Senator by right
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Senators by right (Dutch: senator van rechtswege, French: sénateur de droit, German: Senator von Rechts wegen) were non-elected members of the Belgian Senate.
If the ruling monarch of Belgium had any children, all of them who were above 18 years old could opt to sit in the Senate, as senators by right; if the current monarch had no offspring, the descendants of the branch of the royal house called on to reign were senators by right instead.[1]
Theoretically, senators by right were entitled to vote in the Senate once they reached the age of 21. However, by constitutional convention they did not use this right. Their presence was also disregarded when calculating the quorum; to reach the quorum, 36 of the 71 elected senators had to be present.[1] Until 2013, Prince Philippe, Princess Astrid and Prince Laurent were senators by right.[2] When Prince Philippe became King, there were no senators by right.
As part of the sixth Belgian state reform, the function of senators by right was abolished effective as of the May 2014 elections.
List
| Senator | From | To |
|---|---|---|
| Prince Leopold, later King Leopold II | 9 April 1853 | 16 December 1865 |
| Prince Albert, later King Albert I | 13 November 1906 | 23 December 1906 |
| Prince Leopold, later King Leopold III | 8 November 1927 | 23 February 1934 |
| Prince Albert, later King Albert II | 11 March 1958 | 9 August 1993 |
| Prince Philippe, later King Philippe | 21 June 1994 | 21 July 2013 |
| Princess Astrid | 20 November 1996 | 21 July 2013 |
| Prince Laurent | 31 May 2000 | 21 July 2013 |
References
- ^ a b "Composition of the Belgian Senate".
- ^ "Huidige lijst van de senatoren" [Current list of senators] (in Dutch). Retrieved 2010-08-04.