizabeth II and King Albert III are both descendants of King Christian IX of Denmark.  Elizabeth is his great great granddaughter and Albert is his great great grandson.