by An Ard Rí and Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2012

Belgium has been a kingdom since 1831. All the monarchs, all the consorts, and some other members of the Belgian royal family have been buried at the neo-gothic Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium. The church was built in memory of Queen Louise-Marie, wife of Belgium’s first king Leopold I. There has been a house of worship on this site since around 800.  In 1275, the original chapel was replaced by a church in the gothic style called the Church of Our Lady of Laeken.

Queen Louise-Marie wanted to be buried in the old church at Laeken and her remains did rest in the old church at Laeken until they were reinterred in the new church. To honor the memory of his wife, King Leopold I conceived the idea of a new and larger church at Laeken. By a royal decree on October 14, 1850, the government authorized the construction of the new church and organized a competition for the design of the new church. There were only two stipulations for the design, that the church should be able to hold 2,000 people and its price should not exceed 800,000 francs.

In 1852, the jury decided upon a neo-gothic design by Joseph Poelaert, a 34-year-old architect.  The German architect Friedrich von Schmidt designed the portal and the 99-meter high tower. King Leopold I laid the foundation stone for the new church in 1854 and in 1872 the church was consecrated but it was not fully completed until 1909 because of a long interruption of work. In 1894, the old church was demolished due to its state of disrepair. However, the choir of the old church was preserved and has survived as a chapel in the center of the adjacent Laeken Cemetery.

• Unofficial Royalty: Church of Our Lady in Laeken
• The Belgian Monarchy: Royal Crypt in Laeken

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The Belgian Monarchs

• Leopold I, reigned 21 July 1831 – 10 December 1865
• Leopold II, reigned 17 December 1865 – 17 December 1909
• Albert I, reigned 23 December 1909 – 17 February 1934
• Leopold III, reigned 23 February 1934 – 16 July 1951 (abdicated)
• Baudouin, reigned 17 July 1951 – 31 July 1993
• Albert II, reigned 9 August 1993 – 21 July 2013 (abdicated)
• Philippe, reigned 21 July 2013 – present

Official Website: The Belgian Monarchy
Unofficial Royalty: Belgian Index

All portraits and photos of monarchs and consorts below are from Wikipedia unless otherwise noted.

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Leopold I, King of the Belgians, reigned 21 July 1831 – 10 December 1865

• Unofficial Royalty: King Leopold I of the Belgians

Leopold I was the first King of the Belgians, having being elected King by the Belgian National Congress on 4 June 1831. He was born Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, later Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and was the son of Franz Frederick Anton, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf.

On 9 August 1832, he married the French Catholic Princess, Louise-Marie of Orléans. Leopold’s first marriage was to the British Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of King George IV of the United Kingdom. Charlotte, who most likely would have been Queen of the United Kingdom, tragically died in childbirth at the age of 21. Leopold was the uncle of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Leopold I died on 10 December 1865 at Royal Castle of Laeken. His remains were buried in the Royal Crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium.

Louise-Marie of Orléans, Queen of the Belgians

• Unofficial Royalty: Louise-Marie of Orléans, Queen of the Belgians

Louise-Marie was the daughter of Louis-Philippe I, King of the French and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies. In August of 1832, she married Leopold I of the Belgians and the couple had four children including Leopold II and Charlotte, later Empress Carlotta of Mexico, the wife of the executed Emperor Maximilian of Mexico.

Louise-Marie died of tuberculosis at age 38 in Ostend, Belgium on 11 October 1850. Her remains were buried in the Royal Crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium

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Leopold II, King of the Belgians, reigned 17 December 1865 – 17 December 1909

• Unofficial Royalty: King Leopold II of the Belgians

Leopold II was the son of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orléans. He married the Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria in August 1853 and succeeded his father as King in December of 1865.

King Leopold II died at Laeken on 17 December 1909. His remains were buried in the Royal Crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium.

Marie Henriette of Austria, Queen of the Belgians

• Unofficial Royalty: Marie Henriette of Austria, Queen of the Belgians

Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria was the daughter of Joseph, Archduke of Austria and Maria Dorothea of Württemberg. In August of 1853, she married the future Leopold II of the Belgians. The couple had four children including Stéphanie, who married the ill-fated Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria. Rudolf apparently killed his mistress and committed suicide at the hunting lodge Mayerling.

