Albert I of Belgium Albert I ( April 8 , 1875 – February 17 , 1934 ) reigned as King of the Belgians from 1909 to 1934 . This was a crucial period in the History of Belgium since it included the period of World War I ( 1914 - 1918 ) , when 99 percent of Belgium was overrun , occupied , and ruled by the German Empire . Other crucial events included the adoption of the Treaty of Versailles , the ruling of the Belgian Congo as an overseas possession of the Kingdom of Belgium , the reconstruction of Belgium following the war , and the first five years of the Great Depression ( 1929 - 1934 ) . King Albert was killed in a mountaineering accident in eastern Belgium in 1934 , at the age of 58 , and he was succeeded by his son Leopold . Early life . Born Albert Léopold Clément Marie Meinrad ( in German Albrecht Leopold Clemens Marie Meinrad ) in Brussels , he was the fifth child and second son of Prince Philippe , Count of Flanders , and his wife , Princess Marie of Hohenzollern - Sigmaringen . Prince Philippe was the third ( second surviving ) son of Leopold I , the first King of the Belgians , and his wife , Marie - Louise of France , and the younger brother of King Leopold II of Belgium . Princess Marie was a relative of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany , and a member of the non - reigning , Catholic branch of the Hohenzollern family . Albert grew up in the Palace of Flanders , initially as fourth in the line of succession to the Belgian throne . When , however , the only legitimate son of his uncle , Leopold II , died as a child , and Albert ' s older brother , Prince Baudouin of Belgium , who had been subsequently prepared for the throne , also died young , Albert , at the age of 16 , unexpectedly became second in line ( after his father ) to the Belgian Crown . Retiring and studious , Albert prepared himself strenuously for the task of kingship . In his youth , Albert was seriously concerned with the situation of the working classes in Belgium , and personally travelled around working class districts incognito , to observe the living conditions of the people . Shortly before his accession to the throne in 1909 , Albert undertook an extensive tour of the Belgian Congo , which had been annexed by Belgium in 1908 ( after having been previously owned by King Leopold II of Belgium as his personal property ) , finding the area in poor condition . Upon his return to Belgium , he recommended reforms to protect the native population and to further technological progress in the colony . He was the 1 , 152nd Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Austria and the 851st Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1914 . Marriage . Albert was married in Munich on 2 October 1900 to Duchess Elisabeth Gabrielle Valérie Marie in Bavaria , a Wittelsbach princess whom he had met at a family funeral . A daughter of Karl - Theodor , Duke in Bavaria , and his wife , the Infanta Maria Josepha of Portugal , she was born at Possenhofen Castle , Bavaria , Germany , on 25 July 1876 , and died on 23 November 1965 . Based on the letters written during their engagement and marriage ( cited extensively in the memoirs of their daughter , Marie - José ) the young couple appear to have been deeply in love . The letters express a deep mutual affection based on a rare affinity of spirit . They also make clear that Albert and Elisabeth continually supported and encouraged each other in their challenging and difficult roles as king and queen . The spouses shared an intense commitment to their country and family and a keen interest in human progress of all kinds . Together , they cultivated the friendship of prominent scientists , artists , mathematicians , musicians , and philosophers , turning their court at Laeken into a kind of cultural salon . Children . Albert and Elisabeth had three children : Accession . Following the death of his uncle , Leopold II , Albert succeeded to the Belgian throne in December 1909 , since Albert ' s own father had already died in 1905 . Previous Belgian kings had taken the royal accession oath only in French ; Albert innovated by taking it in Dutch as well . He and his wife , Queen Elisabeth , were popular in Belgium due to their simple , unassuming lifestyle and their harmonious family life , which stood in marked contrast to the aloof , autocratic manner and the irregular private life of Leopold II . An important aspect of the early years of Albert ' s reign was his institution of many reforms in the administration of the Belgian Congo , Belgium ' s only colonial possession . Religion . King Albert was a devout Catholic . Many stories illustrate his deep and tender piety . For instance , when his former tutor , General De Grunne , in his old age , entered