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Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia (''Frederika Sophia Wilhelmina''; 7 August 1751 in Berlin – 9 June 1820 in
Het Loo Het Loo Palace ( nl, Paleis Het Loo , meaning "The Lea") is a palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, built by the House of Orange-Nassau. History The symmetrical Dutch Baroque building was designed by Jacob Roman and Johan van Swieten and was bui ...
) was the consort of William V of Orange and the de facto leader of the dynastic party and counter-revolution in the Netherlands. She was the daughter of
Prince Augustus William of Prussia Prince Augustus William of Prussia (german: August Wilhelm; 9 August 1722 – 12 June 1758) was a son of King Frederick William I of Prussia and a younger brother and general of King Frederick II (Frederick the Great). Augustus was the second su ...
and
Duchess Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Duchess Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Luise Amalie; 29 January 1722 – 13 January 1780) was daughter of Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and his wife Duchess Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Background She was bor ...
. Wilhelmina was the longest-serving Princess consort of Orange.


Background

Wilhelmina was brought up by her grandmother. On 4 October 1767 in Berlin, she was married to William V of Orange, the last Dutch
Stadtholder In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...
. Duke Louis Ernest was instrumental in arranging the marriage of Prince William V with his niece. He immediately observed that the princess craved joint rule, and so was starting to undermine Louis Ernest's dominant position. In long letters she complained about him to her other uncle, King
Frederick II of Prussia Frederick II (german: Friedrich II.; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was King in Prussia from 1740 until 1772, and King of Prussia from 1772 until his death in 1786. His most significant accomplishments include his military successes in the Sil ...
. As a person, she was proud and politically ambitious; as a princess consort, she dominated her spouse and exerted both overt and covert influence on the politics of state.


The revolution

She was deeply involved in the revolutionary political conflict in the Netherlands from 1781 onwards – not only a supporter and partner, but as a main driving power behind the party of her spouse. She disliked her uncle
Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Bevern (25 September 1718, Wolfenbüttel – 12 May 1788, Eisenach) was a field-marshal in the armies of the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic, the elected Duke of Courland (1741). From 13 November 1750 t ...
, Captain-General of the Netherlands. From 1782 she was recognized openly as the true leader of the dynastic Stadtholder party, a role its followers actively encouraged her to take. She was in heavy correspondence with foreign powers and used foreign supporters to influence Dutch internal policy. In 1785, her spouse was forced to leave Den Haag and put under a demand to abdicate. Wilhelmina persuaded William not to give in, and subsequently went to Friesland – officially to visit a jubilee, but in reality she aimed to gain support in the ongoing political conflict. In 1786, the family moved from the capital at the Hague to Nijmegen. After the revolution proper broke out in 1787 and William had moved his court to Guelders, she attempted to return to the Hague; on 28 June 1787, she was stopped at Goejanverwellesluis, waiting for permission to continue to her destination; she went back to William after two days as permission was denied. Both Wilhelmina and her brother, King Frederick William II of Prussia perceived the occurrences as an insult. A request to the States to apologize led to two ultimatums, the first on 6 August and the second starting on 10 September. Then Wilhelmina asked her brother for a military intervention. Frederick, despite having been in power for only a year, attacked the Dutch Republic on 13 September 1787. William was restored to power two weeks later and many rebels fled to Pas de Calais (France), and Brussels in early October. At the end of the year, the princess demanded the replacement of a large number of regents.


Exile and later life

However, the Dutch patriots returned in 1795 with support from the French, and William fled to his ally, his cousin King
George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
of Great Britain. During their exile, the couple lived in
Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...
until 1802, and subsequently went to Germany, where they lived in
Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...
and
Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...
(where William died in 1806). Thereafter, Wilhelmina and her daughter – both having been widowed in 1806 – lived together at various places in the
Confederation of the Rhine The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria a ...
, Weimar, Oranienburg and Berlin. William, the son of William V and Wilhelmina, went with them into exile, but returned to the Netherlands in 1813 to become King William I of the Netherlands, the founder of the present Dutch monarchy. Wilhelmina and her daughter returned to the Netherlands in 1814 and settled in
Villa Welgelegen Villa Welgelegen is a historical building in Haarlem, the Netherlands, which currently houses the offices of the provincial executives of North Holland. Located at the north end of a public park in the city, it is an example of neoclassical arch ...
. She received Tsar
Alexander I of Russia Alexander I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1801, the first King of Congress Poland from 1815, and the Grand Duke of Finland from 1809 to his death. He was the eldest son of Emperor Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. The son of Gra ...
in Haarlem in 1815.


Children

Wilhelmina and William V of Orange were parents to five children: *An unnamed son (23 – 24 March 1769) * Frederika Luise Wilhelmina (28 November 1770 in The Hague – 15 October 1819 in The Hague), married in The Hague on 14 October 1790 to Karl, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick (1766–1806), a son of
Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg Charles William Ferdinand (german: Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand; 9 October 1735 – 10 November 1806) was the Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and a military leader. His titles are usually shortened to Duke of Brunswic ...
and Princess Augusta of Great Britain, without issue. *An unnamed son (born and deceased on 6 August 1771) * William I, King of the Netherlands (24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) * Willem Georg ''Frederik'', Prince of Orange-Nassau (15 February 1774 The Hague – 6 January 1799 in Padua), unmarried and without issue.


Ancestry


References

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