Foreign policy
For his role in European affairs, Leopold was dubbed the "Nestor of Europe", after the wise mediator in Homer's Iliad. This was also due to his connection to other monarchs. For example, Leopold's niece was Queen of the United Kingdom, his nephew was Prince Consort of the United Kingdom and his other nephew was the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He remained in close contact with his sovereign relatives, particularly Queen Victoria. Historian Jean Stengers records that Leopold's intervention in European affairs was to look after Belgian interests, to look after British interests and to encourage peace to maintain the conservative order. Not only did Leopold have high-level correspondence with other leaders, but he regularly travelled and made informal and state visits. Throughout his reign and particularly in the 1840s, a main goal of his was to repair Franco-British relations due to the Eastern question. He organised a meeting between his father-in-law, Louis Philippe I of France, and his niece, Queen Victoria, in 1843 at the Château d'Eu, marking the first time in thirteen years that the House of Orléans received a foreign monarch. The following year, Louis Philippe visited Victoria in Britain, with Leopold and Louise organising his itinerary. Moreover, with the rise of Prussia to the east of Belgium, Leopold worked to maintain amicable ties with the German states. In August 1843, along with members of the British royal family, Leopold travelled to Brühl and stayed at Stolzenfels Castle with the Prussian monarch and forty members of other German royalty. Notably, the Emperor of Russia, Nicholas I, did not attend despite his invitation. In 1844, per Jules Van Praet, Russia and Belgium established relations.
The rise of Prussia as the dominating German power continued throughout the decades of Leopold's reign. The new German Confederation's legislature became the Frankfurt Assembly, which was the first pan-German parliament with representatives from each German state, including the German-speaking areas of the Austrian Empire. Leopold's name was suggested as a potential candidate for the federal leader of the Confederation who would bear the imperial crown of Germany. Naturally, the entry of Belgium into the German Confederation was then discussed. Leopold was opposed to both of these propositions as they would contravene Belgium's status as a neutral power and diminish the independence of the country. The German Confederation nonetheless soon disbanded, though German Unification would later occur after Leopold's death.
When Louis Philippe was deposed in the 1848 French Revolution, Leopold remained neutral and was one of the first heads of state to recognise the new French Republic. While this pleased the new French government, it came as a shock to other European nations who had admired Belgian neutrality, imposed by Article VII of the Treaty of London (1839). While most historians have depicted Leopold as faithful to this, others have not, such as Belgian historian Jan Anckaer, who interprets Leopold's diplomatic efforts in the Second Egyptian-Ottoman War in 1840 and Belgium's manufacture of arms for Russia during the Crimean War as breaches of neutrality. Following the July Monarchy, the Second French Empire was created, which worried the Belgian government. Immediately following the 1851 French coup d'état, Leopold sent Prime Minister Henri de Brouckère to Paris to meet the new Napoleon III to assure cordial relations. Leopold saw the new regime in France as a threat and began limiting the number of French political refugees to stay on the good side of Napoleon, whom Leopold met in Calais in 1854. The following year, Leopold sent his eldest son to Paris for an exhibition as part of the official Belgian delegation.
Furthermore, despite initial skirmishes at the start of his tenure, Leopold wanted to repair relations with the Netherlands. In October 1859, Leopold sent his youngest son to The Hague on a state visit, where he met with the Dutch royal family. On 18 October 1861 in Liège, Leopold received William III of the Netherlands, who returned via Belgium after meeting with Napoleon III. The day before the Belgian and Dutch monarchs met, Leopold wrote to Victoria: "He will be very well received, his process is rightly appreciated here. Being received in the very country where you were Crown Prince is a little painful and you feel slightly embarrassed." The meeting was successful.
When Leopold swore allegiance to the Constitution, Belgium had no colonial possessions and could not lay claim to any Dutch colonies. However, Belgium did seek to develop its industry and trade, which it saw would require establishing commercial relations with non-European countries. Leopold also believed that acquiring a colony would solve the issue of rising poverty rates, an effect of rapid industrialisation and food shortages following war with the Netherlands. In attempting to set up colonies, Leopold engaged in multiple planning projects which he personally funded; however, they were all abandoned by the government. He proposed taking the Isle of Pines, Tortuga and other territories in the Antilles. Sweden made Belgium an offer to cede the island of Saint Barthélemy, but France soon took it up. Other colonial prospects of Leopold's that resulted in failure included taking the Faroe Islands, setting up a Belgian protectorate in New Zealand, installing a Belgian trading post in Ethiopia, taking the Nicobar Islands per an English shipping company's suggestion, and establishing a consortium in the Philippines that would pay Spain at 5% interest.
