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Leopold I (16 December 1790 – 10 December 1865) was from 21 July 1831 the first King of the Belgians, following Belgium's independence from the Netherlands. He was the founder of the Belgian line of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. His children included Leopold II of Belgium and Carlota of Mexico, Empress-Consort of Maximilian I of Mexico. He was a maternal uncle and adviser of Queen Victoria.
He was born in Coburg and died in Laeken.[1] By birth, he was a Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, later a Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke of Saxony.
Leopold was the youngest son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf, and later became a prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha after Saxe-Coburg acquired Gotha from Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg in 1826 and yielded Saalfeld to Saxe-Meiningen.
In 1795, as a mere child, Leopold was appointed colonel of the Izmaylovsky Guards Regiment in Russia. Seven years later, he became a major general. When Napoleonic troops occupied the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg in 1806 Leopold went to Paris. Emperor Napoleon I offered him the position of adjutant, but he refused. Instead, he took up a military career in the Imperial Russian Cavalry.[2] He campaigned against Napoleon and distinguished himself at the Battle of Kulm at the head of his cuirassier division. In 1815, at the age of 25, Leopold reached the rank of lieutenant general in the Imperial Russian Army.
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From 1828 to 1829, Leopold was involved romantically during several months with the actress King of Greece.[4] The son of Freiherr von Stockmar denied that these events ever happened, and indeed no records have been found of a civil or religious marriage or of an ennobling of the actress.[5]
Following the Greek War of Independence, Leopold became the favoured candidate of the allied powers to become king of the new Greek state. However, on 21 May 1830, he finally rejected the offer of the Greek throne. He cited as reasons the perceived opposition to his candidacy from some quarters in Greece (he did not wish to be seen as a king imposed on the country by foreign powers), and the powers' insistence that certain areas in Greek possession (in Acarnania and Aetolia) were to be given up to Turkey.[6] The Greek throne was eventually accepted by Prince Otto of Bavaria following the London Conference of 1832.
After Belgium asserted its independence from the Netherlands on 4 October 1830, the Belgian National Congress considered several candidates and eventually asked Leopold to become King of the newly formed country. He was elected on 4 June, accepted, and became "King of the Belgians" on 26 June 1831. He swore allegiance to the constitution in front of the Church of Saint Jacques-sur-Coudenberg at Coudenbergh Place in Brussels on 21 July 1831. This day became the Belgian national holiday. Jules Van Praet would become his personal secretary.
Less than two weeks later, on 2 August, the Netherlands invaded Belgium. Skirmishes continued for eight years, but in 1839, the two countries signed the Treaty of London establishing Belgium's independence.
With the opening of the railway line between Brussels and Mechelen on 5 May 1835, one of King Leopold's fondest hopes—to build the first railway in continental Europe—became a reality.
In 1840, his niece, Queen Victoria, the daughter of his sister, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, married his nephew, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, son of his brother, Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Even before she succeeded to the throne, Leopold had been advising the then-Princess Victoria by letter, and after her accession, he was one of the great influences on her in the early days of her monarchy, although she did begin to assert her independence very early on in her reign.
In 1842, Leopold tried unsuccessfully to pass laws to regulate female and child labor. A wave of revolutions passed over Europe after the deposition of his father-in-law, King Louis-Philippe, from the French throne in 1848. Belgium remained neutral, mainly because of Leopold's diplomatic efforts.
He was the 649th Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1816, the 947th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain in 1835 and the 35th Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword.
On 11 October 1850, Leopold again lost a young wife, as Queen Louise-Marie died of tuberculosis at age 38.
Leopold also had two sons, George and Arthur, by a mistress, Arcadie Meyer (née Claret). George was born in 1849, and Arthur was born in 1852. At Leopold's request, in 1862 the two sons were created Freiherr von Eppinghoven by his nephew, Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; in 1863 Arcadie was also created Baronin von Eppinghoven.[7]
On 10 December 1865, the King died in Laeken at the age of 74. He lies buried in the Royal Vault at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken.
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