page_title: Leopold III of Belgium
section_title: Early life and family
hierarchical_section_title: Leopold III of Belgium / Early life and family
caption_attribution_description: English: Crown Prince Leopold (III) of Belgium and Princess Astrid of Sweden on their wedding day, photographed immediately after the civil wedding ceremony in the State Hall at Stockholm Palace. Wedding officiant was Mr. Carl Lindhagen, Mayor of Stockholm. Svenska: Kronprins Leopold (III) av Belgien och prinsessan Astrid av Sverige på sin bröllopsdag, fotograferade omedelbart efter den borgerliga vigseln i Rikssalen på Stockholms slott. Vigselförrättare var Carl Lindhagen, borgmästare i Stockholm.
context_page_description: Leopold III was King of the Belgians from 1934 until 1951. On the outbreak of World War II, Leopold tried to maintain Belgian neutrality, but after the German invasion in May 1940, he surrendered his country, earning him much hostility, both at home and abroad.
  His act was declared unconstitutional by Prime Minister Hubert Pierlot and his cabinet, who presently moved to London to form a government-in-exile, while Leopold and his family were placed under house arrest. In 1944, they were moved to Germany and then Austria, before being liberated by the Americans, but banned for some years from returning to Belgium, where his brother Prince Charles had been declared regent. Leopold’s eventual return to his homeland in 1950 nearly caused a civil war, and under pressure from the government, he abdicated in favour of his son, Prince Baudouin in July 1951.
  Leopold’s first wife, Astrid of Sweden, was killed in a road accident while on a driving holiday in Switzerland in 1935, being much mourned by the public. His second marriage, to Lilian Baels in captivity in 1941, was not valid under Belgian law, and she was never permitted the title of queen.
context_section_description: Prince Leopold was born in Brussels, the first child of Prince Albert, Duke of Brabant, heir to the Belgian throne, and his consort, Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria. In 1909 his father became King of the Belgians, as Albert I, and Prince Leopold became Duke of Brabant.
  In August 1914, when Belgium was invaded by Germany, King Albert allowed Leopold, then aged twelve, to enlist in the Belgian Army as a private and fight in defence of the kingdom.  However, in 1915, with Belgium almost entirely occupied by the Germans, Leopold was sent to join Eton College, while his father fought on in France.
  After the war, in 1919, the Duke of Brabant visited the Old Mission and Saint Anthony Seminary in Santa Barbara, California.
  He married Princess Astrid of Sweden in a civil ceremony in Stockholm on 4 November 1926, followed by a religious ceremony in Brussels on 10 November. The marriage produced three children:
  Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium, born at the Royal Palace of Brussels on 11 October 1927, Grand Duchess consort of Luxembourg. She was married on 9 April 1953 to Prince Jean, later Grand Duke of Luxembourg. She died at Fischbach Castle on 10 January 2005.
  Prince Baudouin of Belgium, Duke of Brabant, Count of Hainaut, who became the fifth King of the Belgians as Baudouin, born at Stuyvenberg on the outskirts of Brussels on 7 September 1930, and died at Motril in Andalusia, Spain, on 31 July 1993.
  Prince Albert of Belgium, Prince of Liège, who became the sixth King of the Belgians as Albert II, born at Stuyvenberg on 6 June 1934. He abdicated in July 2013.
  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.
  Leopold married Lilian Baels on 11 September 1941 in a secret, religious ceremony, with no validity under Belgian law. They originally intended to wait until the end of the war for the civil marriage, but as the new Princess of Réthy was soon expecting their first child, the ceremony took place on 6 December 1941. They had three children in total:
  Prince Alexandre of Belgium, born in Brussels on 18 July 1942. In 1991, he married Léa Wolman, a marriage revealed only seven years later. He died on 29 November 2009.
  Princess Marie-Christine of Belgium, previously Mrs. Drucker and later Mrs. Gourges, born in Brussels on 6 February 1951. Her first marriage, to Paul Drucker in 1981, lasted 40 days (and formally divorced in 1985); she subsequently married Jean-Paul Gourges in 1989.
  Princess Marie-Esméralda of Belgium, later Lady Moncada, born in Brussels on 30 September 1956, a journalist, her professional name is Esmeralda de Réthy. She married pharmacologist Salvador Moncada in 1998. They have a son and a daughter.
caption: Leopold of Belgium and Astrid of Sweden on their wedding day.
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