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Baudouin of Belgium

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Baudouin of Belgium
Baudouin of Belgium
Born 7 September 1930, Laeken, Belgium
Died 31 July 1993, Motril, Spain
State of life Married layman and constitutional monarch
Religious institute or church Archdiocese of Mechelen-Brussels, Latin Church
Ecclesial status Servant of God; cause initiated ex officio in 2024
Recognition Historical commission established on 17 December 2024

Baudouin was King of the Belgians from 1951 to 1993 and a Catholic layman whose cause of beatification was initiated ex officio by the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints in 2024.

Overview

Baudouin[1] (US: /boʊˈdwæ̃/;[2][3] 7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993) was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 until his death in 1993. He was the last Belgian king to be sovereign of the Congo, before it became independent in 1960 and became the Democratic Republic of the Congo (known from 1971 to 1997 as Zaire).

Baudouin was the elder son of King Leopold III (1901–1983) and his first wife, Princess Astrid of Sweden (1905–1935). Because he and his wife, Queen Fabiola, had no children, at Baudouin's death the crown passed to his younger brother, King Albert II.

In 2024, the Holy See opened the cause for his beatification, granting him the title Servant of God.

Life

Origins and formation

Baudouin Albert Charles Leopold Axel Marie Gustave was the elder son of Leopold III and Astrid of Sweden. His mother died when he was four; war, German occupation, the royal family’s deportation, postwar exile, and Belgium’s “Royal Question” shaped his youth. He became royal prince in 1950 and took the constitutional oath as king on 17 July 1951 after his father’s abdication. In 1960 he married Fabiola de Mora y Aragón; repeated miscarriages left them without surviving children. Their marriage, prayer, and charitable interests became central to his private life, but a cause must examine the person who actually held public office rather than split a devotional king from Belgium’s contested history.

Vocation and service

His reign covered decolonization in Congo, European integration, federalization of Belgium, linguistic division, social change, and repeated government crises. His public duties included independence ceremonies and relations with successive cabinets under constitutional limits. In 1990 he told the government that conscience prevented him from signing legislation liberalizing abortion. A constitutional mechanism declared him temporarily unable to reign, the ministers promulgated the law, and parliament restored him the next day. Catholics often cite the episode as witness to unborn life; historians and jurists also debate its constitutional meaning. Neither the episode nor royal popularity decides heroic virtue without the cause’s comprehensive scrutiny.

Spirituality and work

Spiritual witness

Baudouin practiced daily prayer, Eucharistic devotion, Marian piety, retreats, spiritual direction, and a personal concern for people in poverty and distress. Marriage with Fabiola was understood as a shared Christian vocation marked by infertility and public responsibility. His faith influenced his moral conscience, speeches, philanthropy, and effort to exercise kingship as service. Yet sanctity in a ruler requires truth about structures as well as intention: the historical commission must examine Congo, the legacy of Leopold II, the crisis surrounding Patrice Lumumba, Belgian institutions, and every substantial favorable or unfavorable source. [4]

Apostolate and legacy

The reign produced speeches, diaries and spiritual notes, state papers, royal archives, charitable foundations, and an extensive photographic record. His interventions in national crises and international visits belong alongside quieter support for development, youth, family, and people with disabilities. The King Baudouin Foundation, established for his silver jubilee, became a major philanthropic institution, but its later work is not automatically his personal work or proof of holiness. Exact official portraits may be used if licensed; crowns and royal insignia do not imply ecclesiastical veneration.

Cause and veneration

Cause chronology and present status

During the 2024 apostolic journey to Belgium Pope Francis announced initiation of Baudouin’s cause. The Secretariat of State subsequently assigned the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints to promote and begin it ex officio. On 17 December 2024 the Dicastery constituted the regular historical commission of specialists in archival research and Belgian history to collect and evaluate documentation. Initiation makes him a Servant of God, but no decree of heroic virtues, martyrdom, offering of life, or miracle had been promulgated by 31 August 2026. The commission’s existence signals that conclusions remain to be reached, not that beatification is predetermined.[5][6]

Liturgical and devotional scope

Servant-of-God status does not authorize public liturgical cult of King Baudouin. He has no feast, proper Mass, public Office, halo, or ecclesiastically recognized relics. Private prayer for his intercession and historical remembrance may occur without turning state ceremonies into liturgical veneration. Portraits should identify his current status and not style him Blessed. Reported favors belong with the cause and require canonical examination. Political advocacy may discuss his example but must not claim the Church has canonized a constitutional interpretation. If heroic virtue were later decreed he would become Venerable; even that would not authorize public cult before beatification.[7]

