Leopold I of Belgium

Leopold I (Leopold George Christian Frederick; 16 December 1790 – 10 December 1865) was the first king of the Belgians, reigning from 21 July 1831 until his death in 1865.

The youngest son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Leopold took a commission in the Imperial Russian Army and fought against Napoleon after French troops overran Saxe-Coburg during the Napoleonic Wars. After Napoleon's defeat, Leopold moved to the United Kingdom, where in 1816 he married Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of the British Prince Regent (later George IV). Leopold and Charlotte's marriage was happy, but it ended after a year and a half when Charlotte died after delivering a stillborn son. Leopold continued to enjoy considerable status in Britain. As the uncle of Queen Victoria through his sister, he played a major role in the life of Victoria and often acted as her father figure including arranging her marriage with his another nephew, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

After the Greek War of Independence, Leopold was offered the throne of Greece under the 1830 London Protocol that created an independent Greek state, but turned it down, believing it to be too precarious. Instead, he accepted the throne of Belgium in 1831 following the country's independence in 1830. The Belgian government offered the position to Leopold because of his diplomatic connections with royal houses across Europe, and because as the British-backed candidate, he was not affiliated with other powers, such as France, which were believed to have territorial ambitions in Belgium which might threaten the European balance of power created by the 1815 Congress of Vienna.