December 14, 1878: Death of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine

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Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and By Rhine, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Albrecht of Prussia, Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, Prince of Orange, Prince Willem of the Netherlands, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Princess Anna of Hesse and by Rhine, Princess Royal, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Victoria of the United Kingdom

From the Emperor’s Desk: Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine died on the 17th anniversary of the death of her father. Today I will be focusing on her marriage to Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine.

Princess Alice (April 25, 1843 – December 14, 1878) was Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine from 13 June 1877 until her death in 1878 as the wife of Grand Duke Ludwig IV. She was the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Alice was the first of Queen Victoria’s nine children to die, and one of three to predecease their mother, who died in 1901. Her life had been enwrapped in tragedy since her father’s death in 1861.

Alice’s matrimonial plans were begun in 1860 by her mother. Queen Victoria had expressed her wish that her children should marry for love, but this did not mean that her choice of suitors would necessarily be extended to anybody outside the royal houses of Europe.

Raising a British subject to royalty, however high their rank, was politically objectionable, and also wasted any opportunity for a useful foreign alliance. The Queen instructed her daughter Victoria, recently married to Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, to produce a list of eligible princes in Europe.

Prince Willem of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange

Her search produced only two suitable candidates: the Prince of Orange; Prince Willem of the Netherlands, was heir apparent to the Dutch throne as the eldest son of King Willem III from March 17, 1849 until his death.

The other suitable candidate was Prince Albrecht of Prussia, cousin to Victoria’s husband Friedrich Wilhelm.

Prince Albrecht of Prussia

The Prince of Orange was soon discounted. He journeyed to Windsor Castle so that Queen Victoria could look him over in person, but he proved unpalatable to Alice. The prince too showed little interest in Alice, despite strong pressure from his pro-British mother, Queen Sophie of the Netherlands. Prince Albrecht, too, was spurned, with Prince Friedrich Wilhelm emarking that his cousin would not do for “one who deserves the very best”.

With both of the leading candidates now discounted, Princess Victoria suggested Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine a minor German royal, the nephew of Grand Duke Ludwig III of Hesse and by Rhine. Princess Victoria had gone to the court of Hesse to inspect Ludwig’s sister, Princess Anna, as a potential bride for her brother, the Prince of Wales.

Princess Anna of Hesse and by Rhine

As a young girl, Anna of Hesse and by Rhine was considered as a possible bride for the future Edward VII (known as ‘Bertie’ to his family). While Queen Victoria, was in favor of Anna, Bertie’s elder sister was opposed to the match, as she believed Anna had a “disturbing twitch”.

As time went by however, Victoria grew increasingly impatient, and tried to ignore her daughter’s hints that Anna was not suitable, declaring, “I am much pleased with the account of Princess Anna, (minus the twitching)”. In the end, Alexandra of Denmark was chosen instead.

Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

Although not favorably impressed with Princess Anna, she was impressed with Ludwig and his brother Prince Heinrich. Both were invited to Windsor Castle in 1860, ostensibly so they could watch the Ascot Races in the company of the royal family, but in reality, the visit was a chance for the Queen to inspect her potential son-in-law.

The Queen admired both Ludwig and Heinrich, but noted how well Ludwig and Alice got along together. When the Hessian family departed, Ludwig requested Alice’s photograph, and Alice made it clear that she was attracted to him.

Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine

Alice was engaged to Prince Ludwig of on April 30, 1861, following the Queen’s consent. The Queen persuaded the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, to secure the agreement of Parliament for Alice to receive a dowry of £30,000 (£2.98 million as of 2022).

Although the amount was considered generous at the time, Prince Albert remarked that “she will not be able to do great things with it” in the little realm of Hesse, compared to the riches that her sister Victoria would inherit as future Queen of Prussia and German Empress.

Furthermore, the couple’s future home in Darmstadt, the Grand Ducal seat, was uncertain. Although Queen Victoria expected that a new palace would be built, the people of Darmstadt did not want to meet that expense, and the resulting controversy caused resentment there. This meant that Alice was unpopular in Darmstadt before she even arrived.

Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine

Between the engagement and the wedding, Alice’s father Prince Albert died on December 14, 1861. Despite the Queen’s grief, she ordered that the wedding should continue as planned.

On July 1, 1862, Alice and Ludwig were married privately in the dining room of Osborne House, which was converted into a temporary chapel. The Queen was ushered in by her four sons, acting as a living screen blocking her from view, and took her place in an armchair near the altar.

Alice was given away by her uncle, Prince Albert’s brother Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and was flanked by four bridesmaids: her younger sisters, Princesses Helena, Louise and Beatrice, as well as Ludwig’s sister Princess Anna.

Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

For the ceremony, Alice wore a simple white dress, with a veil of Honiton lace and a wreath of orange blossom and myrtle, but was required to wear black mourning clothes before and after the ceremony.

The Queen, sitting in an armchair, struggled to hold back her tears, and was shielded from view by the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred, her second son, who cried throughout the service. The weather at Osborne was dreary, with winds blowing up from the Channel.

The Queen wrote to her eldest daughter, Victoria, that the ceremony was “more of a funeral than a wedding”, and remarked to Alfred, Lord Tennyson that it was “the saddest day I can remember”. The ceremony—described by Gerard Noel as “the saddest royal wedding in modern times”—was over by 4 pm, and the couple set off for their honeymoon at St Claire in Ryde, a house lent to them by the Vernon Harcourt family.

Prince and Princess Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine

Alice’s entourage consisted of Lady Churchill, General Seymour and Baron Westerweller (a Hessian courtier). Alice was careful not to displease the Queen after her marriage. When the Queen visited the couple at St Claire, Alice tried not to appear “too happy”. Despite this, Alice’s displays of romantic bliss made the Queen jealous of her daughter’s happiness.

Alice and Ludwig arrived at Bingen on July 12, 1862 and were greeted by cheering crowds gathered in spite of pouring rain. After being introduced to town officials, they took a train to Mainz, where they had breakfast, before taking a steamer along the Rhine to Gustavsburg.

From there, they took a train to Darmstadt, where they were greeted with great enthusiasm. Alice wrote back to her mother that “I believe the people never gave so hearty a welcome”, while her sister Helena wrote that “nothing could have been more enthusiastic than her entry into Darmstadt was″.

Alice did not adapt immediately to her new surroundings. She was homesick, and could not believe that while she was so far away from England, her father was not still alive and comforting her mother.

November 23, 1890: Death of Willem III, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg

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House of Orange, King Willem III of the Netherlands, Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange, Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Queen Victoria, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

Willem III (February 9, 1817 – November 23, 1890) was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 until his death in 1890. He was also the Duke of Limburg from 1849 until the abolition of the duchy in 1866.

Willem III was the son of King Willem II and Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia. Anna Pavlovna was born in 1795 at Gatchina Palace, the eighth child and sixth daughter of Emperor Paul I of Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna (born Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg).

King Willem III of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg

On the abdication of his grandfather Willem I in 1840, and the accession of his father as King Willem II, Prince Willem became the Prince of Orange. On the death of his father in 1849, he succeeded as King Willem III of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

Willem III married his first cousin Princess Sophie of Württemberg in 1839. Sophie was born in Stuttgart; her parents were King Wilhelm I of Württemberg and Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, the fourth eldest daughter of Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Feodorovna (born Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg).

Shortly after Sophie’s birth, her mother died, and she was cared for by her aunt, Catharina of Württemberg. She was niece of tsars Alexander I and Nicholas I of Russia.

Princess Sophie of Württemberg

Willem III and Sophie had three sons, William, Maurice, and Alexander, all of whom predeceased him.

In 1877, Queen Sophie died and in the same year, King Willem III announced his intention to marry Émilie Ambre, a French opera singer, whom he ennobled as countess d’Ambroise – without government consent. Under pressure from society and the government, he abandoned these marriage plans.

Willem III remained eager to remarry. In 1878, he first proposed to his niece, Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Weimar. He then considered marriage with Princess Pauline of Waldeck and Pyrmont, a small German principality, and Princess Thyra of Denmark, the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark, who had her own private scandalous history

He finally decided to marry Pauline’s younger sister Emma.

Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont

Emma was born a princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont on August 2, 1858 in Arolsen Castle in Arolsen, the capital of the small German principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont. She was the fourth daughter of Georg Viktor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, and Princess Helena of Nassau-Weilburg. Her brother, Friedrich, was the last reigning prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Her sister, Helena, was the wife of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, a son of Queen Victoria.

Some politicians were quite angry, as she was 41 years the king’s junior. Emma showed herself, however, as a cordial woman. Willem III asked permission from parliament, this was easily granted. The couple were quickly married in Arolsen on January 7, 1879.

When Willem III married Emma in 1879 there was a 41 year age gap between them. Willem III was 62 and Emma was 21.

Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont and King Willem III of the Netherlands

Emma had a relieving influence on Willem’s capricious personality and the marriage was extremely happy. The king had stopped interfering with most aspects of government.

In 1880, Princess Wilhelmina was born. She became heir presumptive in 1884 after the death of the last remaining son from Willem’s first marriage, Alexander, Prince of Orange.

King Willem III of The Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg

King Willem became seriously ill in 1887. He was suffering from a kidney-ailment.

In 1888 and 1889, the ailing king became increasingly demented. The Council of State and then Queen Emma became regents. Willem III died in Het Loo in 1890. Because Wilhelmina had not yet reached adulthood, Emma became regent for her daughter. She would remain regent until Wilhelmina’s eighteenth birthday in 1898.

Queen Mother Emma of the Netherlands and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

November 4, 1677, Willem III, Prince of Orange marries Princess Mary of England and Scotland

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Gelderland, Glorious Revolution, King Charles II of England, King James II-VII of England, Overijssel, Prince of Orange, Prince Willem II of Orange, Princess Mary of England and Scotland, Stadholder of Holland, the Netherlands, Utrecht, Willem III, William III and Mary II, Zeeland

November 4, 1677, Willem III, Prince of Orange, Stadholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, and Overijssel (future King of England, Scotland, and Ireland), marries Mary (future Queen Mary II), the daughter of James, Duke of York (future King James II-VII).

Willem was born on November 4, 1650, his mother’s birthday, as the only child of Willem II, Prince of Orange, and Mary, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and Princess Henrietta Maria de Bourbon of France, herself the daughter of King Henri IV of France and Navarre and his wife Maria de Medici.

Princess Mary was born November 4, 1631 and was married to the future stadtholder of the Netherlands, Willem II of Orange, at 9 years old in 1641. Initially, she remained in England with her parents because of the heated political situation in England until early 1642, when she and her mother left for the Netherlands.

Five years later in 1647, Mary’s husband inherited the titles of Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel and Groningen in the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

Eight days after her husband’s death in 1650, Mary gave birth to a son, Willem III of Orange, on November 4, 1650 who later became King of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Mary wanted to name him Charles after her brother, but her mother-in-law insisted on giving him the name William (Willem) to bolster his prospects of becoming stadtholder.

Willem II had appointed his wife as their son’s guardian in his will; however, the document remained unsigned at Willem II’s death and was void. On August 13, 1651, the Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland (Supreme Court) ruled that guardianship would be shared between his mother, his paternal grandmother and Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, whose wife, Louise Henriette, was Willem II’s eldest sister.

Mary, was not popular in the Netherlands because of her support of her brothers and her difficult relationship with her mother-in-law Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, who considered the princess young and inexperienced. After the restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660, Mary departed for celebrations in London, where she fell ill with smallpox and died.

During the war with France, Willem wanted to improve his position by marrying his first 15 year old first cousin Mary, elder surviving daughter of the Duke of York, later King James II of England (James VII of Scotland).

Mary was eleven years his junior and he anticipated resistance to a Stuart match from the Amsterdam merchants who had disliked his mother (another Mary Stuart), but Willem believed that marrying Mary would increase his chances of eventually succeeding to Charles’s kingdoms, and would draw England’s monarch away from his pro-French policies.

