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King Leopold III of Belgium

Leopold III
Leopold III van België (1934).jpg
Leopold, pictured in 1934
King of the Belgians
Reign 17 February 1934 – 16 July 1951
Predecessor Albert I
Successor Baudouin
Regent Prince Charles (1944–50)
Prime Ministers
Born (1901-11-03)3 November 1901
Brussels, Belgium
Died 25 September 1983(1983-09-25) (aged 81)
Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Brussels, Belgium
Burial Church of Our Lady of Laeken
Spouse Princess Astrid of Sweden
(m. 1926; d. 1935)

Mary Lilian Baels
(m. 1941)
Issue
Full name
Dutch: Leopold Filips Karel Albert Meinrad Hubertus Maria Miguel
French: Léopold Philippe Charles Albert Meinrad Hubert Marie Michel
House Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Father King Albert I of Belgium
Mother Elisabeth in Bavaria
Full name
Dutch: Leopold Filips Karel Albert Meinrad Hubertus Maria Miguel
French: Léopold Philippe Charles Albert Meinrad Hubert Marie Michel

Leopold III (3 November 1901 – 25 September 1983) reigned as the fourth King of the Belgians from 1934 until 1951, when he abdicated in favour of the heir apparent, his son Baudouin. From 1944 until 1950, Leopold's brother, Charles, served as prince regent while Leopold was declared unable to reign. Leopold's controversial actions during the Second World War resulted in a political crisis known as the Royal Question. In 1950, the debate about whether Leopold could resume his royal functions escalated. Following a referendum, Leopold was allowed to return from exile to Belgium, but the continuing political instability pressured him to abdicate in 1951.

Leopold was born in Brussels and succeeded to the throne of Belgium on 23 February 1934, following the death of his father King Albert I.

Princess Leopold was born in Brussels, the first child of King Albert I of the Belgians and his consort, Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria. His father became King of the Belgians, as Albert I, in 1909 and Prince Leopold became Duke of Brabant, heir to the Belgian throne.

He was sent by his father to Eton College in the United Kingdom in 1915. After the war, in 1919, the Duke visited the Old Mission and Saint Anthony Seminary in Santa Barbara, California.

He married Princess Astrid of Sweden in a civil ceremony in on 4 November 1926, followed by a religious ceremony in Brussels on 10 November. The marriage produced three children:

On 29 August 1935, while the king and queen were driving along the winding, narrow roads near their villa at Küssnacht am Rigi, Schwyz, Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Lucerne, Leopold lost control of the car which plunged into the lake, killing Queen Astrid.


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