Leopold I of Belgium

1790 – 1865 · Generation XXXIII · King of the Belgians · House of Windsor

Leopold I of Belgium (1790–1865). King of the Belgians. Married Charlotte Augusta of Wales in 1816. A younger son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, he fought Napoleon as an officer of the Imperial Russian Army before settling in Britain. Offered the new Greek throne in 1830, he judged it too precarious and declined; the next year he accepted Belgium's instead, chosen partly for his web of royal connections and his British backing. The day he swore his oath — 21 July 1831 — is still kept as Belgian National Day. He steered the young kingdom through Dutch attempts at reconquest, championed economic modernisation and helped fund Belgium's first railway in 1835, quietly widened the crown's powers, and kept the revolutions of 1848 from spreading across its borders. His son Leopold II succeeded him.

One of 48 people of House of Windsor (from 1917) in this archive. The present house — it renamed itself Windsor in 1917, setting aside the German title Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Partners

Married Charlotte Augusta of Wales (1796 – 1817) in 1816

Life

1790 — Born
1816 — Married Charlotte Augusta of Wales
1865 — Died