Mary’s father, James, Duke of York, was not inclined to consent, but Charles II pressured his brother to agree. Charles wanted to use the possibility of marriage to gain leverage in negotiations relating to the war, but Willem insisted that the two issues be decided separately.

Charles relented and agreed to the marriage. When James told Mary that she was to marry her cousin, “she wept all that afternoon and all the following day.”

Willem and a tearful Mary were married in St James’s Palace by Bishop Henry Compton on November 4, 1677, Prince Willem’s birthday.

The bedding ceremony to publicly establish the consummation of the marriage was attended by the royal family, with her uncle the King Charles II himself drawing the bedcurtains. Mary accompanied her husband on a rough sea crossing to the Netherlands later that month, after a delay of two weeks caused by bad weather.

Rotterdam was inaccessible because of ice, and they were forced to land at the small village of Ter Heijde, and walk through the frosty countryside until met by coaches to take them to Huis Honselaarsdijk. On December 14, they made a formal entry to The Hague in a grand procession.

Mary became pregnant soon after the marriage, but miscarried. After a further illness later in 1678, she never conceived again.

Throughout Willem and Mary’s marriage, Willem had only one reputed mistress, Elizabeth Villiers, in contrast to the many mistresses his uncles openly kept.

King Charles II died in 1685 and James took the throne, as King James II-VII, making Mary heir presumptive. James’s attempts at rule by decree and the birth of his Catholic son from a second marriage, James Francis Edward (later known as “the Old Pretender”), led to his deposition in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the adoption of the English Bill of Rights.

In February 1689 Parliament offered the throne jointly to Willem and Mary who reigned as King William III and Queen Mary II.

On This Day in History: October 22….

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Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria, Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, Holy Roman Empress, Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria, Peter I the Great, Prince of Orange, Tsar and Emperor of Russia, Willem IV

From the Emperor’s Desk: Today is my birthday and we’ll examine different lives and events in Royal History on this date.

1383 – The male line of the Portuguese House of Burgundy becomes extinct with the death of King Fernando, leaving only his daughter Beatrice. Rival claimants begin a period of civil war and disorder.

1721 – Russian Empire is proclaimed by Tsar Peter I after the Swedish defeat in the Great Northern War.

Peter I the Great, Tsar and Emperor of Russia

Soon after peace was made with Sweden, he was officially proclaimed Emperor of All Russia. Some proposed that he take the title Emperor of the East, but he refused. Gavrila Golovkin, the State Chancellor, was the first to add “the Great, Father of His Country, Emperor of All the Russias” to Peter’s traditional title Tsar following a speech by the archbishop of Pskov in 1721.

Peter’s imperial title was recognized by Augustus II of Poland, Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, and Fredrik I of Sweden, but not by the other European monarchs. In the minds of many, the word emperor connoted superiority or pre-eminence over kings. Several rulers feared that Peter would claim authority over them, just as the Holy Roman Emperor had claimed suzerainty over all Christian nations.

Births

Pre-1600

955 – Qian Weijun, king of Wuyue (d. 991)

1071 – William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (d. 1126)

1197 – Juntoku, Japanese emperor (d. 1242)

king (d. 1750)

1689 — João V (October 22, 1689 – July 31, 1750), known as the Magnanimous and the Portuguese Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Braganza who ruled as King of Portugal during the first half of the 18th century. João V’s reign saw the rise of Portugal and its monarchy to new levels of prosperity, wealth, and prestige among European courts.

João V’s reign saw an enormous influx of gold into the coffers of the royal treasury, supplied largely by the royal tax on precious metals) that was received from the Portuguese colonies of Brazil and Maranhão.

Disregarding traditional Portuguese institutions of governance, João V ruled as an absolute monarch. In keeping with a traditional policy pursued by previous monarchs of the House of Braganza and which stressed the importance of relations with Europe, João V’s reign was marked by numerous interventions into the affairs of other European states, most notably as part of the War of the Spanish Succession.

Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria

1701 – Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria (Maria Amalie Josefa Anna; October 22, 1701 – December 11, 1756) was Holy Roman Empress, Queen of the Germans, Queen of Bohemia, Queen of Hungary and Croatia, Electress and Duchess of Bavaria etc. as the spouse of Emperor Charles VII. By birth, she was an Archduchess of Austria, the daughter of Emperor Joseph I and Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Maria Amalia had seven children, only four of whom lived through to adulthood, including Maximilian III, Elector of Bavaria.

