King Leopold II of the Belgians
Person Male Born 9/4/1835 Died 17/12/1909
Son of King Leopold I. King of the Belgians 1865 -1909. Leopold's cruel exploitation of the Congo was carried out in his name and under his instruction. The Queen Mary College students, succinctly, described him as a "genocidal colonialist".
It seems nobody can find anything nice to say about Leopold II. A society lady is quoted as describing the marriage of Leopold to Maria Henrietta as being "like the marriage of a stable-boy to a nun", and by "nun" she was not referring to the wife. It is said that, on a visit to London, the couple sought sex advice from Leopold's cousin Prince Albert and his wife Queen Victoria, who, we understand, were well-versed in conjugal happiness.
You can find more memorials to this much reviled royal at our Brussels website.
June 2020: Responding to the Black Lives Matter protests authorities in Antwerp took down a statue of King Leopold II and placed it in a museum.
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