Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders

Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders (24 March 1837 – 17 November 1905) was the third born and second surviving son of Leopold I, King of the Belgians and his wife Louise d'Orléans (1812–1850).

Prince Philippe
Count of Flanders
Born	(1837-03-24)24 March 1837 Royal Castle of Laeken, Laeken, Belgium
Died	17 November 1905(1905-11-17) (aged 68) Palace of the Count of Flanders, Brussels, Belgium
Burial	Church of Our Lady of Laeken
Spouse	Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
Issue	Prince Baudouin Princess Henriette Princess Joséphine Marie Princess Joséphine Caroline Albert I of Belgium
Full name French: Philippe Eugène Ferdinand Marie Clément Baudouin Léopold Georges Dutch: Filips Eugeen Ferdinand Marie Clemens Boudewijn Leopold Joris
House	Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Father	Leopold I of Belgium
Mother	Louise d'Orléans
Religion	Roman Catholic

Royal styles of Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders
Reference style	His Royal Highness
Spoken style	Your Royal Highness

Born at the Château de Laeken, near Brussels, Belgium, he was created Count of Flanders on 14 December 1840. Upon the death of his nephew, Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant, Philippe became heir presumptive to the Belgian throne, from 1869 until his own death in 1905.

In 1866, after the abdication of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Prince of Romania, he refused being named the new Romanian sovereign, and the throne was later accepted by Carol I.[1][2] Earlier, Philippe had also refused the crown of Greece, which was offered to him in 1862.

Marriage and issue

On 25 April 1867 at St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin, he married Marie Luise Alexandra Caroline, Princess of Hohenzollern, (1845–1912), daughter of Karl Anton von Hohenzollern (1811–1885) and his wife Josephine of Baden (1813–1900).

Their children were:

• Prince Baudouin (3 June 1869 – 23 January 1891); he died of influenza at the age of 21.
• Princess Henriette (30 November 1870 – 28 March 1948); she married Prince Emmanuel, Duke of Vendôme on 12 February 1896. They had four children.
• Princess Joséphine Marie (30 November 1870 – 18 January 1871), twin to Princess Henriette.
• Princess Joséphine Caroline (18 October 1872 – 6 January 1958); she married Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern on 28 May 1894. They had four children.
• King Albert I (8 April 1875 – 17 February 1934); he married Duchess Elisabeth of Bavaria on 2 October 1900. They had three children.

He died in his residence the Palace of the Count of Flanders, and is buried at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken. He was succeeded as heir presumptive to the throne by his son, Albert.

Honours

He received the following decorations and awards:[3]

Domestic

• Grand Cordon of the Royal Order of Leopold, 1855[4]

Foreign

• Duchy of Anhalt: Grand Cross of Albert the Bear, 1874[5]
•  Austrian Empire: Grand Cross of St. Stephen, 1857[6]
•  Baden:
  • Knight of the House Order of Fidelity, 1862[7]
  • Grand Cross of the Zähringer Lion
•  Kingdom of Bavaria: Knight of St. Hubert
•  Empire of Brazil: Grand Cross of the Southern Cross
•  Denmark: Knight of the Elephant, 1 November 1875[8]
• Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order, 1853[9]
• French Empire: Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour
• Hohenzollern: Cross of Honour of the Princely House Order of Hohenzollern, 1st Class
• Holy See: Grand Cross of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem[10]
•  Sovereign Military Order of Malta: Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion[11]
•  Empire of Japan: Grand Cordon of the Order of the Chrysanthemum, 5 November 1898[12]
•  Netherlands: Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion
•  Luxembourg: Knight of the Gold Lion of Nassau
•  Ottoman Empire: Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class
•  Kingdom of Portugal: Grand Cross of the Tower and Sword, 12 December 1854[13]
• Kingdom of Prussia:
  • Knight of the Black Eagle[11]
  • Grand Cross of the Red Eagle
•  Kingdom of Romania: Grand Cross of the Star of Romania
•  Russian Empire:
  • Knight of St. Andrew[11]
  • Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky
  • Knight of the White Eagle
  • Knight of St. Anna, 1st Class
•  Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: Grand Cross of the White Falcon, 20 September 1854[14]
•  Kingdom of Saxony: Knight of the Rue Crown, 1857[15]
•  Spain:
  • Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III, 6 April 1863[16]
  • Knight of the Golden Fleece, 21 January 1872[17]
• Sweden-Norway:[18]
  • Knight of the Seraphim, 17 May 1856
  • Grand Cross of St. Olav, 25 July 1860
•  Württemberg: Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown, 1864[19]