1781 – Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France (d. 1789) Louis Joseph Xavier François (October 22, 1781 – June 4, 1789) was Dauphin of France as the second child and first son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. As son of a king of France, he was a fils de France (“Child of France”). Louis Joseph died at the age of seven from tuberculosis and was succeeded as Dauphin by his four-year-old brother Louis Charles.

1858 – Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (October 22, 1858 – April 11, 1921) was the last German Empress and Queen of Prussia by marriage to Wilhelm II, German Emperor.

Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg

Augusta Victoria was born at Dolzig Castle, the eldest daughter of Friedrich VIII, future Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a great-niece of Queen Victoria, through Victoria’s half-sister Feodora. Augusta Victoria grew up at Dolzig until the death of her grandfather, Christian August II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, in 1869. The family then moved to Castle Primkenau and the estate her father had inherited. She was known within her family as “Dona.”

1859 – Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria (October 22, 1859 – 23 November 23, 1949), was a member of the Bavarian Royal House of Wittelsbach and a General of Cavalry. Following his marriage to Infanta María de la Paz of Spain, the third surviving daughter of Queen Isabella II of Spain and her husband Infante Francisco of Spain. He was also created an Infante of Spain.

Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria, Infante of Spain

Prince Ludwig Ferdinand was the eldest son of Prince Adalbert of Bavaria (1828–75) and Infanta Amalia of Spain (1834–1905). He was a paternal grandson of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and his wife Princess Therese of Saxe-Altenburg. His maternal grandparents were Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain and his wife Princess Luisa Carlotta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

Ludwig Ferdinand’s paternal uncles were King Maximilian II of Bavaria, King Otto I of Greece and Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria. His maternal uncle was King-Consort Francisco of Spain (1822–1902) and maternally his first cousin was King Alfonso XII of Spain (1857–85), two years his senior. Ludwig Ferdinand was born in Madrid, but his younger siblings in Bavaria, where they had returned. Ludwig II, Otto I and Ludwig III, Kings of Bavaria, were his first cousins. Alfonso XIII (reigned 1885–1931) was a first cousin’s son.

Deaths

741 – Charles Martel, Frankish Mayor of the Palace (b. 688)

842 – Abo, Japanese prince (b. 792)

1383 – Ferdinand I of Portugal (b. 1345)

1751 – Willem IV, Prince of Orange, Hereditary Stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands. (September 1, 1711 – October 22, 1751). As Prince of Orange he was ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau within the Holy Roman Empire.

Willem IV, Prince of Orange, Hereditary Stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands

Willem was born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, the son of Johan Willem Friso, Prince of Orange, head of the Frisian branch of the House of Orange-Nassau, and of his wife Landgravine Marie Louise of Hesse-Cassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He was born six weeks after the death of his father.

Willem succeeded his father as Stadtholder of Friesland and also, under the regency of his mother until 1731, as Stadtholder of Groningen. In 1722 he was elected Stadtholder of Guelders. The four other provinces of the Dutch Republic:, Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Overijssel had in 1702 decided not to appoint a stadtholder after the death of the last stadtholder Willem III, (William III-II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland) issuing the history of the Republic into a period that is known as the Second Stadtholderless Period.

In 1747 those four provinces also accepted Willem IV as their stadtholder, becoming the first Hereditary Stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

On March 25, 1734 Willem IV married, at St James’s Palace, Anne, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

1761 – Ludwig Georg, Margrave of Baden-Baden (b. 1702)

2002 – Queen Geraldine of Albania (b. 1915)

August 24, 1561: Marriage of Prince Willem I of Orange to Princess Anna of Saxony

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Anna of Saxony, House of Orange-Nassau, King Felipe II of Spain, Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hesse-Cassel, Prince of Orange, René of Châlon, Stadtholder of the Netherlands, The United Provinces on f the Netherlands, Willem of Nassau-Dillenburg, Willem the Silent

Willem I the Silent (April 24, 1533 – July 10, 1584), was the main leader of the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648) and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1581. Born into the House of Nassau, he became Prince of Orange in 1544 and is thereby the founder of the Orange-Nassau branch and the ancestor of the monarchy of the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, he is also known as Father of the Fatherland.

