The first king of Belgium, Leopold I (born on December 16, 1790 in Coburg, Germany, and died on December 10, 1865 in Raken, Belgium), went from a small duchy to the leader and strategist of the Saxon Coburg Gotha family all over Europe. His period in power was from 1831 to 1865.
Leopold I was the youngest son of Duke Coburg Salfeld of Saxony, Germany. He first began to join the army. In 1795, at the age of five, he was promoted to colonel, and in 1802, he was general of the Russian Army. After Napoleon occupied his father's duchy in 1806, he went to Paris. Napoleon offered him the status of his assistant, but Leopold refused. He accepted the status of duke in place of his brother and became an opponent of Napoleon. In 1815 he was promoted to Marshal.
He married the Crown Prince of England on May 2, 1816. His wife, Princess Charlotte, died in childbirth on November 5, 1817. This left no heir to the British throne, and Leopold brokered the marriage of his widowed sister, Victoria, to Prince Edward, whose daughter later became the famous Queen Victoria.
In 1829, Leopold married an actor who resembled Charlotte-like. The marriage was neither religious nor public due to social opposition. According to documents, the marriage ended in 1831.
1830 Greece elects Leopold as its king, but Leopold does not accept the throne. October 4, 1830 After Belgium gained independence from the Netherlands, the Belgian parliament asked Leopold if he would like to become king of Belgium. July 17, 1831 Leopold landed in Belgium. On July 21, he swore an oath to the Belgian constitution. This day has since become Belgium's National Day. A week and a half later, the Dutch army invaded Belgium. After eight years of war, the two sides reached a peace treaty in 1839, and the Netherlands recognized Belgium's independence.