Arms

• 
  Coat of Arms of the Count of Flanders (1837-1909)
• 
  Royal Monogram of Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders

Ancestry

Ancestors of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders

8. Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld 4. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld 9. Duchess Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel 2. Leopold I of Belgium 10. Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf 5. Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf 11. Countess Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg 1. Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders 12. Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans 6. Louis Philippe I of France 13. Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon 3. Princess Louise of Orléans 14. Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies 7. Princess Marie Amélie of Naples and Sicily 15. Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria

Notes

1. Keith Hitchins (1994). Rumania, 1866–1947. Oxford University Press. p. 13. ISBN 0-19-822126-6.
2. Carol I of Romania was the brother in law of Philippe, count of Flanders.
3. A. Manceaux, Imprimeur-Libraire, ed. (1905). Almanach de poche de Bruxelles et de ses faubourgs (in French). Brussels. p. 8.
4. Almanach royal de Belgique: Classé Et Mis En Ordre Par H. Tarlier
5. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch für des Herzogtum Anhalt (1883), "Herzoglicher Haus-Orden Albrecht des Bären" p. 16
6. "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
7. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1865), "Großherzogliche Orden" p. 55
8. Jørgen Pedersen (2009). Riddere af Elefantordenen, 1559–2009 (in Danish). Syddansk Universitetsforlag. p. 463. ISBN 978-87-7674-434-2.
9. Adreß-Handbuch des Herzogthums Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (1854), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 26
10. Almanach royal officiel de Belgique. Librairie polytechnique De Decq. 1870. p. 17.
11. Justus Perthes, Almanach de Gotha 1905 (1905) page 19
12. 刑部芳則 (2017). 明治時代の勲章外交儀礼 (PDF) (in Japanese). 明治聖徳記念学会紀要. p. 149.
13. Bragança, Jose Vicente de (2014). "Agraciamentos Portugueses Aos Príncipes da Casa Saxe-Coburgo-Gota" [Portuguese Honours awarded to Princes of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha]. Pro Phalaris (in Portuguese). 9–10: 10. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
14. Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach. "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 13. Weimar: Böhlau, 1859.
15. Staatshandbuch für den Freistaat Sachsen (1867) (in German), "Königliche Ritter-Orden", p. 4
16. Real y distinguida orden de Carlos III. Guía Oficial de España (in Spanish). 1904. p. 179. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
17. Caballeros de la insigne orden del toisón de oro. Guía Oficial de España (in Spanish). 1904. p. 172. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
18. Sveriges och Norges statskalender. Liberförlag. 1874. pp. 468, 703.
19. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1907), "Königliche Orden" p. 27

References

• Weintraub, Stanley, Uncrowned King: The Life of Prince Albert, The Free Press, New York, 1997, p. 458.
• Willis, Daniel (also known as Daniel A. Brewer-Ward), The Descendants of Louis XIII, Clearfield Co., Inc., Baltimore, Maryland, 1999, ISBN 0-8063-4942-5, p. 99.
• NEXUS Jan/Feb 1998, Vol. XV, No. 1, p. 32.

Literature

Damien Bilteryst, Philippe Comte de Flandre, Frère de Léopold II, Bruxelles, Editions Racine, juin 2014, 336 p. ISBN 978-2-87386-894-9

External links

Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Cadet branch of the House of Wettin Born: 24 March 1837 Died: 17 November 1905
Belgian royalty
New title	Count of Flanders 14 December 1840 – 17 November 1905	Succeeded by Charles of Belgium