Leopold I, previously known as Léopold Georges Chrétien Frédéric of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, born December 16, 1790 in Coburg (in Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld) and died December 10, 1865 at Laeken Castle (in Belgium), is a German prince of the house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha who became the first king of the Belgians in 1831 and the founder of the dynasty reigning over Belgium. He is also the ancestor of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, the pretender to the throne of Italy, as well as Prince Napoleon. He reigns under the name of Leopold, king of the Belgians, prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, duke in Saxony.

Born in the ducal house ruling the small German duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, he is the third son and eighth of nine children of Sovereign Duke Francis of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and his second wife Princess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf. Through his sister's marriage to Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, Leopold became an officer in the Imperial Russian Army and fought against Napoleon I after French troops invaded the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld during the Napoleonic Wars. Following Napoleon's defeat, he moved to the United Kingdom where he married Princess Charlotte of Wales, the Prince Regent's only child and heiress presumptive, becoming the potential future Prince Consort of Great Britain. However, Charlotte died in childbirth in 1817. Widowed at 27 and with no real prospects for the future, Léopold remained in England where he maintained an important and lucrative status.

After the Greek War of Independence (1821-1829), Leopold was offered the throne of Greece which he ultimately refused, fearing that the situation was too unstable. On the other hand, when the Congress of the new kingdom of Belgium chose him because of his diplomatic relations with the royal houses of Europe and elected him as the first Belgian sovereign, on June 4, 1831, he accepted. He took the constitutional oath on July 21, 1831, the date which became the Belgian national holiday.

His reign was marked, from an international point of view, by the Dutch attempts to recover Belgium and by the royal desire to geographically secure the kingdom located between powerful neighbors, while, from a national point of view, it was the internal political tensions between liberals and Catholics which gradually set the tone of the reign. Léopold, considered liberal, advocated the modernization of the economy, playing a major role in encouraging the creation of the first Belgian railway line and subsequent industrialization. He manages, in the context of a constitution which limits them, to extend the powers of the monarchy to their acme.

Having become king of the Belgians, his role is not limited to the borders of the country over which he reigns. The king established his family in various European courts: France, Austria, Portugal and the United Kingdom, the main power of his time where he exercised real influence. Because of his experience and the political and diplomatic advice he provided to monarchs and rulers, he was nicknamed “the Nestor of Europe”.

He died at the age of 74 in 1865, leaving his son Leopold II as successor.
Biography
Childhood and youth
Oil painting depicting the portrait of Francis of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Francis of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.
Oil painting depicting the portrait of Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf
Augusta Reuss from Ebersdorf.

Eighth of nine children[N 1] of sovereign Duke François of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and his second wife[3] Princess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf (married in Ebersdorf on June 13, 1777), the future king of the Belgians was born at the Ehrenburg Palace in Coburg, in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, on December 16, 1790[4]. He was baptized Leopold the day after his birth, in honor of the new emperor Leopold II[D 1].

Léopold's parents form a very united couple[D 1]. Léopold has five older sisters: Sophie (1778 – 1835), Antoinette (1779 – 1824), Julienne (1781 – 1860), Victoire (1786 – 1861) and Marianne (1788 – 1794); two older brothers: Ernest (1784 – 1844) and Ferdinand (1785 – 1851); as well as a younger brother: Maximilien (1792 – 1793)[5].

In 1826, Saxe-Coburg acquired the town of Gotha from the neighboring Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg in exchange for Saalfeld (bequeathed to the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen), thus becoming the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Leopold therefore bears the title of Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha[D 2].

In addition to her parents, a central character marks her childhood: her paternal grandmother, Sophie-Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, uterine cousin of the Empress Maria Theresa, an imperious woman and lavish towards her family[D 3] who watches closely over her grandson, for whom she has a marked preference. She died in Cobourg on May 17, 1802[6].

From 1797[7], Leopold was placed under the direction of the court pastor, Charles-Théodore Hoflender, a graduate of the University of Jena before being appointed first professor at the Collegium Casimirianum in Coburg. Hoflender taught the prince mathematics, Greek, Latin and some rudiments of Russian, without forgetting biblical history, morality and Christian doctrine [D 4]. In 1799, Jean-Philippe Hohnbaum entered the ducal court as secretary to Crown Prince François and tutor to Leopold and his brothers with the title of advisor[8]. Very early on, he noticed the abilities and qualities of his student, to whom he taught the history of Saxony, Great Britain and the Holy Roman Empire; the child was particularly interested in the Thirty Years' War, whose portraits of noble and chivalrous spirits fascinated him[7]. The same Hohnbaum gave him classes in posture and physical exercises in order to strengthen his constitution and prepare him for the dangers of war. During his childhood, his brothers being six and five years older than him, he had to accept their physical superiority. Another monk, Gottlieb Scheler[N 2], pastor in Coburg, taught Leopold catechism. This minister of religion advocates a particular form of Lutheranism: pietism - a movement oriented towards spirituality and personal religious practice - which has a lasting influence on the mentality and sensitivity of the prince[D 4]. From 1804, when he was only thirteen years old, Léopold showed an organized and thrifty spirit: he regularly kept an account book[K 1]. The prince also strives to learn French, English and Italian, as well as history and public law and enjoys drawing from life.[9]

As for the military arts, Leopold benefited from the teaching of his great-uncle Prince Frederick Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who can boast of a long and glorious military career[D 5]. He listens to the stories of this field marshal of the Holy Empire, who fought from the Seven Years' War to Fleurus. As for his father, Duke François, a man of studies passionate about botany, zoology and astronomy, he willingly passed on his scientific knowledge to young Leopold, inspiring in the child a predilection for long walks in the countryside[B 1] and his tastes for pigeon racing, floriculture and the design of parks and gardens[10].
Military career
Erfurt interview
Main article: Erfurt interview.
Oil painting depicting Alexander I of Russia in full ceremonial uniform holding his cocked hat in his hand
Tsar Alexander I by George Dawe (1817).

