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Kingdom of the Lowlands The Lowlands | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
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Motto: "God leidt ons op!" "God will lead us!" | |
.svg) Location of the Kingdom of the Lowlands | |
| Capital and largest city |
 Brussels |
| Official languages |
Dutch French Luxembourgish |
| Recognized languages |
Flemish German |
| Ethnic groups |
65% Lowlandian 18% Other european 8% Asian 6% Black 3% Other |
| Demonym(s) | Lowlandian |
| Government | Federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy |
• King | Leopold III |
| Augustin Dupont | |
| Legislature | Parliament |
| Senate | |
| House of Commons | |
| Area | |
• Total | 76,657 km2 (29,597 sq mi) |
| Population | |
• 2017 census | 28,543,202 |
| Currency | Frulden |
The Lowlands, officially known as the Kingdom of the Lowlands and commonly known as the Benelux Union, is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy located in Western Europe bordering France to the west and Germany to the east. The North Sea borders the country to the North.
The country covers an area of approximately 76,657 km2. The country encompasses the historical countries of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The country is unified under a single monarchy and a central government. There are seven regions which all hold a certain amount of power according to the Constitution of 1955. This makes the Lowlands a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy.
The country never actually unified under a single crown until 1906 during the reign of Leopold II but the country had existed in some form prior to this. In 1831, Leopold I ascended to the throne of Belgium. A fierce advocate of militarism, Leopold I built up a massive army. By 1844, Belgium had the third largest army and fifth largest navy in Europe. Leopold I had concocted a plan to take over Luxembourg which had a weak influence in the region both politically and militarily at the time. Leopold seen this as an opportunity to expand Belgiums foothold in Europe. Leopold signed a pact with the Luxembourg duke, Guillaume III which created an economic and military alliance between the two. Leopold betrayed this agreement in 1845 and invaded Luxembourg in the War of 1845. No aid came to Luxembourg as no country surrounding it deemed it of any worth to them. At the end of the war Luxembourg was annexed and merged into the Monarchy of Belgium. The Netherlands began its ascension into the union in 1890 during the reign of Albert I of Belgium. Albert had been in a relationship with Wilhelmina, the Crown Princess of the Netherlands, for over 11 years and eventually decided to marry in 1890. Under Dutch ascension law, if a female heir apparent married before she ascended to the throne, the husband would be known as king instead of prince consort. This essentially gave Albert full control over both monarchies and he was the first dual monarch. The dual monarchy continued until 1906 when Leopold II announced the merging of the two crowns and the formation of the Kingdom of the Lowlands.
The country has been under the same system of government since 1955 when the new constitution was passed. The constitution changed the system from a unitary parliamentary constitutional monarchy to a federal system. All of the seven regions have their own legislature and all issues are under control of the region except for defense, federal budgets and foreign relations. Federal laws sets boundaries for regional law and all regional law is deemed reasonable as long as it is constitutional and is in line with federal law. The Monarch technically does hold huge amounts of power but this is not exercised and has not been since the 1940's. The current monarch is Leopold III. The government is led by the Chancellor who is a member of the House of Commons. The Chancellor appoints the Cabinet who collectively run the country. The current Chancellor is Augustin Dupont.
The country is culturally and ethnically diverse. The majority ethnic groups of the Flemish, Wallonians, Luxembourgish and Dutch are all collectively known as Lowlandians. The nominal GDP of the country, according to the International Monetary Fund as of 2018, is around 1.38 trillion frulden. The country has a GDP per capita of 48,359 and ranks very high on the Human Development Index