Name Prince Count Role Heir presumptive | Mother Louise d'Orleans Siblings Leopold II of Belgium Religion Roman Catholic | |
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Issue Prince Baudouin of BelgiumPrincess Henriette of BelgiumPrincess Josephine Marie of BelgiumPrincess Josephine Caroline of BelgiumAlbert I of Belgium Children Albert I of Belgium, Prince Baudouin of Belgium Parents Leopold I of Belgium, Louise of Orleans Similar People Leopold I of Belgium, Leopold II of Belgium, Albert I of Belgium, Louise of Orleans, Princess Josephine Caroline | ||
Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders (24 March 1837 – 17 November 1905) was the third born (but second surviving) son of Leopold I, King of the Belgians and his wife Louise d'Orléans (1812–1850). He was born at the Château de Laeken, near Brussels, Belgium.
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He was created Count of Flanders on 14 December 1840, and on his 18th birthday in 1855 he received the Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold.
He was the heir presumptive to the Belgian throne, from 1869 (upon the death of his nephew) until his own death in 1905.
In 1866, after the abdication of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Prince of Romania, he refused being named the new Romanian sovereign, and the throne was later accepted by Carol I.
Marriage and issue
On 25 April 1867 in Berlin, he married Marie Luise Alexandra Caroline, Princess of Hohenzollern, (1845–1912), daughter of Karl Anton von Hohenzollern (1811–1885) and his wife Josephine of Baden (1813–1900).
Their children were:
He died in his residence the Palace of the Count of Flanders, and is buried at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken.
Honours
Literature
Damien Bilteryst, Philippe Comte de Flandre, Frère de Léopold II, Bruxelles, Editions Racine, juin 2014, 336 p. ISBN 978-2-87386-894-9