By the treaty of the eighteen articles, however, concluded at London on the 29th of June 1831, the kingdom of Belgium was recognized, and Leopold of Saxe-Coburg was elected king.
In that capacity he took an important part in the negotiations respecting the founding of the new kingdom of Belgium.
As the arbitrary king alienated the Liberal Catholics, who were still more or less under the spell of the French Revolution, the Catholic provinces took advantage of the upheavals of 1830 to form the independent kingdom of Belgium.
In 1830 this arrangement broke down, and the southern provinces became the independent kingdom of Belgium.