Biography

Childhood

Prince Baudouin was born on 7 September 1930 at the Château of Stuyvenberg in Laeken, northern Brussels, the elder son and second child of Prince Leopold, then Duke of Brabant, and his first wife, Princess Astrid of Sweden. In 1934, Baudouin's grandfather King Albert I of Belgium was killed in a rock climbing accident; Leopold became king and the three-year-old Baudouin became Duke of Brabant as heir apparent to the throne. When Baudouin was nearly five, his mother died in 1935 in Switzerland in the accident of an automobile that his father was driving.[8] Later, in 1941, his father remarried to Mary Lilian Baels (later became Princess of Réthy). This marriage produced three more children: Prince Alexandre, Princess Marie-Christine (who is also Baudouin's goddaughter) and Princess Marie-Esméralda. Baudouin and his siblings had a close relationship with their stepmother and they called her "Mother".[9][10] His education began at the age of seven, his tutors taught him half his lessons in French and half in Dutch. He frequently accompanied his father to parades and ceremonies and became well known to the public.[11]

Despite maintaining strict neutrality during the opening months of World War II, on 10 May 1940, Belgium was invaded by Nazi Germany. Baudouin, his elder sister Princess Josephine-Charlotte and his younger brother Prince Albert, were immediately sent to France for safety and then to Spain.[12] The Belgian Army, assisted by the French and British, conducted a defensive campaign lasting 18 days, but Leopold, who had taken personal command, surrendered unconditionally on 28 May. Although the Belgian government escaped to form a Belgian government in exile, Leopold elected to remain in Belgium, and was placed under house arrest at the Palace of Laeken, from where he attempted to reach an understanding with the Germans, especially in respect of Belgian prisoners of war who were being held in Germany.[13] The children returned to Laeken from Spain on 6 August.[12]

Leopold had established a royal Scout group at the palace for his sons, whose members were drawn from the various Belgian Scout associations. In April 1943, the wearing of uniforms was banned by the occupation forces and although Leopold was told that the royal group was exempt, insisted that the ban should apply to them too. However, Baudouin was about to be invested as a Scout and persuaded his father to delay the ban for one day so that the ceremony could take place.[14]

Immediately following the Normandy landings in June 1944, the king, his wife, and the royal children, were deported to Hirschstein in Germany and then to Strobl in Austria from where they were released in May 1945 by the United States 106th Cavalry Regiment.[12] However, the royal family were prevented from returning to Belgium by the "Royal Question" over whether Leopold had collaborated with the Nazis; the surrender in 1940, his refusal to join the government-in-exile, his fruitless visit to Adolf Hitler at the Berghof in November 1940 and his unconstitutional marriage to Lilian whose father was believed to be pro-Nazi.[15] Until a political solution could be found, the king's brother, Prince Charles, became regent and the royal family lived at the Château du Reposoir in Pregny-Chambésy, Switzerland. Baudouin continued his education at a secondary school in Geneva and visited the United States in 1948.

Reign

In a referendum in March 1950, the public narrowly voted for King Leopold III to return from Switzerland and he was recalled on 4 June 1950. However, parliamentary dissent and public protests forced Leopold to delegate his powers to Baudouin on 11 August 1950, and finally to abdicate in favour of Baudouin, who took the oath of office as King of the Belgians on 17 July 1951.[12] In 1960, Baudouin declared the Belgian colony of Congo independent. During the parade following the last ceremonial inspection of the Force Publique, the royal sabre of the king was momentarily stolen by Ambroise Boimbo. The photograph, taken by Robert Lebeck, was widely published in world newspapers,[16] with some seeing the act as a humiliation for the king.[17]

Death of Patrice Lumumba

During the Congolese declaration of independence, Baudouin delivered a highly contested speech in which he celebrated the acts of the first Belgian owner of the Congo, King Leopold II, whom he described as "a genius". At the same event, the first democratically elected prime minister of Congo, Patrice Lumumba, gave a blistering response with a speech that was highly critical of the Belgian regime. Lumumba cited the killings of many Congolese, as well as the insults, humiliation and the slavery they experienced.

