5 Famous Dutch Kings

5 Famous Dutch Kings

The Dutch occupy the Netherlands which is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy. This is mostly in Europe, except the Caribbean Netherlands. Netherlands’ one-time sovereign provinces have sporadically been under members of the House of Orange-Nassau and the House of Nassau. Here are some 5 famous Dutch Kings, with lineage from these two houses.

1. William I of the Netherlands

King William I- by Jan Adam Kruseman- Wikimedia Commons

William I was the first king of the Netherlands. He declared himself so after the French left the country.

Born in 1772 in Huis ten Bosch, William I was the eldest son of Prince of Orange and grew up with a younger brother Frederick, with whom he attended the military academy in Brunswick. William I briefly attended the University of Leiden.

From serving as a general of infantry in the United States Army to a member of the Council of State of the Netherlands, King William I had a flourishing military career. This King was also valuable on the battlefield. He fought in the battles of Menin, Veurne, Wervik and Fleurus. He also successfully besieged Landrecies.

The Batavian Revolution in Amsterdam saw William I and his family flee to Britain, where they settled at the palace of Hampton Court in England.

William I had to leave his country severally- he left the Dutch Republic after the Franco Batavian victory in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland that he was associated with. King William I went on to put together a brigade of the British army called the King’s Dutch Brigade. This Brigade was made up of ex-officers and lower rank members of the erstwhile Dutch States Army and mutineers of the Batavian troops that surrendered to the Royal Navy at the time of the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland.

After the French Republic and Britain made peace under First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte this brigade was disbanded.

When Napoleon invaded Germany in 1806, William I backed Prussia and commanded a Prussian division during the Battle of Jena- Auerstedt. He ended up a prisoner of war as the French won the battle. The imprisonment didn’t last long however. When he was released, William I lost all his German titles.

When his rule in the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda and the Principality of Orange-Nassau ended in 1806, William I was given a pension as compensation by France after the Peace of Tilsit came to be.

His rule as Prince of Orange- Nassau was restored after he won back the Netherlands from the French, with the help of Russian and Prussian troops. When the French troops left, William I became the Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands.

King William is credited with commercial and industrial revival in his reign.  He co-founded the Netherlands Trading Society and a bank. King William I also launched an economic recovery program.

It is during William I’s reign that the Belgian Revolution occurred, and ended up in the establishment of an independent Kingdom of Belgium.

William I married Wilhelmina of Prussia, his first cousin in 1791, with whom they had six children. She died in 1837, after which William I married Henrietta d’Oultremont in 1841. There were no children out of this union.

William I stepped down from the throne, and in true King William I style, christened himself King William Frederick, Count of Nassau. He died in 1843 in Berlin.

2. William II

King William II- by
Jan Adam Kruseman Wikimedia Commons

William II also known as William Frederick George Louis of the Netherlands was born on December 6 1792 in The Hague, Netherlands. He had three siblings- a sister and two brothers. William II spent most of his formative years at the Prussian court in Berlin. He was an alumnus of the University of Oxford.

William II was trained in military tactics and also joined the Prussian army.

It would seem apparent that William II would be involved in the military at some point in his life, as he was trained in military tactics at the court in Berlin. William II did join the British army, and was aide- de- camp to Arthur Wellesley, 1^st Duke of Wellington by 1811. The same year saw him become a lieutenant- colonel in the British Army, and colonel in June and October respectively- a steady rise in the ranks.

In 1812, William II became aide- de- camp to the Prince Regent, and major general on December 14 1813. He accomplished a lot in his military career away from home but returned to the Netherlands in 1813 when his father became the sovereign prince.

William II was active in the military back at his home as well. He joined the army and fought at the battle of Quatre Bras serving as commander of a sect, and fighting at the Battle of Waterloo in which he was injured.

William II’s father became king of the Netherlands in 1815, making William II the prince and heir apparent to the throne, as he was the King’s eldest son. His reign lasted nine years, from 1840 to 1849.

With his good looks topped off with a charming personality, William II was loved by the English press- they nicknamed him ‘slender Billy’.

William II’s love life was quite controversial. He was said to be involved with numerous women. And men. His first engagement failed courtesy of long-distance relationship challenges- William II got engaged to Princess Charlotte of Wales in 1814, but this was broken off due to the Princess’ mother disapproval, as well as Charlotte’s reluctance to relocate to the Netherlands.

