| Prince Philippe | |
| Count of Flanders | |
| Full Name: | French: Philippe Eugène Ferdinand Marie Clément Baudouin Léopold Georges Dutch; Flemish: Filips Eugeen Ferdinand Marie Clemens Boudewijn Leopold Joris |
| Issue: | |
| House: | Saxe-Coburg and Gotha |
| Father: | Leopold I of Belgium |
| Mother: | Louise of Orléans |
| Birth Date: | 1837 3, df=y |
| Birth Place: | Royal Castle of Laeken, Laeken, Belgium |
| Death Place: | Palace of the Count of Flanders, Brussels, Belgium |
| Place Of Burial: | Church of Our Lady of Laeken |
Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders (Dutch; Flemish: Filips; 24 March 1837 – 17 November 1905), was the third born and second surviving son of King Leopold I of Belgium and Louise d'Orléans. He was the brother of Leopold II of Belgium and Empress Carlota of Mexico.
Born at the Château de Laeken, near Brussels, Belgium, Philippe was created Count of Flanders on 14 December 1840. In January 1869, upon the sudden death of his nephew Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant, he became heir presumptive to the Belgian throne. In 1866, after the abdication of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Prince of Romania, Philippe refused being named the new Romanian sovereign, and the throne was later accepted by Philippe's brother-in-law Carol I.[1] Earlier, he had also refused the crown of Greece, which was offered to him in 1862.
Philippe died in 1905. When his brother King Leopold II died in 1909, Philippe's second son ascended the Belgian throne as King Albert I.
On 25 April 1867 at St. Hedwig's Cathedral in Berlin, he married Marie Luise Alexandra Caroline, Princess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, (1845–1912), daughter of Karl Anton von Hohenzollern (1811–1885) and his wife Josephine of Baden (1813–1900). Among Marie's siblings were the deceased Queen of Portugal and the future King of Romania.
The children of Phillipe and Marie were:
He died in his residence the Palace of the Count of Flanders, and is buried at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken. He was succeeded as heir presumptive to the throne by his son, Albert.
He received the following decorations and awards:[2]
Damien Bilteryst, Philippe Comte de Flandre, Frère de Léopold II, Bruxelles, Editions Racine, juin 2014, 336 p.