The Belgian Colonisation Company was founded on 18 September 1841 and was funded by Leopold. Its objectives were to "create agricultural, industrial and commercial establishments in different states of Central America and other places" and "to establish commercial relations between these countries and Belgium". The company purchased 404,666 hectares of land in Santo Tomás de Castilla (modern-day Guatemala) granted by the Guatemalan dictator Rafael Carrera. An exploration commission was sent on 9 November 1841 in order to finalise the purchase; however, Belgian delegates soon began leaving due to unsanitary conditions. Leopold pushed for the project to continue. Until 1847, Belgium sent ships full of settlers, served prisoners and working-class men to the territory, promising a more hopeful future; however, this failed due to harsh conditions leading to a high mortality rate. In 1855, Guatemala pulled out from the deal.
During the Second Opium War, Great Britain and France sent expeditionary forces to China, bound for Beijing in 1859. Under Leopold's eldest son, Leopold, who held an interest in the Far East, Belgium sought to involve itself by sending volunteers so that the country would economically benefit and strengthen ties with Britain and France. Leopold contacted Napoleon III, and the two agreed to Belgian involvement; however, the government stated that it would pull out if conflict were to occur. In 1860, Leopold sent his youngest son, Philip, to Brazil so that he could marry one of the daughters of Emperor Pedro II. Pedro subsequently gifted Philip with multiple territories for European migrants to settle on. Leopold was eager for the marriage to work as it would establish a branch of his family in South America. However, Philip was unimpressed and abandoned the project. By the end of Leopold's reign, Belgium still lacked colonies; however, his son would soon acquire the Congo as his own personal private property before ceding it to Belgium in 1908.
As a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Leopold was eager to see his family's influence rise throughout Europe. He skillfully used his family connections and marriages to protect Belgium from French ambitions and the threat of annexation by Napoleon III. Leopold supported the marriage of his nephew, Ferdinand, to the queen of Portugal, Maria II, in 1836. Portugal had a longstanding alliance with Great Britain and with his nephew now on the Portuguese throne jure uxoris, Leopold hoped it would bring Belgium and Britain closer. In 1840, Leopold's nephew, Albert, married his first cousin and Leopold's niece, Queen Victoria, thus cementing Anglo-Belgian ties. In 1843, Leopold's nephew, Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, married Louise's sister, Princess Clémentine of Orléans, thus again uniting the two royal houses. Though Leopold had influenced all these royal marriages, he was not always as successful. In 1846, August's brother, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, failed to marry Isabella II of Spain.
Meanwhile, in France in 1850, Louise had caught a cold while attending a ceremony commemorating her recently deceased father. Though medical experts did not seem concerned, Louise died prematurely on 11 October 1850, aged 38. It was the second time Leopold was widowed and he became deeply saddened by this.
For eighteen years, and more, Louise was a true friend and it is truly impossible to get an exact idea of her love and devotion. [...] It is an enormous loss, because our friendship was frankly cordial and it was never disturbed, for eighteen years, even if only for a moment.
Per Defrance, the mood in the royal court fell sombre dramatically after this. Leopold and Louise's children, who were barely teenagers, suffered in the absence of their mother and were often left to nannies. Louise had personally educated her children and now tutors needed to be found. Leopold became more reclusive and distanced from his family, with it becoming normal for their only form of communication to be by letter, either in French or German. Leopold found comfort in Louise's friend and his daughter's tutor, Countess Denise d'Hulst, and he attempted to father his two sons, who began regularly rebelling against him.
As his children aged, Leopold was gladdened to see his eldest son and daughter marry into the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, who served as the Emperors of Austria and previously of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1853, Leopold's eldest son married Marie Henriette of Austria, a first cousin of Emperor Franz Joseph I. Four years later, Leopold encouraged the matrimonial pairing of his daughter, Charlotte, with Archduke Maximilian of Austria, who was later appointed the Emperor of Mexico. Additionally, Leopold's great-nephew, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII), married Alexandra of Denmark in 1862 under the auspices of Leopold. Albert Edward's mother, Queen Victoria, continued Leopold's legacy of arranging royal marriages for the family, becoming nicknamed the "grandmother of Europe". However, Leopold's role in Belgian diplomacy diminished in favour of the government in the later years of his reign. In 1859, he failed to convince his Cabinet to send a Belgian brigade to support Anglo-French naval troops in China, and in 1863, he played little role in negotiations concerning the purchase of the Scheldt toll.
