King of Belgium Albert II

Belgian monarch from 1993 to 2013, the son of Leopold III and Queen Astrid, born princess of Sweden. He became king upon the death of his brother, King Baudouin, who died childless on 31 July 1993 after a reign of 42 years. Though his son, Philippe, was rather expected to succeed Baudouin, the succession went to him due to his extensive experience in leading Belgian trade relations. He assumed the throne at a time of economic recession and a currency under pressure plus problems between his country's six million Dutch speakers and four million French speakers.

Married on 2 July 1959 to Italian Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria, they had three children, Philippe, Astrid and Laurent. In 1993 he was reported to have Parkinson's Disease. He abdicated on 21 July 2013, in favour of his son Philippe.

The results of DNA samples released on 27 January 2020 confirmed that Albert II has a daughter Delphine Boël (born in 1968 to Baroness Sybille de Selys Longchamps), a fact that Albert II confirmed the same day in a press release. "The king will treat all his children as equal," a spokesperson said. "King Albert now has four children." Her legal status as a daughter was not recognized until a 1 October 2020 ruling of the Brussels Court of Appeal, which also recognized Boël as a princess of Belgium and granted her the new surname of Saxe-Coburg.