Julienne of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, his older sister, having married in 1796 the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, potential successor to his brother Tsar Alexander I, Leopold is considered a close relative of the Romanov house[11]. This is the reason why the child receives, from the age of six, a Russian military rank and learns the basics of the Russian language. He was thus named captain on May 7, 1797, then colonel of the Izmailovski regiment of the imperial guard on September 11, 1798. He was transferred on March 19, 1801 to the cavalry regiment of the Imperial Guard where, at the age of 12, on May 16, 1803, he became major general[K 2].

In 1805, when he was fourteen years old, Leopold made his real debut in the Russian army. He accompanied his older brother Crown Duke Ernest to Moravia at the headquarters of Emperor Alexander I of Russia[D 6], but the two princes did not participate in any combat[D 6]. Following the Battle of Austerlitz, he returned to Cobourg, which was occupied by the French[D 7]. Duke Francis, dying, locked himself in the citadel of Saalfeld with Leopold, while his two other sons Ernest and Ferdinand were in the ranks of the allies. Duke Francis died on December 9, 1806, six days before the signing of the Treaties of Poznań which linked the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg to the Confederation of the Rhine[B 2]. Ernest, the heir to the duchy, aged 22, is bedridden with typhus at Prussian headquarters. When Napoleon learned that he had fought against the French[12], he sequestered the duchy and confiscated the property of the ruling family. Leopold and his mother, confined in a part of the castle, survive thanks to the help of their former servants. To his sister Sophie, Léopold wrote: “the poor country of Cobourg is terribly destitute; he must pay 981,000 francs; it's huge. Our coffers and our estates, in short all our income, were confiscated by the Emperor Napoleon. No appanage can be paid”[13]. Leopold can finally go to the bedside of his brother Ernest, while their mother tries in vain to persuade General Clarke, governor of Berlin, to recover possession of the duchy. After the tsar's intervention, Napoleon authorized the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld to be included in the Treaty of Tilsit and to be counted again among the members of the Rhine Confederation[12]. The new reigning Duke Ernest was able to officially return to his capital in July 1807[B 3].
Oil painting depicting the meeting between Napoleon and the Austrian ambassador in October 1808
Interview from Erfurt by Nicolas Gosse.

In September 1807, Léopold and Ernest stayed briefly in Paris in order to win the favor of Napoleon I, without however meeting the emperor then staying in Fontainebleau before returning to Italy[D 8]. The Tuileries are invaded by a crowd of German, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese princes seeking favor from the emperor. Empress Joséphine adopted a protective attitude for young Léopold, providing him with plants from her herbarium and having him open the imperial box in the theaters[14]. Léopold and his brother also became regulars in the salon of Queen Hortense who organized musical evenings in her hotel reserved for privileged people, including Léopold[15]. The emperor, whom the princes finally met in October 1808[D 9], was himself struck by the presence of young Leopold: “If I remember correctly,” he said, “he is the most handsome young man I have seen at the Tuileries,” to the point that he considered making him his aide-de-camp[B 4].

In the spring of 1808, Leopold was struck by typhoid fever, from which he slowly recovered[D 10], then he administered the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld while his brother Ernest went to Russia. Leopold took the opportunity to undertake ambitious financial and administrative reforms, as well as public works[D 11]. He then accompanied Alexander I during his meeting with Napoleon in Erfurt in September 1808. This Erfurt meeting constituted a failure for Napoleon, who wanted to strengthen the Franco-Russian alliance, because the tsar gave nothing to Napoleon's demands and did not seem determined to help his small allies, including the Cobourgs. Back in Coburg, Leopold is determined to overcome the failure of the Erfurt meeting and to defend the interests of the Duchy of Coburg, which did not obtain, as expected, the detachment in its favor of some bailiwicks from the regions of Bamberg and Bayreuth. Leopold therefore wrote to the Tsar so that he could intervene with Napoleon[K 3]. The tsar agrees to act as intermediary[D 11]. However, Napoleon was angry with the Cobourgs who too often appeared in the ranks of his enemies. Napoleon therefore refuses to cede anything[D 12]. In addition, Napoleon demands Leopold's departure from the Russian army. Reluctantly, Léopold had to obey and resign in November 1808[D 10].
Battle of Kulm
Main article: Battle of Kulm.

The young prince must therefore be content to return to his studies: “I am working a lot at the moment: every morning I write my diary, I study mathematics and politics, then I read Guibert or Robertson, whose history of Charles V interests me very much. My afternoons are devoted to military work,” he wrote in October 1809[K 3]. In the fall of 1810, Léopold was commissioned by his brother Ernest for a delicate mission[D 13]. It consists of obtaining substantial assistance