The official title of the Belgian kings is “King of the Belgians.” In Belgium, there is a difference between the titles “King of Belgium” and the “King of the Belgians.” The first suggests that the monarch is the owner of all of the country's land. The second title implies that he simply “reigns” over the Belgians in the constitutional monarchy that's existed in the country since it separated from Holland and the “United Kingdom of the Netherlands” in 1830. The Belgian king, and its been a king, not a queen, since independence, was never an absolute monarch, though in the 19th century, the king had considerable more power and influence than King Philippe does today.