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 Belgium |  United Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Embassy of Belgium, London | Embassy of the United Kingdom, Brussels |
Belgium–United Kingdom relations arediplomatic and foreign relations betweenBelgium and theUnited Kingdom.
In addition, both countries' royal families are descended from theHouse of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, with the British branch being known as theHouse of Windsor and the Belgian branch as theHouse of Belgium.
Both countries share common membership of the Atlantic Co-operation Pact,[1] theCouncil of Europe, theEuropean Court of Human Rights, theInternational Criminal Court,NATO, theOECD, theOSCE, theUnited Nations, and theWorld Trade Organization. Bilaterally the two countries have a Classified Information Protection Agreement,[2] a Double Taxation Convention,[3] and a Maritime Cooperation Agreement.[4]
In the early years of theHundred Years' War,Edward III of England allied with the nobles of theLow Countries and the burghers ofFlanders against France.[citation needed]
Belgium established its independence in therevolution of 1830. Like the other European Great Powers, Britain was slow to recognise the new state. Even the election ofLeopold of Saxe-Coburg, former son-in-law of Britain'sKing George IV and uncle to the futureQueen Victoria, as King of the Belgians failed to win diplomatic recognition fromLondon. Belgium's emergence had caused the break-up of theUnited Kingdom of the Netherlands, one of severalbuffer states established after the end of theNapoleonic Wars as a check against future French expansion, and London feared this newly formed nation would be unable to survive hostile expansion by its neighbours. A British-organised European Congress produced theTreaty of London of 1839, whereby the Great Powers (and The Netherlands) all formally recognised the independence of Belgium, and (at Britain's insistence) guaranteed its neutrality.[5]
At theBerlin Conference (1884), Britain had recognised theCongo Free State as the personal domain of the King of the Belgians. Britain was subsequently to become a centre for opposition toLeopold II's personal rule in the territory through organisations such as theCongo Reform Association. At one point, Britain even demanded that the 14 signatories to the Berlin Conference meet again to discuss the situation. In 1894, theBritish East Africa Company led byQueen Victoria and the British Prime MinisterLord Rosebery had established and declaredUganda aprotectorate of theBritish Empire next to the border of Belgium's African colony in the Congo. In 1908, Belgium's parliament took control of the Congo, which became a conventional European colony. In the years prior toWorld War I, many Belgians bore considerable resentment over Britain's campaign against Leopold II's activities in the Congo. In 1916, the Belgians advanced the German territory ofEast Africa such as theBattle of Tabora during theFirst World War and forcedGermany to cedeRuanda-Urundi to Belgium as aClass-B Mandate.[6]
The guarantees of neutrality of 1839 failed to prevent the invasion of Belgium byGermany in 1914. It was the final straw for an element of the Liberal Party that needed a moralistic reason to enter the war, beyond the need to prevent the defeat ofFrance. HistorianZara Steiner says of German's invasion:
Around 250,000 Belgian refugees came to the UK during World War I; about 90% returned to Belgium soon after the war ended.[9]Agatha Christie's fictional detectiveHercule Poirot was depicted as one of them.
South Africa was ruled by theDutch and then theBritish colonization as theUnion of South Africa, while theBelgians ruled as theBelgian Congo until its independence from Belgium on 30 June 1960, while South Africa became a republic during theApartheid era from 1948 until 1994, whenNelson Mandela was elected and became the firstPresident of South Africa following the landslide victory of1994 South African general election. WithMobutu ruled as the dictator ofZaire which has its name from 1971 to his overthrow in 1997 by the rebel leaderLaurent Kabila during theFirst Congo War and has renamed originally as theDemocratic Republic of the Congo which then forced Mobutu to leaveKinshasa and heading for exile inMorocco, as he later died in the same year.
Historically, the south eastern parts of Great Britain and the area that is now Belgium has evidence of trade since the 1st century[10] and wool exports from the UK to cloth imports in the 10th-centuryCounty of Flanders. Flemish bricks were used on work to the Tower of London in 1278.[11] Today as much as 7.8% of Belgium’s exports are to the UK.[12] with just over 5% of Belgium's imports, over €12,000,000 coming from the UK.[13] Belgium is the UK's sixth-largest export market, worth £10,000,000 a year. The UK is Belgium's fourth-largest export market with two-way trade worth in the region of £22,000,000,000 of which £2,000,000,000 is in services.[14] The Golden Bridge Awards were established in 2012 for UK export success in Belgium and recognising the importance of a close by market.[15]
FollowingBrexit, Trade between theUnited Kingdom and Belgium is governed by theEU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement since 1 January 2021.[16][17]
Today, there are roughly 30,000 British people living in Belgium, and 30,000 Belgians living in the UK.[8] In 2014, the UK government announced £5,000,000 for the restoration of First World War graves in Flanders.[18]
Queen Elizabeth II made fourstate visits to Belgium during her reign; in 1966 (being received byKing Baudouin), and in 1993, 1998 and 2007, where she was received byKing Albert II.
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