Φίλιππος του Βελγίου

Φίλιππος του Βελγίου Prince Philippe at the Florennes Defence Days  Σχετικά πολυμέσα δεδομένα ()

Πρότυπο:Belgian Royal Family

Πρότυπο:Infobox Royal styles

Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, Prince of Belgium (γαλλικά: Philippe Léopold Louis Marie‎‎, ολλανδικά: Filip(s) Leopold Lodewijk Maria‎‎) (born Château de Belvédère, nr Laeken, 15 April 1960), styled His Royal Highness The Duke of Brabant, is the eldest son and heir apparent of Albert II, King of the Belgians and Queen Paola. His godparents were his paternal grandfather, King Leopold III of the Belgians and his maternal grandmother Donna Luisa, Princess Ruffo di Calabria.

Biography

Prince Philippe was educated at the Belgian Royal Military School. From 1978 to 1981 he continued his education at Oxford University's Trinity College and finally attended Graduate School at Stanford University, California where he graduated in 1985 with an MA degree in Political Science.

He was appointed as a Second Lieutenant in 1980 and obtained his fighter pilot's wings and his certificates as a parachutist and a commando. In 1989, the Prince attended a series of special sessions at the Royal Higher Defence Institute. The same year, he was promoted to Colonel. On 25 March 2001, the Prince was appointed to the rank of Major-General in the Land Component and the Air Component and to the rank of Rear-Admiral in the Naval Component.

Prince Philippe married Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz, daughter of a Walloon Belgian noble family and female line descendant of Polish noble families such as the Princes Sapieha, on 4 December 1999 in Brussels, civilly at the Brussels Town Hall and religiously at the Cathedral of Saint Michel, and they have four children:

• Princess Elisabeth, born 25 October 2001
• Prince Gabriel, born 20 August 2003
• Prince Emmanuel, born 4 October 2005
• Princess Eléonore, born 16 April 2008

If Philippe assumes the throne, Princess Mathilde as Queen Consort will become in Belgium the first Belgian-born and in Europe the only with noble ancestry.

Owing to the amendment to the laws of succession (the Lex Salica, or Salic Law) from eldest son to eldest child, Princess Elisabeth is next in the line of succession after her father, followed by her younger brothers, Princes Gabriel and Emmanuel and her younger sister Princess Eléonore.

Recently, the Prince has been a target of criticism within Belgium for his political and social conservatism. During his bachelorhood, vocal detractors had called for him to step out of the line of succession and to allow a more liberal member of the royal family (though the identity of that liberal member wasn't revealed, it is likely to refer to his sister, Astrid) to take his place.

For some years, Philippe, though second-in-line to the throne, was treated as the likely heir of his childless uncle, King Baudouin. As Baudouin and his wife, Queen Fabiola of Belgium, were unable to have children, they became very close to Philippe. However on Baudouin's premature death in 1993, Philippe's father, Albert, inherited the throne.

Titles

In contrast to King Albert II's title, King of the Belgians, Prince Philippe is called Prince of Belgium, not Prince of the Belgians, a title that does not exist. He is also Duke of Brabant, the traditional title of the heir apparent to the Belgian throne. This title precedes the title Prince of Belgium.

His style currently is: His Royal Highness Prince Philippe, Duke of Brabant, Prince of Belgium.

If Philippe succeeds to the throne, he will be known as either King Philippe (without number, as his uncle King Baudouin) or, if he chooses, Leopold IV.

Ancestry

16. Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders

8. Albert I of Belgium

17. Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen

4. Leopold III of Belgium

18. Karl-Theodor, Duke in Bavaria

9. Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria

19. Infanta Maria Josepha of Portugal

2. Albert II of Belgium

20. Oscar II of Sweden

10. Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland

21. Princess Sofia of Nassau

5. Princess Astrid of Sweden

22. Frederick VIII of Denmark

11. Princess Ingeborg of Denmark

23. Princess Lovisa of Sweden

1. Philippe, Duke of Brabant

24. Fulco VI Prince Ruffo of Calabria

12. Fulco VII Beniamino Tristano, Prince Ruffo of Calabria

25. Eleonora Galletti di San Cataldo

6. Fulco VIII Prince Ruffo of Calabria

26. Théodore, Baron Mosselman du Chenoy

13. Laura Mosselmann du Chenoy

27. Isabelle Coghen

3. Princess Paola Ruffo di Calabria

28. Calisto, Count Gazelli di Rossana

14. Augusto Gazelli, Count di Rossana e San Sebastiano

29. Francesca Cotti di Ceres

7. Luisa Gazelli di Rossana e di Sebastiano

30. Félix, Count Rignon

15. Countess Maria Cristina Rignon

31. Luisa Perrone di San Martino

See also

• List of Succession to the Belgian Throne
• Prince Philippe Fund

External links

• Royal House of Belgium
• Princely House of Sapieha (female ancestors of Crown Princess Mathilde)
• Some ancestry of Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz
• Fonds Prince Philippe (in French, Dutch and German)

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Φίλιππος του Βελγίου

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Νεότερος κλάδος του House of Wettin

Γέννηση: 15 April 1960

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