Louise of Belgium

Princess Charlotte of Belgium (1840-1927), known in Mexico as Carlota, was the only daughter of Leopold I and Louise-Marie of Orleans and the sister of Leopold II. Born at Laeken, she married Archduke Maximilian of Austria in 1857 and served with him in Milan while he was viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia, before the couple accepted the Mexican throne offered by French-backed conservatives in 1864. As Empress of Mexico she took an active part in government and acted as regent during Maximilian's absences, but the empire collapsed once Napoleon III withdrew French troops. She travelled to Europe in 1866 to plead for support and never returned; after Maximilian's execution in 1867 she lived sixty years in seclusion in Belgium, latterly at Bouchout Castle in Meise, where she died in 1927.

Princess Henriette of Belgium (1870-1948) was a daughter of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and the sister of King Albert I. Born in Brussels as one of twin girls, she married Prince Emmanuel of Orleans, Duke of Vendome, in 1896 and settled in France as Duchess of Vendome, dividing her time between Paris and the family's estates. She was known for her charitable work in nursing and in support of wounded soldiers, which expanded greatly during the First World War, when she helped organise hospital care for Belgian troops and refugees. Her four children carried the Orleans line forward, and she died in Switzerland in 1948.

Leopold III (1901-1983) was the fourth King of the Belgians, reigning from 1934 to 1951. The eldest son of Albert I and Elisabeth of Bavaria, he married Princess Astrid of Sweden in 1926; she died in 1935, and in 1941 he married Lilian Baels, who took the title Princess of Rethy. As commander-in-chief he led the Belgian army during the German invasion of May 1940 and surrendered after eighteen days, then remained in occupied Belgium as a prisoner rather than joining the government in exile, a decision that divided the country for a decade. Deported to Germany in 1944 and kept abroad while his brother Prince Charles served as regent, he returned in 1950 into the political crisis known as the Royal Question and abdicated in favour of his son Baudouin in July 1951. He spent his later years travelling as an amateur anthropologist and naturalist.

Prince Charles, Count of Flanders (1903-1983) was the second son of Albert I and Elisabeth of Bavaria and served as Regent of Belgium from 1944 to 1950. A career naval officer trained in Britain, he was chosen by parliament to exercise royal powers after the liberation, while his elder brother Leopold III was held in Germany and then kept abroad during the dispute over his wartime conduct. As regent Charles presided over post-war reconstruction, the prosecution of collaborators, the extension of the vote to women in national elections and Belgium's entry into the Atlantic alliance. He withdrew almost completely from public life after handing power back in 1950, living quietly near Ostend, where he painted under the name Karel van Vlaanderen. He died in 1983.

Marie-Jose of Belgium (1906-2001) was the last Queen of Italy and the only daughter of Albert I and Elisabeth of Bavaria. Born at Ostend, she married Crown Prince Umberto of Savoy in Rome in 1930 and was Princess of Piedmont for sixteen years, during which she had four children, among them Vittorio Emanuele, later head of the House of Savoy. Opposed to the Fascist regime and to Italy's alliance with Germany, she was kept at a distance from political life and spent the end of the war in Switzerland. She became queen when Umberto took the throne in May 1946 but held the title barely a month before the referendum that made Italy a republic, which earned her the nickname the May Queen. She lived in exile in Switzerland and Mexico, wrote several works of history, and died in Geneva.

Albert II (born 1934) was the sixth King of the Belgians, reigning from 1993 to 2013. The younger son of Leopold III and Astrid of Sweden, he was born at Stuyvenberg Castle in Laeken and spent part of his childhood in wartime captivity and then in Swiss exile. In 1959 he married the Italian noblewoman Paola Ruffo di Calabria, with whom he had three children: King Philippe, Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent. For decades he served as honorary president of the Belgian Office of Foreign Trade, leading trade missions abroad, before unexpectedly succeeding his childless elder brother Baudouin in 1993. His twenty-year reign covered repeated government crises and further federal reform. He abdicated on 21 July 2013 in favour of Philippe, and in 2020 legally recognised Delphine of Saxe-Coburg as his daughter.

Prince Alexandre of Belgium (1942-2009) was the eldest child of King Leopold III and his second wife, Lilian Baels, Princess of Rethy, and a half-brother of King Baudouin and King Albert II. Born at Laeken during the German occupation, he was educated in Switzerland, the United States and Britain and served for a time in the Belgian navy. Because he was born of his father's second marriage he stood outside the line of succession, and he kept almost entirely out of public life, working in business and later giving his time to charitable work in Belgium. In 1991 he married Lea Wolman, a marriage made public only in 1998. He died in 2009 and is buried in the royal crypt at Laeken.

Princess Marie-Esmeralda of Belgium (born 1956) is the youngest child of King Leopold III and Lilian Baels, Princess of Rethy, and a half-sister of King Baudouin and King Albert II. Born at Laeken and brought up at Argenteuil near Waterloo, she studied journalism and has worked as a journalist and documentary maker, publishing under the name Esmeralda de Rethy. She has written books on her father, on fashion history and on the Belgian royal family, and is best known internationally as an environmental and climate campaigner, taking part in public demonstrations and lending her name to conservation, biodiversity and women's rights causes. She lives in London and is married to the pharmacologist Salvador Moncada.

Princess Astrid of Belgium (born 1962) is the second child of King Albert II and Queen Paola and the sister of King Philippe. Born at Laeken and named for her grandmother Queen Astrid, she studied in Belgium and Switzerland and in 1984 married Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este, who was created Prince of Belgium in 1995. The couple have five children: Amedeo, Maria Laura, Joachim, Luisa Maria and Laetitia Maria. She leads Belgian economic missions abroad on behalf of her brother, serves as president of the Belgian Red Cross, and has worked for many years on campaigns against anti-personnel landmines and in support of the Special Olympics. She stands in the line of succession to the Belgian throne after King Philippe's children.

Prince Laurent of Belgium (born 1963) is the youngest child of King Albert II and Queen Paola and the brother of King Philippe. Born at Belvedere Castle in Laeken, he trained at the Royal Military Academy and served as a naval officer. His public interests have centred on the environment and above all on animal welfare: he founded and chairs a veterinary foundation that works on animal health in Belgium and in developing countries, and he has campaigned on renewable energy, sustainable building and nature conservation. In 2003 he married the British-born chartered surveyor Claire Coombs, and they have three children, Louise, Nicolas and Aymeric. He remains in the line of succession to the Belgian throne after his elder siblings and their children.

Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant (born 2001) is the eldest child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde and the heir apparent to the Belgian throne. Born in Brussels, she is the first woman to hold the title Duke of Brabant, traditionally borne by the Belgian heir, and under the equal-succession reform of 1991 she is set to become the country's first queen regnant. She was educated in Brussels and in Wales, completed the officer training year at the Royal Military Academy, read history and politics at Lincoln College, Oxford, and went on to postgraduate study in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. She carries out a growing programme of official engagements in Belgium and abroad, and is the elder sister of Prince Gabriel, Prince Emmanuel and Princess Eleonore.