In case you think arranged marriages in royal families were a myth, here’s one other example to ponder on- William II’s marriage to Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia in 1816 was not purely out of love, but political. This union was a ticket to ensuring good relations between the Netherlands and Imperial Russia, as Pavlovna was the youngest sister to Czar Alexander I of Russia. The couple went on to have five children.

During his reign, William II was credited with the stabilization of public finances and the first surplus of the Netherlands in 70 years! He achieved this through his able finance minister at the time. He also was able to establish the Netherlands’ first parliamentary cabinet.

Just like his father who reigned before him, William II was conservative and went along with existing policies. He died in 1849, in Tilburg in the Netherlands.

3. William III of England

King William III of England- by Godfrey Kneller- Wikimedia Commons

William III was also called William of Orange. His father died young thus William III became the sovereign Prince at his birth.  He was born in 1650 in Binnenhof, The Hague in the Dutch Republic which now is part of the Netherlands. An only child, William III had an impressive royal ancestry on his paternal and maternal sides- his mother was King Charles the first’s eldest daughter.

Between guardianship from his mother, his paternal grandmother, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels and Elector of Brandenburg, Frederick William, William III had more than enough royal guidance.

William III was groomed to one day take on his royal duties at the House of Orange- Nassau. He was educated by Dutch governesses and Lady Anna Mackenzie, a Scottish noblewoman. He also attended the University of Leiden.

At his mother’s death in 1660, her will revealed her desire to have her brother King Charles II take care of William III. This was a point of contention between the Dutch and England royalties. He ended up under Johan de Witt, the grand pensionary of the Dutch court who took charge of his education and taught him about state matters.

At age 27, William III married his first cousin Mary who was 15 years old at the time. As you might have guessed, this was a political marriage. Its aim was for William III to form an Anglo-Dutch alliance against his nemesis, the French monarch Louis XIV. It was to convince King Charles II of England who was Mary’s father to withdraw his support from the Catholic French king- to change his pro-French policies.

When James was King, William III launched an attack and overthrew the government in what was called the Glorious Revolution. James fled to France and the throne was offered to Mary and William III.

William III is partially credited with the transition to the present-day system of parliamentary rule- he and Mary accepted parliament’s Bill of Rights in which the monarchs did not have direct power.

Things took a permanent turn for the worst when William III lost his wife to smallpox. He deeply grieved her- he thereafter had an accident while on his horse, breaking his collarbone which never quite healed properly. His health deteriorated and he died in 1702.

His death marked an end to the House of Orange lineage as he had no heir. Mary’s sister, Anne took over the throne with the title Queen Ann of England, Ireland and Scotland.

4. King Willem-Alexander

King- Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima- by Gerben van Es/Ministerie van Defensie- Wikimedia Commons

In 2013 King Willem- Alexander took over the reins as King of the Netherlands, after the queen, his mother stepped down- at age 75 she was the oldest reigning monarch in the country. King Willem- Alexander became the second youngest monarch in Europe. He also broke the long reign by queens in the Netherlands- he was the first male monarch of the Netherlands after the death of William III in 1890.

Willem- Alexander was born in 1967 in the Netherlands to Princess Beatrix and Prince Claus, the eldest of three. He grew up in Drakenstey Castle in Lage Vuursche and Huis ten Bosch in the Hague, in the company of his two brothers Prince Friso and Prince Constantijn.

A young Willem- Alexander graduated in 1985 and received his International Baccalaureate after which he served in the military for the next two years. He studied at the Royal Netherlands Naval College and Leiden University.

Willem-Alexander is a linguist, fluent in Dutch, English, Spanish, German, and French.

King Willem- Alexander spent quite some time in military training and service- starting at the bottom, he was an ensign at the HNLMS Tromp and the HNLMS Abraham Crijnssen before being trained at the HNLMS Van Kinsbergen as lieutenant of junior grade. He climbed up the ranks of the Royal Netherlands Navy- lieutenant commander in 1995, commander in 1997, captain at sea in 2001 and commodore in 2005. These are just a few of the military positions King Willem- Alexander held.

When he became King at age 46, Willem- Alexander was honorably discharged from military services in 2013. His government declared that the head of the state could not be a serving member of the armed forces due to the conflict of interest.

