The reign of Albert II, King of the Belgians and his queen consort, Paola, is over
Almost 62 years ago to the day Albert watched his father, Leopold III, abdicate in favour of his older brother, Baudouin, turning Albert himself into heir to the throne. His sister, Josephine-Charlotte, and his half brother, Alexander, also looked on along with his father's second wife, Princess Lilian. They are all dead now and the teenager who became heir to the throne of Belgium on that July day in 1951, but who never expected to be monarch, today hands on his kingdom to his own son.
In almost twenty years as king he won the respect of his people with his steadiness, his calmness and, in most recent times, his determination to find a solution to the political crisis that had engulfed the nation when the political parties couldn't form a government.
His own story has been checkered - he lost his mother when he was one, spent part of his childhood as a prisoner after the Nazi occupation of Belgium and saw his father in exile. He watched his brother shoulder the great burden of state that came with kingship and while he formed a family, saw that same brother and his wife suffer five miscarriages.
He misses his 20th anniversary by just a few days. But what better time to usher in a new king that on the national day. Albert II and Paola have bowed out and a new king and queen of the Belgians take centre stage.
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