Person    | Male  Born 9/4/1835  Died 17/12/1909

King Leopold II of the Belgians

Categories: Royalty

Countries: Belgium

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.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
King Leopold II of the Belgians

Creations i

King Leopold II of Belgium

Foundation stone of this library was laid by His Majesty Leopold II King of t...

Read More

Other Subjects

Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge

Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge

Born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton at Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading.  Met Prince William when they were both  students at the University of St. Andrews.  Married him on 29 April 2011.

Person, Royalty

1 memorial
Princess Michael of Kent

Princess Michael of Kent

Married to Prince Michael Duke of Kent.

Person, Royalty

1 memorial
Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn

Second wife of Henry VIII and so Queen of England, 1533 to 1536.  Though married to Catherine of Aragon, Henry developed a passion for one of her maids of honour, Anne, and so began the whole horri...

Person, Execution, Royalty, Seriously Famous

6 memorials
Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester

Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester

Second son of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester and inherited the title on his death in 1974. Grandson of George V, and son of Princess Alice. Patron of the Silver Jubilee Walkway Trust. 1975 honou...

Person, Royalty

15 memorials

Previously viewed

Hackney Council

Hackney Council

Hackney Council was created in 1965 from the 3 Metropolitan Borough Councils of Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington, all three of which had been created in 1900. Previously they had been paris...

Group, Politics & Administration

61 memorials
Elizabeth Bowen

Elizabeth Bowen

Writer. Born Elizabeth Dorothea Cole at 15 Herbert Place, Dublin. Educated in England, she published her first collection of stories, 'Encounters' in 1923. Her best known novels include 'The Death ...

Person, Literature, Ireland

1 memorial