Marie Henriette died on 19 September 1902 and her remains were buried in the Royal Crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium.

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Albert I, King of the Belgians, reigned 23 December 1909 – 17 February 1934

• Unofficial Royalty: Albert I, King  of the Belgians

Albert was the son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Prince Philippe was the second surviving son of King Leopold I. Albert married Elisabeth of Bavaria in October of 1900. In December of 1909, he succeeded his uncle, Leopold II, as King of the Belgians.

King Albert was an avid mountain climber. Sadly, this would bring about his early death. On February 17, 1934, while climbing alone on the Roche de Vieux Bon Dieu at Marche-les-Dames, in the Ardennes region of Belgium, King Albert I fell to his death. He was just 58 years old.  His remains were buried in Royal Crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium

Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of the Belgians

• Unofficial Royalty: Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of the Belgians

Elisabeth was the daughter of Karl-Theodor, Duke in Bavaria and Infanta Maria Josepha of Portugal. She was named for her father’s sister, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, better known as Sisi. Elisabeth married the future Albert I, King of the Belgians in 1900.

Queen Elisabeth died in Brussels at the age of 89 on 23 November 1965. Her remains were buried in Royal Crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium.

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Prince Charles, Count of Flanders, Regent of Belgium

• Unofficial Royalty: Prince Charles, Count of Flanders, Regent of Belgium

Prince Charles, Count of Flanders was the second son of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth. He acted as Regent of Belgium from 1944 until 1950.

The Count died on 1 June 1983 in Ostend and his remains were buried in the Royal Crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium

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Leopold III, King of the Belgians, reigned 23 February 1934 – 16 July 1951

• Unofficial Royalty: Leopold III, King of the Belgians

Leopold III was the son of Albert I and Elisabeth of Bavaria. In November of 1926, he married Princess Astrid of Sweden and two of their sons became kings. Leopold succeeded his father to the throne in February of 1934. His wife Astrid was killed in a car accident in Switzerland in August of 1935. Leopold III married Lilian Baels in 1941 and abdicated in 1951.

Leopold III died on 25 September 1983 at Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium. His remains were buried in the Royal Crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium.

Astrid of Sweden, Queen of the Belgians

• Unofficial Royalty: Astrid of Sweden

Astrid was born a Princess of Sweden, the daughter of Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland and Princess Ingeborg of Denmark. She married the future Leopold III of the Belgians in November of 1926 and converted to Catholicism in 1930.

Queen Astrid and her unborn child were killed in a tragic car accident in Switzerland in August of 1935. Her husband was driving the car and lost control. Her remains were buried in the Royal Crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium.

Princess Lilian of Belgium, Princess of Réthy

Embed from Getty Images 

Unofficial Royalty: Lilian Baels, Princess Lilian of Belgium, Princess of Réthy

The second wife of Leopold III, British-born Lilian Baels married Leopold on 11 September 1941. The marriage was highly controversial and Lilian was given the title Princess of Réthy.

Lilian died at Domaine d’Argenteuil in Waterloo, Belgium on 7 June 2002 and was buried beside King Leopold III and Queen Astrid in the Royal Crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium.

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Baudouin I, King of the Belgians (reigned 17 July 1951 – 31 July 1993)

• Unofficial Royalty: Baudouin I, King of the Belgians

King Baudouin was the eldest son of King Leopold III and Queen Astrid and became king following his father’s abdication in July of 1951. He married the Spanish aristocrat Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón in 1960.

King Baudouin died suddenly of heart failure on 31 July 1993 at the Villa Astrida in Motril in southern Spain. His remains were brought back to Brussels and buried in the Royal Crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium.

Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen of the Belgians

• Unofficial Royalty: Queen Fabiola of Belgium

Spanish-born Fabiola de Mora y Aragón married King Baudouin of the Belgians on December 15, 1960.  Unfortunately, King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola lost five children to miscarriages and upon King Baudouin’s unexpected death in 1993, his younger brother succeeded him as King Albert II.

On December 5, 2014, Queen Fabiola died at her home, Stuyvenberg Castle, in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium.   She was buried next to her husband in the Royal Crypt in the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium.

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