A King Asked His Own Government to Declare Him Constitutionally Unable to Rule — For Thirty-Six Hours, Just So He Wouldn't Have to Sign One Law
Belgium — Constitution Profile
| 📅 Adopted | February 7, 1831 |
| 🏛️ Government | Federal Parliamentary Constitutional Monarchy |
| 🌍 Capital | Brussels |
| 📄 Total Constitutions | Only 1 — heavily amended, never replaced |
| ✏️ Federal State Declared | 1993 |
| 👑 Famous Crisis | The "Abortion Question," 1990 |
Most constitutions describe what happens if a monarch dies or becomes seriously ill. Belgium's constitution has a clause for that too — and in 1990, the government used it for something nobody had quite anticipated. A perfectly healthy king simply didn't want to sign a particular law, and rather than force the issue, the cabinet briefly declared him constitutionally incapable of ruling at all.
The Country Was Born From a Revolt — And Built Its Constitution From Other People's Ideas
Belgium's founding charter didn't emerge from some uniquely Belgian political tradition. It came together quickly, in the aftermath of a revolution, by borrowing heavily from constitutional experiments that had already played out elsewhere in Europe. On 7 February 1831, the National Congress had completed its discussions and approved the Belgian constitution. The Belgian constitution was a balanced synthesis of the French constitutions of 1791, 1814 and 1830, the Dutch constitution of 1814, and of English constitutional law. However, it did not become an amalgam. On the contrary, it became an original piece of work.
What emerged from that synthesis turned out to be remarkably durable for a document assembled so quickly. Belgium became a parliamentary monarchy. The core principal of the constitution was the separation of powers. Nearly two centuries later, that same basic structure is still standing.
The Constitution Was Written in a Language Most of the Country Couldn't Read
For more than a century, Belgium's supreme legal document existed in a form that excluded a huge share of the very citizens it governed. The official version of the Constitution of 1831 was written in French and was only comprehensible to part of the national population. An official version in Dutch was only adopted in 1967. Up to then, the Dutch text was only a translation without legal value.
That left Belgium's large Dutch-speaking population for 136 years living under a constitution that, technically, only existed for them as an unofficial translation with no actual legal force. Since 1991 there is also an official German version of the Constitution. It took 160 years from the original signing for all three of Belgium's official languages to finally have equal legal standing in the founding document itself.
A Wealthy French-Speaking Elite Wrote the Rules — Then Used Them to Lock In Their Own Advantage
The 1831 constitution wasn't a neutral framework benefiting everyone equally from day one. The voting system it established was specifically structured around who already held money and property. The Belgian state could only exist as an unqualified unitary nation state within the framework created by the tax-based electoral system, introduced by the 1831 Constitution: as voting power was in the hands of a wealthy French-speaking elite, electoral clout and "capital" for the most part coincided.
The cultural and linguistic consequences of that arrangement ran deep, and lasted for generations. Due to the previous Napoleonic occupation, these developments were largely, though not exclusively, French in influence. The resulting state was francophone in spirit, and as it happened, the poorer part of the fledgling country's population was Flemish and Dutch-speaking. Dutch was considered to be the language of "common" people, while French was the language of high culture and refinement.
A King Found a Loophole to Avoid Signing a Law He Personally Opposed
Belgium's constitution gives the king almost no realistic way to permanently block legislation he disagrees with. In 1990, King Baudouin found a different route entirely — not vetoing the bill, but temporarily stepping outside the role required to sign anything at all. Article 90 and Article 93, regarding the inability to reign, were controversially applied in 1990 during the so-called Abortion Question, which arose when King Baudouin I refused to sign a bill liberalising Belgium's abortion laws into law, citing religious convictions.
This wasn't a minor administrative workaround. It meant the head of state of an entire European country was, for a brief but very real stretch, no longer functioning in that role on paper. It also provides that, between the monarch's demise and the taking of the oath of his successor or the Regent, the constitutional powers of the King are exercised by the Council of Ministers, in the name of the Belgian people. The clause was written with death or serious illness in mind. The government applied it instead to a king who was simply unwilling to put his signature on one specific piece of legislation.
Belgium Has Technically Only Ever Had One Constitution — It Just Doesn't Look Anything Like It Did at the Start
Unlike many of its neighbors, Belgium has never scrapped its founding document and started over, no matter how dramatically the country has changed. Belgium, like its northern neighbor the Netherlands, has only ever had a single constitution since its founding. The amendments this constitution has undergone, through the course of the country's history, have, however, been substantial.
The numbers behind those amendments are striking once you actually count them. Since its adoption, the Belgian Constitution has shown continuous adaptability, undergoing over a hundred amendments to address political tensions, regional autonomy demands, and modern governance challenges. The Belgian Constitution has been amended 29 times since the coordinated text of 17 February 1994 was published in the Belgian Official Journal alone — meaning the bulk of those hundred-plus amendments happened in just the past few decades.
The Country Quietly Rewrote What It Even Was — Without Writing a New Constitution to Do It
Perhaps Belgium's most consequential constitutional change wasn't a new document at all — it was a single rewritten sentence that transformed the entire structure of the state. Since 1993, the first article of the Constitution stipulates that Belgium is a federal state composed of Communities and Regions. This means that there are two types of devolved entities at the same level, with neither taking precedence over the other.
That federal structure now overlays Belgium with two separate, parallel maps of authority. Belgium comprises three Communities: the Flemish Community, the French Community and the German-speaking Community. Belgium comprises three Regions: the Flemish Region, the Walloon Region and the Brussels Region. Most countries that federalize draw one map of internal divisions. Belgium drew two completely different ones, layered on top of each other, just to keep its linguistic and economic interests from colliding directly.
The System Got So Complicated the Country Once Went 541 Days Without a Government
The federal structure Belgium built to manage its linguistic divisions has, at times, produced gridlock so severe that the country's ability to function at all has come into genuine question. The most recent crisis resulted in Belgium not having even a federal government for 541 days — a world record, apparently. Therefore, the issue is no longer merely "How does Belgian politics function?," but also "Does it function at all?"
Even the formal process for amending the constitution carries its own built-in disruption, by design. Constitutional revisions follow the three-step process outlined in Article 195 of the Constitution: the national Parliament identifies the parts of the Constitution that need to be altered; immediately thereafter, the two houses of Parliament are dissolved and an election is held; then, the new Parliament and the king decide on the revision and its nature. You cannot simply vote to amend Belgium's constitution. You first have to dissolve the entire government and hold a fresh national election before the actual amendment can even be considered.
Constitution at a Glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Belgian Revolution | 1830 |
| Constitution Adopted | February 7, 1831 |
| Official Dutch Version Adopted | 1967 |
| Official German Version Adopted | 1991 |
| Abortion Question (King's "Incapacity") | April 4–5, 1990 |
| Federal State Declared (Article 1 amended) | 1993 |
| Coordinated Text Published | February 17, 1994 |
| Amendments Since 1994 | 29+ |
| Government Formation Crisis (Record) | 541 days without a federal government |
| Communities / Regions | 3 Communities, 3 Regions (separate maps) |
📥 Read the Constitution of Belgium
Read the complete, official text of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Belgium:
👉 Read the Constitution of Belgium — Full Text
A king declared briefly "unable to reign" just to avoid signing one law. A federal system with two separate maps of power layered on top of each other. A government that once didn't exist for 541 days. What part of Belgium's story surprised you most? Tell us in the comments below.
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