With the coronation of King Charles III on Saturday, the English royals are again in the spotlight. And whilst the throne of England was much contested by rivals down the centuries, it is little known that Belgium's Leopold I nearly became an English prince.
King Leopold I was appointed to the Belgian throne in 1831 after the country gained independence a year earlier. However, a previous romance in his life nearly stopped him from taking the crown. Belgium's first monarch would have never have become king had he still been married to his previous wife Princess Charlotte of Wales, who was also second in line to the British throne.
Himself a member of the influential Saxe-Coburg dynasty that held significant power across the continent, Leopolod fell in love with the daughter of the future British King George IV. George had wanted his daughter Charlotte to marry William, Prince of Orange and heir apparent to the Dutch throne. However, he was convinced by Leopold's charm offensive.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries
After receiving the king’s approval, the couple married in 1816, which meant that Leopold would have become Britain's Prince Consort if Charlotte ascended to the throne. However, the couple’s love story came to a tragic end in 1817 following the princess' death while giving to their stillborn child.
Leopold was grief-stricken: in a letter to the royal painter Sir Thomas Lawrence he wrote that "none could know my Charlotte as I did know her! It was my study, my duty, to know her character, but it was my delight!”
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Charlotte would have only become the British Queen after the death of her father King George IV in 1830, the year before Leopold became King of the Belgians. He ruled Belgium for 34 years before being succeeded by his eldest son Leopold II – now infamous for the colonisation of Congo and the more than 10 million people that died under his rule.
Leopold I was also the father to two other children: Prince Philippe Count of Flanders and Princess Carlotta, whom he named after his late wife Princess Charlotte of Wales.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Charles Baugniet
