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The monarchy of Belgium is the constitutional and hereditary institution of the monarchical head of state of Belgium.As a popular monarchy, the Belgian monarch uses the title king/queen of the Belgians [a] and serves as the country's head of state and commander-in-chief of the Belgian Armed Forces.
Under the Belgian Constitution, the Belgian monarch is styled "King of the Belgians" (French: Roi des Belges, Dutch: Koning der Belgen, German: König der Belgier) rather than "King of Belgium" in order to reflect the monarchy's constitutional and popular function. Since 1831, there have been seven Kings of the Belgians and two regents.
of Belgium b. 1951: Marie Esméralda of Belgium b. 1956: Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz b. 1973: Philippe King of the Belgians b. 1960 r.2013–present: Astrid of Belgium b. 1962 Archduchess of Austria-Este: Lorenz Archduke of Austria-Este b. 1955: Laurent of Belgium b. 1963: Claire Coombs b. 1974: Louise of Belgium b. 2004: Nicolas of Belgium b ...
Philippe [a] (born 15 April 1960) is King of the Belgians.He is the eldest child of King Albert II and Queen Paola.He succeeded his father upon the former’s abdication for health reasons on 21 July 2013.
The wives of Belgian monarchs have all been titled Queen and styled Majesty, with the exception of Leopold III of Belgium's second wife Mary Lilian Baels, who was titled Princess of Belgium and Princess of Réthy. All Belgian monarchs so far have been male, so there have only been female consorts.
While the drafters of the Belgian Constitution aimed to make Belgium a constitutional monarchy, making the monarch a neutral and impartial arbiter, Leopold had managed to assign himself significant powers, such as assuming multiple ministries and taking charge of many diplomatic, administrative and military domains. [98]
Since 1991, Belgium practises absolute primogeniture among the descendants of King Albert II (then Prince of Liège). Descendants of earlier monarchs and princes are only eligible to succeed if male and descended from King Leopold I in male-line (i.e. according to agnatic primogeniture), meaning that descendants of all Belgian princesses not descended from Albert II are barred from the throne.
Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934) was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934. He is popularly referred to as the Knight King (Dutch: Koning-Ridder, French: Roi-Chevalier) or Soldier King (Dutch: Koning-Soldaat, French: Roi-Soldat) in Belgium in reference to his role during World War I.