Maybe It's Not so Good to Be King

At least, not in this country. Things have traditionally not gone all that well for Belgian royalty. Going way back, the only daughter of Belgium's first king got married to a loony Austrian whom Napoleon III decided should do his thing in far-away Mexico. As Emperor Maximilian, he would be put to death. Wife Charlotte (later, Carlota) would be luckier: she'd simply go insane.
Jump forward two generations and more bad luck is waiting: the daughter of Belgium's 2nd king got married to Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, who would later commit suicide with his lover, setting the stage for a fellow named Archduke Franz Ferdinand to become heir to Austria-Hungary. And we know what happened to him. And Belgium. And Europe. And the World. Oh, by the way, that 2nd king of Belgium would be known as Leopold II, whose "achievements" in Africa speak infamously for themselves.
The eventual king of Belgium, Albert I, ended up falling to his death in a rock climbing accident near Namur in 1934. His son, Leopold III, married the beautiful Astrid of Sweden. But, only a year after his father's fall from the rocks, Leopold's car fell from the road near Lucerne, Switzerland, killing Queen Astrid. Leopold was driving.
I guess you'd have to say that things have improved over the past couple of generations, but not by much. Leopold's behavior in WWII led to a plebescite in 1950, to see whether Belgium wanted to retain this king. The pre-election decision was that anything above 55% in favor of the king meant he could stay. Leopold "won," with a resounding 57% of the vote...
His son, Baudouin, had his own problems, this time with the church. In 1990, Belgium's parliament voted to legalize abortion, which the king would then be forced to sign into law. The king and his wife were devout Catholics. So, what to do? Clever King B: he abdicated for a day, making Belgium a 24-hour republic. The law was re-passed, this time not needing any royal blessing, since there was no longer a king. A day later, after the vote, the king returns, law in place and his conscience intact.

Have I mentioned yet that Belgium is an odd place?