Leopold I (Leopold George Christian Frederick; 16 December 1790 – 10 December 1865) was the first king of the Belgians, reigning from 21 July 1831 until his death in 1865.
The youngest son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Leopold took a commission in the Imperial Russian Army and fought against Napoleon after French troops overran Saxe-Coburg during the Napoleonic Wars. After Napoleon's defeat, Leopold moved to the United Kingdom, where in 1816 he married Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of the British Prince Regent (later George IV). Leopold and Charlotte's marriage was happy, but it ended after a year and a half when Charlotte died after delivering a stillborn son. Leopold continued to enjoy considerable status in Britain.
After the Greek War of Independence, Leopold was offered the throne of Greece under the 1830 London Protocol that created an independent Greek state, but turned it down, believing it to be too precarious. Instead, he accepted the throne of Belgium in 1831 following the country's independence in 1830. The Belgian government offered the position to Leopold because of his diplomatic connections with royal houses across Europe, and because as the British-backed candidate, he was not affiliated with other powers, such as France, which were believed to have territorial ambitions in Belgium which might threaten the European balance of power created by the 1815 Congress of Vienna.
Leopold took his oath as King of the Belgians on 21 July 1831, an event commemorated annually as Belgian National Day. The following year, he married Princess Louise of Orléans, with whom he had four children. He also had two illegitimate sons by his mistress, Arcadie Claret. Leopold's reign was marked by attempts by the Dutch to recapture Belgium and, later, by internal political division between Liberals and Catholics. Leopold was considered a liberal Protestant ruler and encouraged economic modernisation, playing an important role in funding the creation of Belgium's first railway in 1835 and subsequent industrialisation. As a result of the ambiguities in the Belgian Constitution, Leopold was able to slightly expand the monarch's powers during his reign and assumed multiple ministries. He also played an important role in stopping the spread of the Revolutions of 1848 into Belgium. He died in 1865 and was succeeded by his son, Leopold II.
Leopold was born at Ehrenburg Palace in Coburg in the small German duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in modern-day Bavaria on 16 December 1790. He was the eighth child and third and youngest surviving son of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld by his second wife, Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf. In 1826, Saxe-Coburg had acquired the city of Gotha from the neighbouring Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and gave up Saalfeld to Saxe-Meiningen, becoming Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The dynasty of this name was therefore founded by Leopold's eldest brother, Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the father of Albert, Prince Consort of the United Kingdom. Leopold was baptised on 17 December 1790, with his baptismal name remaining the same as his birth name, in honour of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor. Leopold's paternal grandmother, Princess Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, often assisted in parenting duties and signalled that he was her favourite grandson.
From 1797, Leopold was tutored by Charles-Theodore Hoflender, a graduate of the University of Jena and a professor in Coburg. Under Hoflender, he studied Biblical history, Christianity, mathematics and languages, including Greek, Latin and Russian. In 1799, Leopold and his siblings also became tutored by Johann Philipp Hohnbaum, who specialised in teaching physical education and in teaching history of Great Britain, the Holy Roman Empire and Saxony. Hohnbaum cited that Leopold was fascinated by history and conflicts such as the Thirty Years War. Lutheran pastor Gottlieb Scheler taught Leopold catechism. Historian Olivier Defrance wrote that Scheler's teaching of Pietism had a lasting influence on Leopold. From 1804, aged thirteen, Leopold kept a diary and learnt English, French and Italian. Leopold often heard stories of military experience from his great-uncle, Prince Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and inherited his father's passion for pigeon racing and floriculture.
In 1796, Leopold's older sister, Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, married Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich of Russia, making the House of Romanov her house by marriage. The following year, at just six years old, Leopold received an honorary Russian military title in the Izmaylovsky Regiment, part of the Imperial Guard, in the Imperial Russian Army: the rank of captain on 7 May 1797 and subsequently colonel on 11 September 1798. Leopold also began to specialise in the Russian language. On 19 March 1801, he was transferred to the Imperial Guard Cavalry Regiment, when six years later, aged twelve, he received a promotion to the rank of major general.
In 1805, at fourteen years old, Leopold accompanied his older brother, Ernest, Hereditary Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, to Moravia, where the headquarters of Alexander I, Emperor of Russia were located; however, neither Leopold nor Ernest partook in combat. Following the Battle of Austerlitz, during the Napoleonic Wars, French troops occupied the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg in 1806. Leopold and his father, Francis, took refuge in Saalfeld; however, Francis died on 9 December 1806, six days before the Treaty of Poznan assigned the Duchy to the Confederation of the Rhine, thus abolishing the Duchy's sovereignty. When Napoleon learned that Ernest had previously fought against the French, he removed the Duchy from the Confederation, before seizing the properties of Leopold's family. Leopold and his mother were confined to a section of one of the confiscated castles and were not let out. During this time, Leopold wrote to his sister, Princess Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld: "The poor country of Cobourg is terribly penalized; It 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." After intervention by the Russian Emperor, Napoleon declared the Duchy to be part of the Confederation of the Rhine once more by adding it to the Treaty of Tilsit. Ernest as the new reigning Duke was allowed to return to Coburg in July 1807.
Leopold soon went to Paris where he became part of the Imperial Court of Napoleon. Napoleon's wife, Joséphine de Beauharnais, took a protective attitude of Leopold, who met Napoleon in October 1808. According to the historian Carlo Bronne, Napoleon was in awe of Leopold and briefly considered making him his aide-de-camp. In Spring 1808, Leopold contracted typhoid fever and when he recovered, he shortly became regent of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld when Ernest visited Russia. Napoleon later offered Leopold the position of adjutant, but he refused and instead went to Russia to take up a military career in the Imperial Russian cavalry, which then later went to war with France. Leopold accompanied Emperor Alexander I in September 1808 and represented his home Duchy at the Congress of Erfurt, where Napoleon failed to strengthen Franco-Russian relations while the Duchy's interests were ignored. He wrote to Alexander I for assistance, leading to Napoleon demanding that he resign from the Russian army.
In Autumn 1810, Ernest asked Leopold to find financial aid for the Duchy, which was lacking soldiers and had been badly affected by war and its previous occupation. Leopold met Napoleon, who refused to aid the Duchy, but offered that Leopold join the French army. Leopold strongly refused. In May 1811, Leopold went to Munich and although he was unsuccessful in securing funding, he managed to persuade Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria to return small territories that Bavaria had previously annexed from the Duchy. Leopold was hailed in the media for this achievement. Following his visit to Munich, Leopold travelled to Vienna, then to various Italian cities during the winter. He wrote: "The years of 1810 and 1811 were quite calm. I was disappointed to find myself forbidden from serving in Russia by Napoleon who held my brother responsible, because he knew that otherwise he would not have been able to prevent me." In March 1813, Leopold was finally allowed to rejoin the Russian Imperial army.