Willem was born on April 24, 1533 at Dillenburg Castle in the County of Nassau-Dillenburg, in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the eldest son of Count Willem I of Nassau-Dillenburg and Juliana of Stolberg. Willem’s father had one surviving daughter by his previous marriage, and his mother had four surviving children by her previous marriage. His parents had twelve children together, of whom Willem was the eldest; he had four younger brothers and seven younger sisters. The family was religiously devout and Willem was raised a Lutheran.

In 1544, Willem’s agnatic first cousin, René of Châlon, Prince of Orange, died in the siege of St Dizier, childless. In his testament, René of Chalon named Willem the heir to all his estates and titles, including that of Prince of Orange, on the condition that he receive a Roman Catholic education. Willem’s father acquiesced to this condition on behalf of his 11-year-old son, and this was the founding of the House of Orange-Nassau.

On July 6, 1551, Willem married Anna, daughter and heir of Maximiliaan van Egmond, an important Dutch nobleman, a match that had been secured by Emperor Charles V. Anna’s father had died in 1548, and therefore Willem became Lord of Egmond and Count of Buren upon his wedding day. The marriage was a happy one and produced three children, one of whom died in infancy. Anna died on March 24, 1558, aged 25, leaving William much grieved.

In 1559, King Felipe II of Spain appointed Willem stadtholder (governor) of the provinces of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht, thereby greatly increasing his political power. A stadtholdership over Franche-Comté followed in 1561.

On August 25, 1561, Willem of Orange married for the second time. His new wife, Anna of Saxony, was the daughter and heiress of Maurice, Elector of Saxony, and Agnes of Hesse, eldest daughter of Philipp I, Landgrave of Hesse and his first wife, Christine of Saxony.

Anna of Saxony was described by contemporaries as “self-absorbed, weak, assertive, and cruel”, and it is generally assumed that Willem married her to gain more influence in Saxony, Hesse and the Palatinate. The couple had five children. The marriage used Lutheran rites, and marked the beginning of a gradual change in his religious opinions, which was to lead Willem to revert to Lutheranism and eventually moderate Calvinism. Still, he remained tolerant of other religious opinions.

Just a few months after the wedding, in 1562 difficulties arose between her and her husband. Anna received letters from her uncle meant for Willem stating he should work more towards pleasing her. Both tried to end the rumours that they had an unhappy marriage. By 1565, it was well known in all the courts of the Holy Roman Empire and the Netherlands that the marriage was an unhappy one.

Her uncle August tried to save face by making claims that disputes arose due to his brother Ludwig antagonizing Willem. In 1566 Willem finally complained about the “contentious” nature of his wife to her Saxon uncle August and her Hessian uncle Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hesse-Cassel (1532–1592).

Anna desired to see her husband again and met with him in May 1570 in Butzbach to discuss financial matters as well as other important topics. In June 1570, Anna and Willem moved in together again in Siegen for a few weeks, where she had settled with her three children. It was there where she began an affair with her lawyer Jan Rubens.

During the Christmas holidays from December 24 to 261570 William visited his family there again. It was likely a harmonious time, because he persuaded Anna to visit him in January 1571 in Dillenburg, where she even was willing to forego, for the time, payments from her jointure. She was pregnant again, this time from her lover. Willem accused Anna of adultery at this point and made plans to separate from her.

Rubens was often with Anna because he was their counsellor, financial advisor and attorney, and thus was suspected of adultery with Anna between March 7 and 10, 1571. He was arrested outside the city of Siegen when he was on his way to see her. He was blackmailed for a suitable confession.

Anna was put under pressure too: either they must confess themselves or Rubens would be executed. Anna agreed on March 26, 1571 to plead guilty. On 22 August 22, 1571 Anna’s last child, Christine, was born.

