Baudouin of Belgium

- King Baudouin I -

Baudouin I (7 September 1930 - 31 July 1993), reigned as King of the Belgians from 1951 to 1993.

Born Baudouin/Boudewijn Albert Charles Leopold Axel Marie Gustave, he became king when his father King Leopold III abdicated on July 16, 1951.

On December 15, 1960 he was married at Brussels to "Doña Fabiola Fernanda Maria de las Victorias Antonia Adelaïda Mora y Aragon". Queen Fabiola was born at Madrid, Spain on June 11, 1928.

During his reign the colony of Belgian Congo was given its independence. In 1976, on the 25th anniversary of Baudouin's coronation the King Baudouin Foundation[?] was formed, with the aim of improving the living conditions of the Belgian people.

He reigned for 42 years until he died of heart failure on July 31, 1993 in Motril[?], in the south of Spain. He was interred in the Royal vault at the Church of Our Lady, Laeken Cemetery, Brussels, Belgium.

Because his marriage was childless, he was succeeded by his brother, who became King Albert II.