King William I
Feeling endangered by Napoleon, who had escaped from Elba (an island), William the first proclaimed the Netherlands on March 16, 1815, at the Congress of Vienna, kings and other royalty forced him to become the king of Netherlands. His son, the future king William II, fought as a leader at the Battle of Waterloo. After Napoleon had been sent into banishment, William adopted a new organization which included many of the principles of the old organization, such as royalty having a lot more powers than usual. He was confirmed as part of family line of rulers of what was known as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands at the Congress of Vienna. The constitution was established in the North, but not in the South. The under-representation of the South was one of the causes of the Belgian Revolution. The voting turnout was low, in the Southern provinces, but William declared that if anyone is absent, he will consider it as a ‘yes’ vote. He prepared an impressive inauguration for himself in Belgium, where he gave the people copper coins (leading to his first nickname, the Copper King). In August 1830, the opera La Muette de Portici, involving the repression of Neapolitan was staged in Brussels. Performances of this show seemed to come together in a sense of nationalism and "Holland phobia" in Brussels, and spread to the rest of the South. Rioting ensued, mainly aimed at the kingdom's unpopular justice minister, who lived in Brussels. An angry William responded by sending troops to repress the riots. However, the riots had spread to other Southern cities. The riots quickly became popular uprisings and soon, an independent state of Belgium was proclaimed. The next year, William sent his sons to Belgium to repress this state. Although in the beginning, the united king of the Netherlands was winning, the Dutch army was forced to retreat after the threat of French intervention. Some support for the Orange dynasty persisted for years but the Dutch never regained control over Belgium. William continued the war for eight years. Even though William was doing a good job on making his country a better and richer place with the economy, people still thought he was not doing a good job; he was overshadowed by his war failures. High costs of the war came to be a load for the Dutch economy, fueling public resentment. In 1839, William was forced to end the war. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands was dissolved and continued as the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
King William II
William II enjoyed significant popularity in what is now Belgium, as well as in the Netherlands for his sociability and moderation. In 1830, on the outbreak of the Belgian revolution, he did his best in Brussels as a peace broker, to bring about a settlement based on administrative independence for the southern provinces, under the House of Orange-Nassau. His father then rejected the terms of somewhere to live that he had proposed; afterwards, relations with his father were tense. In April 1831, William II was military leader of the Ten days campaign in Belgium which was driven back to the North by French intervention. European intervention established Leopold of Saxe-Gotha on the new throne of Belgium. Peace was finally established between Belgium and the Netherlands in 1839.
King Leopold I
Leopold said “no” to the Greeks about him being the king of Greece. After Belgium declared its independence from the Netherlands on October 4, 1830, the Belgian National Congress asked Leopold to become King of the newly-formed country. He was elected on June 4, and accepted; he became "King of the Belgians" on June 26, 1831. He swore loyalty to the constitution in Coudenbergh Place in Brussels on July 21, 1831. This day became a Belgian national holiday.
Prince Frederick I
Prince Frederick grew up at the court of his grandfather, Frederick William II of Prussia, and uncle Frederick William III of Prussia. At the age of 16, the prince fought in the battle of Leipzig. Frederick first entered the Netherlands in December, 1813. Since he couldn't speak Dutch, the prince was sent to Leiden University to get a better education. During the Belgian Revolution of 1830, he sent troops to put down the rebellion. After the independence of Belgium, he took part in the Ten days campaign of 1831.