Lumumba's speech infuriated Baudouin and generated significant conflict between the two men. After the independence of Congo, the natural resource-rich Katanga Province orchestrated a secession that received substantial military and financial support from the Belgian government, as well as from Belgian companies with business interests in Katanga. Baudouin strengthened his relationships with the Katangese politician Moise Tshombé, whom he made a Knight in the Belgian Order of Leopold. In the meantime, Belgium's government, as well as the CIA, supported or organized plots to assassinate Lumumba.[18]

In early December 1960, Lumumba and two colleagues, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito, who had planned to assist him in setting up a new government, were imprisoned in military barracks located about 150 kilometres (93 mi) from Leopoldville. They were underfed and mistreated, per Mobutu Sese Seko's orders. Lumumba registered his objections, writing directly to Indian and U.N. diplomat Rajeshwar Dayal, "in a word, we are living amid absolutely impossible conditions; moreover, they are against the law".[19] Lumumba and his associates were released in mid-January 1961. Within hours, they were again captured and then transported to Katanga by the Congolese military and handed over to the Katangese authorities. They were beaten by Katangese officers and on January 17, they were executed on the orders of the Katangese leadership. The execution took place in the presence of Katangese President Tshombe, two Katangese ministers and Belgian officials. The firing squad was reportedly commanded by a Belgian Julien Gat.[20] Lumumba was buried in a shallow grave but his body was later exhumed by Belgian police officer Gerard Soete who dismembered Lumumba's body, and dissolved the corpse in acid.[21]

In 2001, a parliamentary investigation set up by the Belgian government concluded that Baudouin, amongst others, was informed of the assassination scheme developed by Mobutu and Tshombé. Both men had conspired with a Belgian colonel, Guy Weber, to "neutralize Lumumba, if possible physically." The king was informed of the plot, but did nothing to oppose the murder. His lack of intervention was described as "incriminating" by the parliamentary investigation, although there was no conclusive evidence found that the king ordered the specifics of the plans.[21]

In June 2025, Baudouin's close associate Étienne Davignon, a former Belgian junior diplomat to Congo, was requested to be tried for war crimes for his alleged involvement in the unlawful detention, deprivation of a fair trial, and torture of Lumumba in September 1960. In March 2026, judges at the Brussels Criminal Court’s Council Chamber decided that Davignon would stand trial, but he died in May 2026 at age 93 before the trial could occur.[22]

Western engagements and later reign

As the head of state of Belgium, Baudouin, along with French President Charles de Gaulle, were the two prominent world leaders at the state funerals of two American presidents, John F. Kennedy in November 1963 and his predecessor Dwight D. Eisenhower in March 1969. At Kennedy's funeral, Baudouin was accompanied by Paul-Henri Spaak, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and former three-time Prime Minister of Belgium.[23] At Eisenhower's funeral, his next visit to the United States, he was accompanied by Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens.[24]

In 1976, on the occasion of his silver jubilee, the King Baudouin Foundation was formed, with the aim of improving the living conditions of the Belgian people.

Death and funeral

Baudouin died from a heart attack on 31 July 1993, while on holiday at the Villa Astrida in the southern Spanish town of Motril, after a 42-year reign.[25][26] Although in March 1992 the king had been operated on for a mitral valve prolapse in Paris, his death still came unexpectedly, and sent much of Belgium into a period of deep mourning. His death notably stopped the 1993 24 Hours of Spa sportscar race, which had reached 15 hours when the news broke.[27]

Within hours, the gates and enclosure of the royal palace were covered with flowers that people brought spontaneously. A viewing of the body was held at the Royal Palace in central Brussels; 500,000 people (5% of the population) came to pay their respects. Many waited in line up to 14 hours in sweltering heat to see their king one last time. The funeral service was attended by all other European monarchs – including Queen Elizabeth II (the only international state funeral she attended in person as monarch) – alongside Emperor Akihito of Japan. Non-royal guests at the funeral included more than twenty presidents and leaders. Only two reigning heads of state of sovereign states at the time were not invited: Saddam Hussein, and Mobutu, the first due to the Gulf War, the latter due to him being declared persona non grata partly thanks to Mobutu exposing information about Baudouin's brother and sister-in-law. The presidents and leaders who did attend the funeral included UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, European Commission President Jacques Delors, French President François Mitterrand, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, German President Richard von Weizsäcker, Polish President Lech Wałęsa, Bosnian President Alija Izetbegović, Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, Canadian Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn and former US President Gerald Ford.

King Baudouin was interred in the royal vault at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels. He was succeeded by his younger brother, who became King Albert II.

Personal life

Marriage

On 15 December 1960, Baudouin was married in Brussels to Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón. Fabiola was a Spanish noblewoman who was working as a nurse. The couple announced their engagement on 16 September 1960 at the Palace of Laeken.[28]

Fabiola began undertaking official engagements immediately, accompanying the king to lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Brussels on 26 September 1960,[29] and remained an active queen consort and queen dowager for the remainder of her life, involved in social causes particularly those related to mental health, children's issues and women's issues.

