During the Second World War Charles was known as General du Boc, in order to hide his identity for security reasons.

During World War I, the children of the Belgian royal family were sent to United Kingdom while King Albert I remained in Belgium behind the Yser Front.

In 1915 Prince Charles began attending Wixenford School in Wokingham, Berkshire, and in 1917 proceeded to the Royal Naval College, Osborne, and two years later to Dartmouth.

Belgium managed to jump-start its national economy with the aid of American assistance provided under the Marshall Plan.

Also during his regency the Benelux customs union was formed, Belgium became a member state of the United Nations, and the North Atlantic Treaty was signed.

In 1950, Charles's regency ended when Leopold III returned to Belgium and resumed his monarchical duties, following a plebiscite.

[4] He died on 1 June 1983 in Ostend, predeceasing his elder brother by a few months, and was buried at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels.

[5] It is reported that Prince Charles, Count of Flanders, married Louise Marie Jacqueline Peyrebrune (16 February 1921, in La Réole – 15 September 2014, in Saint-Hilaire-de-la-Noaille), formerly Mrs. Georges Schaack, daughter of Alfred Peyrebrune and Marie Madeleine Triaut, in a religious ceremony in Paris on 14 September 1977.