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The Royal Crypt (French : Crypte royale, Dutch : Koninklijke Crypte) lies underneath the Church of Our Lady in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium. It is the official burial place of the Belgian royal family. Several members of the family are buried elsewhere, however, due to their marriage with foreign royalty or nobility.
Media related to The royal crypt in Belgium at Wikimedia Commons
Leopold III was King of the Belgians from 23 February 1934 until his abdication on 16 July 1951. At the outbreak of World War II, Leopold tried to maintain Belgian neutrality, but after the German invasion in May 1940, he surrendered his country, earning him much hostility, both at home and abroad.
Albert I was King of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 until his death in 1934.
Baudouin, Dutch name Boudewijn, 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.
Belgium is a constitutional, hereditary and popular monarchy. The monarch is titled King of the Belgians and serves as the country's head of state and commander-in-chief of the Belgian Armed Forces. There have been seven Belgian monarchs since independence in 1830.
Albert II is a member of the Belgian royal family who reigned as King of the Belgians from 9 August 1993 to 21 July 2013.
Astrid of Sweden was Queen of the Belgians and the first wife of King Leopold III. Originally a princess of Sweden for the House of Bernadotte, Astrid became the Duchess of Brabant after her marriage to Leopold in November 1926. She was Queen of the Belgians from 23 February 1934 until her death. Her charity work mainly includes women and children.
Princess Lilian of Belgium, Princess of Réthy was the second wife of King Leopold III of Belgium. Born in the United Kingdom and raised in Belgium, she became a volunteer as a car driver that transported wounded Belgian and French to the hospital in Bruges during World War II. Lilian married King Leopold III in 1941 and became consort of the Belgian monarch. The couple produced three children. She was also a stepmother to Leopold III's children from Queen Astrid and became the "first lady" of Belgium during the first nine years of her stepson King Baudouin's reign. Her charity work revolved around medicine and cardiology.
Philippe or Filip is King of the Belgians. He is the eldest child of King Albert II and Queen Paola. He succeeded his father upon the latter's abdication for health reasons on 21 July 2013. He married Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz in 1999, with whom he has four children. Their eldest child, Princess Elisabeth, is first in the line of succession.
Elisabeth of Bavaria was Queen of the Belgians from 23 December 1909 to 17 February 1934 as the wife of King Albert I, and a duchess in Bavaria by birth. She was the mother of King Leopold III of Belgium and of Queen Marie-José of Italy, and grandmother of kings Baudouin and Albert II of Belgium, and Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg.
Marie Henriette of Austria was Queen of the Belgians as the wife of King Leopold II. The marriage was arranged against the will of both Marie Henriette and Leopold and became unhappy due to their dissimilarity, and after 1872 the couple lived separate lives, though they continued to appear together in public. Queen Marie Henriette was described as an energetic and intelligent horsewoman, foremost devoted to her animals. In 1895, she openly retired from public life and lived her last seven years in the city of Spa, where she became known as "The Queen of Spa".
Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria is the elder daughter and eldest child of Jean, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium, and the wife of Archduke Carl Christian of Austria, grandson of the last Austrian Emperor, Karl I.
Prince Alexandre of Belgium was the fourth child of King Leopold III of Belgium, and the eldest for Lilian, Princess of Réthy. King Baudouin and King Albert II of Belgium were his older half-brothers. Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg was his older half-sister.
Princess Marie-Esméralda of Belgium, Lady Moncada is a member of the Belgian Royal Family. She is the half-aunt of King Philippe of Belgium and Henri, Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Princess Marie-Esméralda is a journalist, author and documentary-maker. She is also an environmental activist and a campaigner for women’s rights and indigenous people’s rights.
Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders, was the third born and second surviving son of King Leopold I of Belgium and Louise d'Orléans. He was the brother of Leopold II of Belgium and Empress Carlota of Mexico.
Princess Josephine Friederike Luise of Baden was Princess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen from 27 August 1848 to 7 December 1849 during the brief reign of her husband, Prince Karl Anton. Josephine was the second daughter of Charles, Grand Duke of Baden, and Stéphanie de Beauharnais. She was the mother of the first king of Romania, Carol I. Through her younger daughter Marie, she is the ancestress of the Belgian royal family and the grand ducal family of Luxembourg.
Princess Henriette of Belgium, was the daughter of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and Princess Marie of Hohenzollern. She was the younger twin sister of Princess Joséphine Marie of Belgium, who died at the age of six weeks in 1871.
Princess Marie Luise Alexandra Karoline of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, later Countess of Flanders, was a princess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, later simply of Hohenzollern. She married Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, second son of King Leopold I of Belgium, and she was the mother of King Albert I.
Prince Baudouin of Belgium was the first child and eldest son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, and his wife, Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. After Baudouin's death, his younger brother eventually became heir presumptive after the death of their father, and later succeeded their uncle Leopold II as Albert I of Belgium.
The Church of Our Lady of Laeken is a neo-Gothic Roman Catholic church in the Brussels district of Laeken, Belgium. It was originally built in memory of Queen Louise-Marie, wife of King Leopold I, to the design of the architect Joseph Poelaert.
Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium, was the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg as the wife of Grand Duke Jean. She was the first child of King Leopold III of Belgium, and sister of the late King Baudouin and former King Albert II and aunt of King Philippe. She was also the first cousin of King Harald V of Norway, second cousin of Margrethe II of Denmark, and a maternal third cousin of Queen Elizabeth II.