Being a young King, Willem- Alexander has some uncommon and modern achievements to his name. He was an honorary member of the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century and a patron of the Global Water Partnership, a consortium body formed by the UN, the World Bank and the Swedish Ministry of Development.

Willem- Alexander was also made chairperson of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation in 2006- he has a passion for water conservation and management.

With passions in sports and air crafts, Willem- Alexander was a patron of the Dutch Olympic Games, and a Committee member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)- he was awarded the Gold Olympic Order at the 125th IOC Session. King Willem- Alexander volunteered for the African Medical Research and Education Foundation (AMREF) in Kenya in 1989 and spent a month flying for the Kenya Wildlife Service in 1991.

Willem – Alexander participated in the 1986 Frisian Elfstedentocht, a 200-kilometer-long ice skating tour, and also ran the New York City Marathon in 1992. If you are looking, these two achievements were recorded under his least used name W. A van Buren.

here are quite a number of awards and achievements under King Willem- Alexander’s name. He received the Gold Olympic Order from the IOC, Eleven Cities Cross, Officer Long Service Cross, and the Queen Beatrix Inauguration Medal. Additionally, he is the Honorary Commander of the Order of Saint John in the Netherlands and Grand Master of many national honors, such as the Military William Order, the Order of Orange-Nassau, the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau, the Order of the Crown, and the Order for Loyalty and Merit.

King Willem- Alexander has also received numerous international honors such as France’s Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur, or the Order of the Legion of Honor, Germany’s Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and Italy’s Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.

Willem- Alexander is married to Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti with whom they have three daughters. Their firstborn daughter Catharina-Amalia is next in the line of succession to the royal throne.

King Willem- Alexander currently lives with his family in Villa Eikenhorst on the De Horsten estate in Wassenaar.

5. William III of the Netherlands

William III of the Netherlands- by Charles Landelle- Wikimedia Commons

Also known as Willem Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk, William III of Netherlands would not have been king, had his mother not dissuaded him from giving away his right to the monarchy to his younger brother, Prince Henry of the Netherlands.  William III became Prince of Orange when his grandfather William I, abdicated the throne in 1840.

William III was born in 1817 in Belgium. His mother was Anna Pavlovna of Russia and he grew up with two of his three brothers and a sister. He served in the military in his initial years, becoming an honorary colonel of the Royal Netherlands Army at age 10!  This was just a jumpstart to his military career- William III served as a lieutenant of the Grenadiers Regiment in 1834 and became an honorary commander of the Grenadiers Regiment in the Imperial Russian Army.

William III became the Prince of Orange. William III’ s father and Johan Rudolf Thorbecke in 1848 introduced changes that empowered the middle classes and made the government’s ministers accountable to the Estates-General instead of the king. William III was against these changes- perhaps one of his reasons for not wanting to take over the kingdom.

When he came into power, William III inaugurated the parliamentary cabinet of Thorbecke, who had framed the 1848 constitution. He also intended to take over the army but this wasn’t to be. Parliament actually refused to invest in it and the number of soldiers was cut. William III attempted to work with a leaner cabinet by straight-up doing away with several of them and dismissed States- General severally. He introduced royal cabinets but did not garner much support.

William III is credited for, among other things supporting the Church’s opposition to the hierarchy, attempting to resolve issues between parliament and cabinet, and the education bill that made it mandatory for schools to inculcate Christian and social virtues. Maritime trade thrived during William’s rule. He built new canals and worked toward extending the railroad system

William III would also have been credited with a war between France and Prussia, had his intention to sell the Grand Duchy succeeded. The attempt however helped Luxembourg become a completely independent nation.

William III married Sophie his first cousin. The marriage however hit the rocks almost as fast as the couple said their “I do’s”. William’s unpredictability and extramarital affairs rocked the boat. However, political differences also posed a problem as Sophie was a liberal who despised dictatorship and any emblems of it like the army, while William III was a conservative who was fond of the military. They had two sons who however did not survive to adulthood.

When Sophie died, William III married Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, in 1879 with whom they had a daughter Wilhelmina who became his heiress.

William III died in 1890 from a severe illness and was buried in Delft, Netherlands.

The Dutch kingdom was a monarchy through and through, and from this article on its famous kings, it seems the people were most comfortable with the monarchy system except for dissidence from the church. Power wars and political marriages were also commonplace. Today, though much more modernized, the monarchy is alive and well.