the Benedictine monastery of Maredsous , Belgium , King Albert wrote a letter to him , in which he spoke of the joy of giving oneself to God . He said : " May you spend many years at Maredsous in the supreme comfort of soul that is given , to natures touched by grace , by faith in God ' s infinite power and confidence in His goodness " . To another friend , a Chinese diplomat , who became a Catholic monk , Albert wrote : " Consecrating oneself wholly to the service of Our Lord gives , to those touched by grace , the peace of soul which is the supreme happiness here below " . Albert used to tell his children : " As you nourish your body , so you should nourish your soul . " In an interesting meditation on what he viewed as the harm which would result if Christian ideals were abandoned in Belgium , he said : " Every time society has distanced itself from the Gospel , which preached humility , fraternity , and peace , the people have been unhappy , because the pagan civilization of ancient Rome , which they wanted to replace it with , is based only on pride and the abuse of force " ( Commemorative speech for the war dead of the Battle of the Yser , given by Dom Marie - Albert , Abbot of Orval Abbey , Belgium , in 1936 ) . World War I . At the beginning of World War I , Albert complied with a British demand that he not acquiesce to a German request to move troops through Belgium in order to attack Britain ' s ally , France , which Germany anticipated was about to declare war on Germany in support of Russia ; Britain was one of several European Great Powers guaranteeing Belgian neutrality under an 1839 treaty . King Albert refused passage of the Kaiser ' s soldiers through his nation . When Germany subsequently invaded Belgium , King Albert , as prescribed by the Belgian constitution , took personal command of the Belgian army , and held the Germans off long enough for Britain and France to prepare for the Battle of the Marne ( 6 – 9 September 1914 ) . He led his army through the Siege of Antwerp and the Battle of the Yser , when the Belgian army was driven back to a last , tiny strip of Belgian territory , near the North Sea . Here the Belgians , in collaboration with the armies of the Triple Entente , took up a war of position , in the trenches behind the River Yser , remaining there for the next four years . During this period , King Albert fought with his troops and shared their dangers , while his wife , Queen Elisabeth , worked as a nurse at the front . The King also allowed his 14 - year - old son , Prince Leopold , to enlist in the Belgian army as a private and fight in the ranks . The war inflicted great suffering on Belgium , which was subjected to a harsh German occupation . The King , fearing the destructive results of the war for Belgium and Europe and appalled by the huge casualty rates , worked through secret diplomatic channels for a negotiated peace between Germany and the Entente based on the " no victors , no vanquished " concept . He considered that such a resolution to the conflict would best protect the interests of Belgium and the future peace and stability of Europe . Since , however , neither Germany nor the Entente were favorable to the idea , tending , instead to seek total victory , Albert ' s attempts to further a negotiated peace were unsuccessful . In view of his disapproval of the breadth of Allied war aims , King Albert may have considered concluding a separate peace with Germany , if Belgium ' s independence could be assured and the country safely extricated from the war . Germany ' s attitude , however , made this impossible , since Germany was using Belgium as a lever to exert pressure on the Entente , and hence was unwilling to restore its independence ( Thielemans ) . At the end of the war , as commander of the Army Group Flanders , consisting of Belgian , British and French divisions , Albert led the final offensive of the war that liberated occupied Belgium . King Albert , Queen Elisabeth , and their children then re - entered Brussels to a hero ' s welcome . Post - War years . Upon his return to Brussels , King Albert made a speech in which he outlined the reforms he desired to see implemented in Belgium , including universal suffrage and the establishment of a Flemish University in Ghent . Postwar trip to the United States . From September 23 through November 13 , 1919 , King Albert , Queen Elisabeth of Bavaria , and their son Prince Leopold took an official visit to the United States . During a visit of the historic Indian pueblo of Isleta Pueblo , New Mexico , King Albert decorated father Anton Docher with the Order of Léopold . Docher offered the King a turquoise cross mounted in silver made by the Tiwas Indians . Ten thousand people traveled