In 1831 the newly formed Kingdom of Belgium elected its first king. He was Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a handsome man who liked to wear platform shoes and feather boas. His beloved wife, Princess Charlotte of England, had died in 1817 while giving birth to their first child (who also died). For more than a decade after his wife's death Leopold remained in England, living on a grand estate, Claremont, paid for by a large yearly sum granted to him by the English government's Civil List. He generously gave advice and financial support to his widowed sister, the Duchess of Kent, and her daughter Victoria, England's future queen.
Leopold was a rather nervous man who suffered from imaginary illnesses and had difficulty making up his mind about anything. He turned down a chance to become the king of Greece -- because, it was said, he hoped to rule England through his niece -- but when the throne of Belgium was offered to him, he accepted.
King Leopold soon discovered that it was not easy to be a monarch. He said in a letter to Victoria, "The position of what is generally called great people has of late become extremely difficult. They are more attacked and calumniated, and judged with less indulgence than private individuals."
In 1832, the year after he became king, Leopold married the king of France's daughter, Louise Marie d'Orleans. It was a political marriage, intended to please Belgium's predominantly Catholic population, since Louise was Catholic and Leopold was not. They had four children: three sons and a daughter.
King Leopold's sophistication and wisdom made him a successful leader. He was sometimes called "the Nestor of Europe," after wise King Nestor of Greek mythology, and he was viewed as a father figure by Queen Victoria and many other members of Europe's interrelated royal families. He died six days before his 75th birthday and was succeeded by his son, King Leopold II.
Leopold II did not live up to his father's good example. He despised the people of Belgium, led a dissolute personal life, and made himself extremely rich through his reign of terror over Belgium's African colony, the Belgian Congo. He and his wife, Maria Henrietta (the daughter of Archduke Joseph of Austria), had three daughters. He died in 1909 and was succeeded by his nephew, King Albert I, who would prove to be a good and valiant king.
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