King Baudouin

Introduce

Baudouin (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 monarch to be sovereign over the Congo, which gained independence in 1960 and became the Democratic Republic of the Congo (known as Zaire from 1971 to 1997).

Baudouin was the eldest son of King Leopold III and his first wife, Princess Astrid of Sweden. Since he and his wife, Queen Fabiola, had no children, the crown passed to his younger brother, King Albert II, upon Baudouin’s death.