About Baudouin I Baudouin (French: Baudouin Albert Charles Léopold Axel Marie Gustave de Belgique or Dutch: Boudewijn Albert Karel Leopold Axel Marie Gustaaf van België) (7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993) reigned as King of the Belgians, following his father's abdication, from 1951 until his death in 1993. He was the eldest son of King Leopold III (1901-1983) and his first wife, Princess Astrid of Sweden (1905-1935). Having had no children, the crown passed on to his brother, Albert II of Belgium, upon his death. Baudouin is the French form of his name, the form most commonly used outside Belgium; his Dutch name is Boudewijn. Very rarely, his name is anglicized as Baldwin.