Belgium has an embassy in Berlin,[2] a consul in Cologne , Frankfurt am Main, Munich, Aachen, Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Bremen, while Germany has an embassy in Brussels.
Some German cities (like Hanau and Cologne) are or were traditional centres of Belgian Protestant Diaspora.[citation needed] German is besides Dutch and French also the third official language in Belgium. The German-speaking Community of Belgium is the smallest of the three political communities in Belgium. Belgium is participating in the annual meeting of German-speaking countries since 2014.
The biggest part of modern territory of Belgium, along with Germany, had been part of the Holy Roman Empire for centuries until the end of the 18th century. The first king of Belgium after Belgium gained its independence in 1830 was Leopold I, who hailed from the aristocratic family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. To date, all Belgian kings stem from his lineage.