inheriting a small country was bad enough, but having a parliament and a people not interested in acquiring colonies was simply unacceptable. step in creative thinking, the best way to get through life if you insist on doing it your own way.
to convince the commoners that occupying an african land was a good thing, king leopold ii of belgium first orchestrated an elaborate ruse by establishing the association internationale africaine dedicated to humanitarian projects. how very noble, who could object?
turns out rubber production in the congo became extremely lucrative for the king. also turns out the king's methods for rubber production were notoriously brutal for the natives. even before twitter, news of the atrocities committed on behalf of the king of belgium leaked.
next step was to use those kingly pr skills to convince other countries that belgium rule of the congo was a good thing,
http://www.enotes.com/genocide-encyclopedia/king-leopold-ii-congo
so the people of the congo worked for the king, died for the king, starved for the king -- population of the congo declined approximately 50% during king leopold's "humanitarian" reign. it was not until the king had acquired something like $1 billion in profits that at last public pressure forced him to give up his holdings.
so the king who had inherited a small country adverse to engaging in colonialism exceeded expectations on the pr front and that is what the monarchy of belgium is based on. everybody okay with that?
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