Although Albert I had a relatively short life span, his achievements and simple life style endeared him to the Belgian people. He is probably the most popular monarch in Belgium’s short history as a nation.
Early Life and Marriage
Born on April 8, 1875, Albert was the second son and the fifth child of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders and brother of king Leopold II. He was the fourth in the line of succession to the throne. After the deaths of Leopold’s son in 1869 and Albert’s brother in 1891, it was expected that he will become the king one day. Naturally retiring and studious, even shy, he prepared himself for the highest position in Belgium. After his father also died in 1905, Albert became the heir to the throne.
Albert was reputed to have visited the working class districts incognito to get a first hand idea about their lives. He visited Belgian Congo just before succeeding his uncle and suggested improvements on the colony.
When Albert married Elisabeth, the Duchess of Bavaria, on 2 October 1900, it was not a political marriage. The queen came to be known to the Belgians as a light hearted person and a patron of science. She was also a qualified nurse and accompanied her husband on the difficult days during the war. They had three children, Leopold, Charles and Marie-Jose. Leopold became Leopold III, the king of the Belgians and Charles was the reagent of Belgium for just over half a decade. Marie-Jose became the last queen of Italy.
Succession to the Throne of Belgium
After Leopold II died on 17 December 1909, Albert ascended to the throne on the 23rd of the same month. He broke the normal practice by taking the oath in Dutch as well as in French. This shows that the king was quite aware of the demands of the Walloon community of Belgium.
Compulsory military service, which has been introduced days before Leopold II died, enabled Albert I to prepare Belgium for any eventuality in the European power struggles. The neutrality of Belgium was guaranteed according to an agreement among the major European powers in 1839 but nevertheless Belgium prepared herself for a defensive war. It proved to be a valuable decision.
The World War
When Germany invaded little Belgium in August 1914, she had to fight almost on her own for a few weeks. The Belgians resisted heroically at Liege, Antwerp and other places but were pushed beyond the river Yser in a few weeks. There, the retreat stopped. Albert I led his people in a heroic resistance and never surrendered the last bit of Belgian territory they held. The king entered Brussels in triumph after the armistice in November 1918. As the Commander of his armies, he remained in Belgium and led his people, inspiring them to resist a bigger opponent for such a long time.
Universal Suffrage and Other Reforms
After the war, Albert I was instrumental in introducing universal suffrage in Belgium. Furthermore, he established the Flemish University of Ghent, which has been a demand of the Flemish community for some time. At the Paris peace conference, he defended the interests of his country and insisted on war reparations as a means to rebuild it. However, he opposed excessive humiliation of Germany.
In 1925, Albert I established the Albert National Park (now Virunga National Park) in Belgian Congo (now Democratic Republic of the Congo). It was the first national park in Africa.
Death of the Great King
Albert I did not live to see the full implications of humiliating Germany excessively after 1918. Being an ardent mountaineer, he died after a climbing accident in the Ardennes region in Belgium on 17 February 1934. The king’s death shocked the public and politicians both home and abroad. He was just 59 years old.
Sources
Pierre Wyvekens, The Monarchy in Belgium, INBEL (1992)
J.H.J. Andriessen, World War I in Pictures, English Translation by Stephen Challacombe, Rebo Publishers (2005)
Albert II and Paola, King and Queen of the Belgians, Belgian Federal Information Service (1996)
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