King Albert II to give up on Belgium and retire to his estates

[Drakken]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/belgian-king-albert-ii-to-step-down-in-favour-of-son/article12948959/

Belgian King Albert II to abdicate in favour of son

Belgium's King Albert II said on Wednesday he would abdicate and leave the throne to his son on July 21, saying he felt too old to carry out his duties properly.

"I realize that my age and my health are no longer allowing me to carry out my duties as I would like to," the 79-year-old monarch said in a televised address.

Belgium's 53-year-old heir apparent, Philippe, who studied at Trinity College, Oxford, and Stanford University, has already led Belgian trade delegations to countries such as the United States, China and Thailand. He has four children.

The abdication comes only six months after Queen Beatrix of the neighbouring Netherlands announced she would vacate the Dutch throne in favour of her son Willem Alexander.

While the Belgian monarch has no executive powers and plays a largely ceremonial role, he is a rare uniting factor in an otherwise divided country which in recent years has seen more and more powers devolved to regional governments.

Albert II, who has three children, ascended to the throne in 1993 when his childless brother Baudouin died.

In 1999 Belgian media reported that Albert had fathered a fourth child, a daughter, in an extramarital affair in the 1960s. The palace never acknowledged this.

[The Brain]

A Stanfordian on the throne?

[Crazy_Ivan80]

so what. the new one will be in the pocket of the PS too

[Viking]

Does Belgium have a government yet?

[Legbiter]

Does Belgium have a government yet?

Hasn't resulted in any major problems apparently. Isn't Belgium fairly decentralised anyway?

[mongers]

Is Belgium gradually dissolving, as bit by bit people can't be arsed to carry on or renew each of it's institutions. 

And at some point it will cease to exist as there will be nothing 'Belgium-like' left, but no one will notice until a few years later when someone says "What ever happened to Belgium, is it still around ?"

[The Brain]

The UK sacrificed 800k soldiers for Belgium. Which is both sad and hilarious. Mostly sad.

[Valmy]

It seems monarchs abdicating is all the rage these days.  Pity I do not have that option in CK2