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Willem Hendrik van Oranje was a sovereign prince of the House of Orange-Nassau. He was born eight days after the sudden death of his father, William II, who died of smallpox. His mother was Maria Henriëtte Stuart, the English Princess Royal.
From 1672, as stadtholder William III of Orange, he governed Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht. From 1675 also Guelders and Zutphen and Overijssel, and from 1696 also Drenthe, in the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. From 1689 he ruled as William III England and Ireland. Coincidentally, his regnal number (III) was the same for both Orange and England. As King of Scotland he was known as William II.
In 1677, he married his first cousin Mary, the eldest daughter of his maternal uncle James, Duke of York, the younger brother and later successor of King Charles II. they were married on 4 November 1677.
In what is now known as the Glorious Revolution, he invaded England on November 15, 1688 in an action that ultimately deposed King James II and won the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland for the Protestant factions. Having deposed James on 4 April 1689, the Scottish Convention of Estates voted to offer the crown to William and Mary. They were proclaimed on 11 April and accepted the crown on 11 May.
In Britain, William ruled jointly with his wife, Mary II, until her death on December 28, 1694. The period of their joint rule is often referred to as "William and Mary". The year 1694 also saw the establishment of the Bank of England, which assured William III of the support of the bankers for his government.
William was a Protestant and therefore took part in several wars against the powerful Catholic King Louis XIV of France, in coalition with the Protestant powers of Europe. Many Protestants proclaimed him a champion of their faith. Largely because of this reputation, William was able to take the British crown when many feared that Catholicism would revive under James. William's victory over James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is commemorated by the Orange Order in Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland to this day. His reign marked the beginning of the transition from the personal rule of the Stuarts to the more parliament-centered rule of the House of Hanover.
In 1702, Willem died of pneumonia, a complication of a broken collarbone, after falling from his horse that stumbled over a molehill. The accident occurred on February 20 at Hampton Court, from where the king was transferred to Kensington Palace. He fell asleep near an open window; developed a fever and died on March 8. Due to the couple's childlessness, a succession problem arose. He had tried to appoint Johan Willem Friso van Nassau-Dietz, the son of the Frisian stadtholder Hendrik Casimir, as successor, but in England, William was succeeded by Anne, Mary's sister. The Second Stadtholderless Era was declared in Holland. King Frederick I of Prussia proclaimed himself Prince of Orange, invoking the will of Stadtholder Frederik Hendrik, who stipulated that if the male line of Orange died out, all his possessions would be inherited by the descendants of his eldest daughter Louise Henriëtte , who was the mother of Frederick I of Prussia. However, the principality of Orange passed to the House of Bourbon-Conti and in their name King Louis XIV expelled all Protestants from the city in 1703. The battle for the legacy would drag on for another thirty years. Finally, in 1732, the Treaty of Partage was signed. Prussia received the counties of Lingen, Moers and Upper Gelre, except Venlo and Roermond. Both Orange-Nassau and Brandenburg were allowed to use the title Prince of Orange, although this was no longer associated with any administrative power in the principality itself.
Willem was said to have had an introverted closed personality. He rarely showed his emotions outwardly and tended to keep his views to himself as much as possible. He also did not like being in unknown company. That was exceptional in the 17th century, when monarchs usually led a very public life. Contemporaries therefore found it difficult to get a good impression of him. He also often expressed himself with great caution in writing, which was encouraged by the flowery language that was fashionable in official texts at the time, so that we only know many of his deepest feelings from isolated comments that he made in intimate company and which have come down to us in the diaries of his courtiers.
William often developed a very deep attachment to his male friends, such as his governor Frederik van Nassau and his childhood friend Hans Willem Bentinck. He rewarded his male favorites with influential positions and high titles. At the same time, it is not known for certain that he ever had sexual relations before or outside his marriage, which remained childless. He sometimes had a mistress of sorts, Elizabeth Villiers, but their relationship seems to have been based on the lady-in-waiting's great intelligence. Soon after his arrival in England, it became customary to mock him in pamphlets for his alleged homosexuality. Also in the Netherlands, some members of his staff found it suspicious that he was regularly visited by men of whom it was unclear how he actually knew them and with whom he withdrew to his private quarters for a short time. Today, historians' opinions are divided. Some consider it very likely that Willem had homosexual relationships, others that it was a slur bandied about by his enemies.
The grave of William III is located in Westminster Abbey in London. He is therefore one of the few Oranges since Prince William I who has not been buried in the crypt of the Oranges in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft. The grave is indicated by a small tile in the floor. There is no monument.
Dutch Biography
In the U.S.A., Orange County, New York, Vermont, and Virginia are all named in Willem's honour, as is Williamsburg County, South Carolina. King & Queen County in Virginia is named after Willem and his wife, Mary. Orange, Massachusetts is also named in his honour.
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Featured National Park champion connections: Willem Hendrik is 15 degrees from Theodore Roosevelt, 16 degrees from Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 16 degrees from George Catlin, 17 degrees from Marjory Douglas, 22 degrees from Sueko Embrey, 16 degrees from George Grinnell, 17 degrees from Anton Kröller, 16 degrees from Stephen Mather, 18 degrees from Kara McKean, 17 degrees from John Muir, 9 degrees from Victoria Hanover and 24 degrees from Charles Young on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
O > Oranje-Nassau | O > of Orange > Willem Hendrik (Oranje-Nassau) of Orange
Categories: Monarchs of Scotland to 1707 | Monarchs of England 1284-1707 | England, Monarchs | Ireland, Monarchs | Wales, Monarchs | Scotland, Monarchs | Knights Companion of the Garter, Charles II creation | Kensington, Middlesex (London) | House of Orange-Nassau | Diary of Samuel Pepys | Westminster Abbey, Westminster, Middlesex | Namesakes US Counties | Namesakes US Municipalities | Battle of the Boyne, 1690 | 's-Gravenhage, Zuid-Holland, Nederland
I could also see putting 'William of Orange' as his AKA value, which would be clean (and true, as that is what he was also known as) and then have only his (highest) title in the nickname/quotes field.
Thoughts?
And then maybe we mention he's William II of Scotland in the bio, not the structured data (ie database values) which make his profile name? Or does our (current) WikiTree name/title style policy guidance allow putting that also in the AKA field? It would be a crime against E.B. White to stuff it into the nickname/title field, I think.
pure error
wm iii is 1650