Belgian nobility

In the Kingdom of Belgium there are at the moment approximately 1,300 noble families. Some 20,000 individuals are titled. The noble lineage of only ca. 400 families dates back to the 17th century. As Belgium is a democratic constitutional monarchy there are no legal privileges attached to bearing a noble title or to being a member of the aristocracy. Most noble surnames have the particle 'de' (French for of/from) or the Dutch 'van' as a prefix. The Belgian nobility is known to be mostly Roman Catholic, conservative, and royalist. Living in a bilingual (Dutch/French) country with a majority of Dutch-speaking people, their mother tongue is mostly French although many are also fluent in Dutch and other languages. Many of the older families still own (and reside in) important Castles or country houses. (see: Castles in Belgium) Most noble people in Belgium still clearly belong to the elite. They sometimes own and manage companies, or have leading positions in business, banking, diplomacy, NGOs etc.

Belgium is one of the few monarchies in the world where noble titles are still (annually) granted by the King of the Belgians. (Grant of Nobility). Many Belgian citizens meritorious in business, politics, science, arts, sport etc. received a title. Amongst others are the entrepreneur Baron Paul Janssen, the astronauts Viscount Dirk Frimout and Viscount Frank De Winne, the chemist Viscount Ilya Prigogine and the cyclist Baron Eddy Merckx.

Contents

Princely houses

(Prince in French/ Prins in Dutch The title of Prince is the highest in rank. The title is not granted to new nobles. Members of the families listed below have the right to call themselves 'Prince' or 'Princess' in combination with their family name. Most families have a very old lineage (typically before the 15th century) and their ancestors often bore other titles before they obtained the highest rank. They are received in audience by the King in the 'Salon Bleu' of the Royal Palace of Belgium and subsequently are called 'Noblesse du Salon Bleu' (Nobles of the Blue Room). Some families obtained and still hold titles in other countries.

Members of the Royal family bear the title 'Prince of Belgium'. Sometimes a specific dynastic title is granted. For example the Crown Prince is traditionally granted the title of Duke of Brabant (Duc de Brabant/Hertog van Brabant).

Note:

Ducal houses

Members of the following houses bear the title of Duke (Duc in French,Hertog in Dutch). It's the second highest title in rank and was never granted by the Kingdom of Belgium. The origin of the titles thus goes back to an earlier date. Higher than prince in some families (Arenberg, Croy, Ursel, Beaufort-Spontin, Looz-Corswarem)

Also, the dynastic title Duke of Brabant is used by the Crown Prince. At this moment the Belgian Crown Prince Philip is Duke of Brabant.

Margraval houses

Members of 11 families bear the title of Marquess.

Counts

Count is the highest-ranked title still granted by the Belgian King. There are roughly 90 families in Belgium whose members bear the title of Count or Countess:

The titles Count of Hainault and Count of Flanders are used as dynastic titles for members of the Royal Family.

Viscounts

There are roughly 45 families in Belgium whose members bear the title of viscounts in Belgium (Vicomte in French/Burggraaf in Dutch). It is a one of the highest titles granted by the King.

Barons

More than 300 individuals bear the title of Baron or Baroness. This title is often granted by the King. Members of the following families bear the title.

Knights

In Belgium there are roughly 200 knights (Chevalier in French / Ridder in Dutch). There is no female equivalent for the title; the wife of a knight usually takes the title of " lady".

Noble families without a title

Nobles without a title can call themselves Écuyer (French for shield bearer or squire) or Jonkheer (Dutch, literally meaning 'Young Lord'). The female equivalent of Jonkheer is Jonkvrouw. Écuyer however has no female equivalent. The titles Jonkheer and Jonkvrouw are roughly equivalent in meaning to "Sir" or "Dame", but not a common translation. Écuyer is equivalent to "esquire" except that the latter may be used for any Englishman.

There are thousands of untitled noble families in Belgium. These noble families lack an official Belgian family title for various reasons. The most common reason is that they were Écuyer, as described above, and were therefore noble only through their close link with the titled aristocracy. Another common reason is that some titles could only be taken over by a certain number of family members (e.g. the eldest), so that the rest of the family became untitled, though essentially still made part of the Belgian nobility. A third reason is that some aristocrats voluntarily relinquished their title in order to perform commercial activities, as described above.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of untitled noble families in Belgium:

Foreign Noble Families residing in Belgium

In addition to the families mentioned above, a number of noble families originated from outside Belgium, but have since obtained Belgian nationality after residing for a long time (sometimes for many generations) in Belgium. Most of these families have come from neighbouring European monarchies (France, Holland, Germany) at various stages of history. These have usually (but not always) asked for equivalent nobility titles within the Kingdom of Belgium, which were typically granted.

A number of noble families residing in Belgium originate beyond the current European Union borders (Russia) or even outside Europe Korea, Japan. Many of these families used to possess nobility titles in their country of origin, which have not always been converted into official Belgian nobility titles. In some cases, some families did not want a Belgian title because they hoped their stay in Belgium would be only temporary. This was the case for many Russian nobles, who were exiled after the October Revolution.

In other cases, some families did not make the request for conversion either by pride or because the cultural differences make such conversions less obvious.

Despite being of foreign origins, the above noble families belong fully to the Belgian elite and many are well integrated into the society. Many of these families have been in Belgium for so long, intermarrying with Belgian nobility, that they are more Belgian than foreign in blood (e.g. de Lobkowicz, de Radiguès de Chenneviere, Arrazola de Oñate).[4] Moreover, the family names have often been frenchified by adding particles such as de.

References

Further reading

Footnotes

  1. ^ Official website of the house of Arenberg
  2. ^ Ducal and princely families of Belgium: Beaufort-Spontin, Eupedia.com, Retrieved 20 December 2009
  3. ^ [M. Siegenbeek, "Levensbericht van P.C.G. baron de Coninck", in: Handelingen van de Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde, 1827]
  4. ^ Belgium Guide - Belgian nobility (Noblesse belge / Belgische Adel)
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