to Isleta for this occasion . Introduction of universal suffrage . In 1918 , King Albert forged a post - war " Government of National Union " made up of members of the three main parties in Belgium , the Catholics , the Liberals , and the Socialists . Albert I remembered the Belgian general strike of 1913 , and the promise following that of a Constitutional reform for an actual " one man , one vote " universal suffrage . On April 18 , 1893 , at the end of the Belgian general strike of 1893 , universal suffrage , approved by the Belgian Parliament , gave plural votes to individuals based on their wealth , education , and age , but this was clearly not a universal suffrage . The King Albert attempted to mediate between the parties in favor of universal suffrage , or those opposed to it , in order to bring about " one man one vote " universal suffrage . King Albert succeeded in this . Some people have named this the " " conspiracy of Loppem " " because the " one man , one vote " suffrage was effected without changing the Constitution of Belgium . Paris Peace Conference . The Belgian government sent the King to the Paris Peace Conference in April 1919 , where he met with the leaders of France , Britain and the United States . He had four strategic goals : 1 to restore and expand the Belgian economy using cash reparations from Germany ; 2 to assure Belgium ' s security by the creation of a new buffer state on the left bank of the Rhine ; 3 to revise the obsolete treaty of 1839 ; 4 to promote a ' rapprochement ' between Belgium and the Grand duchy of Luxemburg . he strongly advised against a harsh , punitive treaty against Germany that would eventually provoke German revenge . He also considered that the dethronement of the princes of Central Europe and , in particular , the dissolution of the Habsburg Empire would constitute a serious menace to peace and stability on the continent . The Allies considered Belgium to be the chief victim of the war , and it aroused enormous popular sympathy , but the King ' s advice played a small role in Paris . Albert spent much of the remainder of his reign assisting in the post - war reconstruction of Belgium . Albert was a committed conservationist and in 1925 , influenced by the ideas of Carl E . Akeley , he founded Africa ' s first national park , now known as Virunga National Park , in what is now Democratic Republic of Congo . During this period he was also the first European monarch to visit the United States . Death . A passionate alpinist , King Albert I died in a mountaineering accident while climbing alone on the Roche du Vieux Bon Dieu at Marche - les - Dames , in the Ardennes region of Belgium near Namur . His death shocked the world and he was deeply mourned , both in Belgium and abroad . Because King Albert was an expert climber , some questioned the official version of his death . Nonetheless , rumors of murder have been dismissed by most historians . There are two possible explanations for his death : the first was he leaned against a boulder at the top of the mountain which became dislodged ; or two , the pinnacle to which his rope was belayed had broken , causing him to fall about sixty feet . King Albert is interred in the Royal Crypt at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels . In 1935 , prominent Belgian author Emile Cammaerts published a widely acclaimed biography of King Albert I , titled " Albert of Belgium : Defender of Right . " In 1993 , a close climbing companion of the King , Walter Amstutz , founded the King Albert I Memorial Foundation , an association based in Switzerland and dedicated to honoring distinguished individuals in the mountaineering world . Celebrating 175 years of Belgian Dynasty and the 100th anniversary of his accession , Albert I was recently selected as the main motif of a high - value collectors ' coin : the Belgian 12 . 5 euro Albert I commemorative coin , minted in 2008 . The obverse shows a portrait of the King . Honours and awards . Albert was Grand Master of several Belgian Orders : Order of Leopold ( also Grand Cross decorated with Grand Cordon ) , Order of the African Star , Royal Order of the Lion , Order of the Crown and Order of Leopold II . He was also the recipient of foreign awards : Ancestry . Arms . On his birth , Albert was granted a coat of arms . These were those of the king , differenced by a label gules , with one crescent argent on the central point . When his father died in 1905 , the crescent was removed . When he acceded as King , he gained the royal arms ( Belgium with inescutcheon of the shield of Saxony ) , undifferenced . Finally , after the abolition of monarchy in Germany and the subsequent loss of his saxonian titles , Albert had the inescutcheon removed in 1921 .