He is the monarch of his nationals instead of being the ruler of the country, according to the title given by the crown. Welcome to a brief Belgian royal story
by Emanuele Bonini
Belgians and the king. Not a movie title, but a real question to be addressed. In Belgium kings have always been ruler of a people rather than of the country. Every Belgian king is « the King of the Belgians». Does it mean Belgium is not a country at all? To answer this question we have to have a look on the history of the kingdom, a result of an external political decision taken during the post-restoration period. When the Belgium was created in 1830, the new independent State come from a secession and a independence war with the kingdom of the Netherlands, and immediately after the revolution Belgium was in the hands of a provisional government formed as a revolutionary committee. Political powers of that time were afraid the Belgians could establish a republic, then they decided to work on a compromise: neither restoration nor intervention, but the independence of Belgium was given only with a monarchist form of the State. Thus a king from the house of Saxe-Coburg family was established in the new country. The rivalry between the linguistic communities rose immediately, and the linguistic question is strictly linked to the royal family. Belgians and the king, as we said.
At the time of the Belgium revolution the majority of the population in the new State was Flemish and they were sure that the new king, coming from a Germanic house, could boost the Dutch as official language of the kingdom. On the contrary, the first language of the country became French, in a country with still today Dutch is the main spoken language. The ruling class of the country was a Catholic French-speaking aristocracy and the life style was more similar to the French one rather than the Dutch or the German one. Soon a strong nationalist spirit started rising in the Flemish community, as result of a political process where the majority of the population was culturally and economically marginalised.
The Flemish part of the country started to consider the monarchy a problem, and only during the second world war the situation changed. The French community of the Wallon region had supported Léon Degrelle and accepted his nazifascist movement of Rexism. Degrelle brought the occupied Belgium to collaborate with Nazi SS, setting up a Belgian section of Nazi SS. King Leopold the III criticized and condemned the fascist regime and, implicitly, the French who had permitted its creation. The king became then very popular amongst the Flemish community of Belgium, since the beginning against Degrelle and the nazi-fascism. It is in this moment that the Flemish part of the kingdom developed a new feeling toward the royal family and the figure of the king. But it didn't last long. After the war the north of the country become more and more rich thanks to the economic boom and reconstruction which brought in the Flanders industries, factories and development while the south, in contrast, remained rural and poor. Thanks to their new economic power, the Flemish started having nationalist wishes, and the Wallon region came back to embrace the Belgian crown, seen as the guarantee for the national unity. It was king Baudouin who transformed the kingdom in a federal state, granting the different regions - above all the Flemish one - the autonomy never had before.
Read also:
- If a Spanish king can be a problem for... Belgians
.svg/535px-Coat_of_Arms_of_the_King_of_the_Belgians_(1921).svg.png) |
| Coat of Arms of the King of the Belgians |
Belgians and the king. Not a movie title, but a real question to be addressed. In Belgium kings have always been ruler of a people rather than of the country. Every Belgian king is « the King of the Belgians». Does it mean Belgium is not a country at all? To answer this question we have to have a look on the history of the kingdom, a result of an external political decision taken during the post-restoration period. When the Belgium was created in 1830, the new independent State come from a secession and a independence war with the kingdom of the Netherlands, and immediately after the revolution Belgium was in the hands of a provisional government formed as a revolutionary committee. Political powers of that time were afraid the Belgians could establish a republic, then they decided to work on a compromise: neither restoration nor intervention, but the independence of Belgium was given only with a monarchist form of the State. Thus a king from the house of Saxe-Coburg family was established in the new country. The rivalry between the linguistic communities rose immediately, and the linguistic question is strictly linked to the royal family. Belgians and the king, as we said.
At the time of the Belgium revolution the majority of the population in the new State was Flemish and they were sure that the new king, coming from a Germanic house, could boost the Dutch as official language of the kingdom. On the contrary, the first language of the country became French, in a country with still today Dutch is the main spoken language. The ruling class of the country was a Catholic French-speaking aristocracy and the life style was more similar to the French one rather than the Dutch or the German one. Soon a strong nationalist spirit started rising in the Flemish community, as result of a political process where the majority of the population was culturally and economically marginalised.
The Flemish part of the country started to consider the monarchy a problem, and only during the second world war the situation changed. The French community of the Wallon region had supported Léon Degrelle and accepted his nazifascist movement of Rexism. Degrelle brought the occupied Belgium to collaborate with Nazi SS, setting up a Belgian section of Nazi SS. King Leopold the III criticized and condemned the fascist regime and, implicitly, the French who had permitted its creation. The king became then very popular amongst the Flemish community of Belgium, since the beginning against Degrelle and the nazi-fascism. It is in this moment that the Flemish part of the kingdom developed a new feeling toward the royal family and the figure of the king. But it didn't last long. After the war the north of the country become more and more rich thanks to the economic boom and reconstruction which brought in the Flanders industries, factories and development while the south, in contrast, remained rural and poor. Thanks to their new economic power, the Flemish started having nationalist wishes, and the Wallon region came back to embrace the Belgian crown, seen as the guarantee for the national unity. It was king Baudouin who transformed the kingdom in a federal state, granting the different regions - above all the Flemish one - the autonomy never had before.
Read also:
- If a Spanish king can be a problem for... Belgians
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