BRUSSELS — Even as Belgians shouted, “Long live the king” to welcome their new monarch yesterday, several northern Flanders legislators boycotted 53-year-old King Philippe I’s coronation, highlighting the long-standing feud between the 183-year-old parliamentary democracy’s Dutch-speaking Flemings and Francophones — the biggest challenge the monarch will face.

The ceremony capped a day of transition in which Philippe’s father, the 79-year-old Albert, signed away his rights as the kingdom’s largely ceremonial ruler.