biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1901–83)
|
| biography:
| King of Belgium (1934–51), born in Brussels, Belgium. He was the son of Albert I, and he married Princess Astrid of Sweden in 1926. He is especially known for his brave decision in 1940 to prolong the resistance of the Belgian army to the German invasion for a further two days, thus enabling the British evacuation at Dunkirk to succeed. (At the time, his action was vilified as treachery by French prime minister Reynaud, a misinterpretation which remained publicly uncorrected by Churchill, with the result that criticism of Leopold's action continued to be made for several decades.) He remained a prisoner in his own palace at Laeken until 1944, and afterwards in Austria. On returning to Belgium in 1950, he was finally forced to abdicate in favour of his son, Baudouin. |
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