King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola had no children; all of the queen's five pregnancies ended in miscarriage.[30]

Religion

Baudouin was a devout Catholic. Through the influence of Cardinal Leo Suenens, Baudouin participated in the growing Catholic Charismatic Renewal and regularly went on pilgrimages to the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paray-le-Monial.

In 1990, when a law submitted by Roger Lallemand and Lucienne Herman-Michielsens that liberalized Belgium's abortion laws was approved by Parliament, he refused to give royal assent to the bill. This was unprecedented; although Baudouin was de jure Belgium's chief executive, royal assent has long been a formality (as is the case in most constitutional and popular monarchies). However, due to his religious convictions—the Catholic Church opposes all forms of abortion—Baudouin asked the government to declare him temporarily unable to reign so that he could avoid signing the measure into law.[31] The government under Wilfried Martens complied with his request on 4 April 1990. According to the provisions of the Belgian Constitution, in the event the king is temporarily unable to reign, the government as a whole assumes the role of head of state. All government members signed the bill, and the next day (5 April 1990) the government called the bicameral legislature in a special session to approve a proposition that Baudouin was capable of reigning again.[31]

He was the 1,176th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain, which was bestowed upon him in 1960, the 927th Knight of the Order of the Garter, bestowed upon him in 1963, and also the last living knight of the Papal Supreme Order of Christ.[32][33]

Legacy

On 29 September 2024, Pope Francis announced during Mass as part of an official visit to Belgium, after visiting the Royal Crypt where Baudouin and Fabiola are buried the day before, his intention to start the procedure towards beatification of the late King.[34] On 17 December 2024, the Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints officially launched the cause for the beatification and canonization of Baudouin.[35]

Honours

Belgian distinctions

Other European distinctions

Latin-American distinctions

African distinctions

Asian and Middle-East distinctions

Religious distinctions

The Catholic Baudouin had been awarded special honours associated with his faith.

See also

References

  1. Back to citation French: Baudouin Albert Charles Léopold Axel Marie Gustave, pronounced [bodwɛ̃ albɛʁ ʃaʁl leɔpɔld aksɛl maʁi ɡystav]; Dutch: Boudewijn Albert Karel Leopold Axel Maria Gustaaf, pronounced [ˈbʌudəʋɛin ˈɑlbərt ˈkaːrə ˈleːjoːpɔlt ˈɑksəl maːˈri ɣʏˈstaːf]; German: Balduin Albrecht Karl Leopold Axel Maria Gustav.
  2. Back to citation "Baudouin I". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (5th ed.). HarperCollins. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  3. Back to citation "Baudouin". Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. OCLC 1032680871. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  4. Back to citation Sanctorum Mater — Holy See instruction governing diocesan inquiries, evidence both favorable and unfavorable, absence of unauthorized cult, transmission of acts, and the exact meaning of the title Servant of God.
  5. Back to citation Dicastery communication on King Baudouin’s historical commission — Official Dicastery notice records Pope Francis’s announcement, the Secretariat of State’s ex-officio assignment, and constitution of a regular historical commission on 17 December 2024.
  6. Back to citation Holy See Press Office communiqué on Baudouin’s cause — Official English communiqué confirms initiation of the beatification and canonization cause, its ex-officio promotion by the Dicastery, and the commission’s archival mandate.
  7. Back to citation Dicastery guidance on remembering holiness — Dicastery guidance distinguishing Servants of God, Venerables, Blesseds, and Saints and explaining the limits of liturgical memorial, public cult, private devotion, and pastoral remembrance.
  8. Back to citation "King Baudouin". Belgian Monarchy Official Website. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  9. Back to citation Cleeremans, Jean. Léopold III, sa famille, son peuple sous l'occupation; Keyes, Roger. Echec au Roi, Léopold III, 1940–1951
  10. Back to citation White, Sam (3 July 1953). "Europe's Most Slandered Princess". Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  11. Back to citation Wilsford 1995, pp. 25-26
  12. Back to citation occurrence 12.0 Back to citation occurrence 12.1 Back to citation occurrence 12.2 Back to citation occurrence 12.3 "King Baudouin". monarchie.be. The Belgian Monarchy. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
  13. Back to citation Conway 2012, p. 29
  14. Back to citation Kroonenberg, Piet (1 May 2012). "Royal Scouts". crossoflaeken.blogspot.com. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
  15. Back to citation Wilsford 1995, pp. 26-27
  16. Back to citation Glasenapp, Jörn (2008) '"Der Degendieb von Léopoldville. Robert Lebecks Schlüsselbild der Dekolonisation Afrikas" In Paul, Gerhard (ed.) (2008) Das Jahrhundert der Bilder: 1949 bis heute Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, pp. 242–249, ISBN 978-3-525-30012-1, in German
  17. Back to citation "La photo du sabre du Roi Baudouin, le 30 juin 1960". Mbokamosika. 20 December 2009. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  18. Back to citation "How the U.S. Issued its First Ever Order to Assassinate a Foreign Leader". POLITICO. 17 October 2023. Retrieved 23 February 2026.
  19. Back to citation Sherer, Lindsey (16 January 2015). "U.S. foreign policy and its Deadly Effect on Patrice Lumumba". Washington State University. Archived from the original on 5 May 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  20. Back to citation Times, The Brussels. "Facing the truths of Belgium's colonial past: The unresolved case of Patrice Lumumba's death". www.brusselstimes.com. Retrieved 30 August 2025.
  21. Back to citation occurrence 21.0 Back to citation occurrence 21.1 Verslag namens de Onderzoekscommissie van de Belgische Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers van het parlementair onderzoek met het oog op het vaststellen van de precieze omstandigheden waarin Patrice Lumumba werd vermoord en van de eventuele betrokkenheid daarbij van Belgische politici, 16 November 2001
  22. Back to citation Wälde, Milena (18 May 2026). "Top Belgian diplomat accused in Lumumba case dies at 93". Politico.
  23. Back to citation United Press International; American Heritage (1964). Four Days. New York: American Heritage Pub. Co. pp. 140–141.
  24. Back to citation "Partial List of Leaders From Abroad at Funeral". The New York Times. 1 April 1969. p. 32.
  25. Back to citation Purnell, Sonia (1 August 1993). "King of Belgium dies in Spain". The Sunday Telegraph. p. 1. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
  26. Back to citation Lyons, Richard D. (1 August 1993). "Baudouin I, King of Belgium, Dies at 62". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  27. Back to citation "1993 Spa 24 Hours". touringcarracing.net. Retrieved 3 February 2025.
  28. Back to citation "Baudouin Engaged 1960". British Pathé. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
  29. Back to citation "Dona Fabiola in Brussels". Getty Images. 28 June 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  30. Back to citation "Koningin Fabiola had vijf miskramen". Nieuwsblad.be. 21 April 2008. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2017.
  31. Back to citation occurrence 31.0 Back to citation occurrence 31.1 Montgomery, Paul (5 April 1990). "Belgian King, Unable to Sign Abortion Law, Takes Day Off". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 March 2022.
  32. Back to citation Herold, Stephen. "Society of the Golden Fleece". Chevaliers De La Toison D'or – Toison espagnole (spanish fleece). La Confrérie Amicale. Retrieved 16 January 2017.
  33. Back to citation Velde, François R. "List of the Knights of the Garter". Heraldica.
  34. Back to citation Cardoen, Sandra (29 September 2024). "Paus Franciscus start procedure tot zaligverklaring van wijlen koning Boudewijn".
  35. Back to citation "Anti-abortion king praised by Pope being considered for sainthood". Aletia. 27 December 2024. Retrieved 28 December 2024.
  36. Back to citation "Z.M. BOUDEWIJN". moriendi.be (in Dutch). 1 August 2023. Archived from the original on 19 September 2008. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  37. Back to citation "Izmjenjena odlikovanja na intimnom ručku". Slobodna Dalmacija (7959): 12. 7 October 1970.
  38. Back to citation "It was created as a Royal State Order of the Kingdom of Rwanda, registered with the Vatican State in 1947 (through the Foreign Missions Office in Paris), and it has been awarded to such distinguished international figures as H.H. Pope Pius XII (1950), H.I.M. Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia (1957), H.M. King Baudouin of Belgium (1955), and H.G. Don Francisco Borbon y Escasany, 5th Duke of Seville and Grandee of Spain (2005), among others". Royal House of Rwanda - Order of the Lion

Bibliography

Sources

  • Boulden, Jane (2001). Peace Enforcement: The United Nations Experience in Congo, Somalia, and Bosnia (1st ed.). Westport, Conn.: Praeger. ISBN 0275969061.

Other languages

  • A. Molitor, La fonction royale en Belgique, Brussels, 1979
  • J.Stengers, De koningen der Belgen. Van Leopold I tot Albert II, Leuven, 1997.
  • Kardinaal Suenens, Koning Boudewijn. Het getuigenis van een leven, Leuven, 1995.
  • Kerstrede 18 December 1975, (ed. V.Neels), Wij Boudewijn, Koning der Belgen. Het politiek, sociaal en moreel testament van een nobel vorst, deel II, Gent, 1996.
  • H. le Paige (dir.), Questions royales, Réflexions à propos de la mort d'un roi et sur la médiatisation de l'évènement, Brussels, 1994.
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