On the basis of the allegation, Willem of Orange didn’t recognize the child as his daughter. Christine received the name van Dietz. On December 14, 1571 Anna had to sign their consent to the final separation from her husband. In addition, Willem of Orange was not willing to pay maintenance for her.

Imprisonment and death

In September 1572 Anna decided to challenge the Imperial Court’s ruling for her financial rights. At this time her Hessian and Saxon relatives had already made plans to turn Beilstein castle into a prison, to hold her captive as an adulteress. On October 1, 1572, she was brought there with her youngest daughter Christine. Three years later, her daughter was taken from her.

In March of that year, although the divorce was not finalized, the first news appeared of an impending remarriage of Willem of Orange. His chosen wife was the former Abbess of Jouarre, Charlotte de Bourbon-Montpensier, a daughter of Louis II of Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier, and his first wife, Jacqueline de Longwy.

Outraged at this news, some of Anna’s relatives demanded the return of large wedding gifts despite her possible infidelity. Her Uncle August also demanded of Willem, whom he now called “Head of all the rogues and rebels ” claimed one of the counties of Nassau, Hadamar and Diez.

He also insisted that the marriage of the prince was not legally ended yet, and thus he had no right to remarry or confiscate her property. Anna did not admit her adultery in court, and if she did, then she could have proven that the prince had broken his marriage agreement. He also ordered the immediate transfer of his niece from Nassau to Saxony.

When Anna learned in December 1575 of her upcoming transferral to Saxony, she attempted suicide. After a long stay in Zeitz, she was taken to Dresden in December 1576. There, the windows of her room were walled up and fitted with additional iron bars.

At the door was a square hole in the top panel that provided a narrow grid, which was closed off outside. Through this hole food and drinks were served to her. At the door there was also another iron gate, virtually guaranteeing no chance of escape.

As of May 1577, Anna was continuously hemorrhaging. She died on December 18, 1577, shortly before her 33rd birthday. Her bones reportedly lie in the cathedral of Meissen near her ancestors in a nameless tomb.

The Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. Part III

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Christina, Eighty Years War, Felipe IV-III, Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, King of Spain and Portugal, Louis XIV of France and Navarre, Peace of Westphalia, Prince of Orange, Queen of Sweden, Stadtholder of the United Provinces, Thirty Years War, Treaty of Münster, Treaty of Osnabrück, Willem II

The Peace of Westphalia is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) and Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648), and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire, closing a calamitous period of European history that killed approximately eight million people.

Despite resulting cessation of the Thirty Years War, the Peace of Westphalia was a significant step in the decline of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III, Felipe IV-III, King of Spain and Portugal, Louis XIV of France and Navarre, Christina, Queen of Sweden, Willem II, Prince of Orange, United Provinces (Netherlands), and their respective allies were among the princes of the Holy Roman Empire participated in these treaties.

The negotiation process was lengthy and complex. Talks took place in two cities, because each side wanted to meet on territory under its own control.

Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungry, Bohemia and Croatia, Archduke of Austria

The negotiations in Westphalia turned out to be difficult, beginning with a dispute over the rules of procedure. The emperor had to give in to pressure from France and Sweden and admit all imperial estates to the congress and receive the ius belli ac pacis. In addition to peace between the parties involved, the internal constitution of the empire was also newly regulated.

The Imperial Court received weekly reports on the negotiations. Even though the reports had been produced by officials, the process also proved to be an extremely busy time for the emperor, as despite all the advisers, he had to make the decisions. The study of the documents suggests, that Emperor Ferdinand III was a monarch with expertise with a sense of responsibility and the willingness to make difficult decisions.

In the course of the negotiations, Ferdinand had to reconsider his original goals according to the deteriorating military situation. His advisor Maximilian von und zu Trauttmansdorff suggested a great battle to end the war favourably.

The emperor personally took part in the campaign against the Swedes, that ended with a defeat at the Battle of Jankau on March 6, 1645. The Swedish army under Lennart Torstensson then advanced to Vienna. To raise morale in the city, the emperor circled the city in a large procession with an image of the Virgin Mary.

As the Swedish army drew closer, Ferdinand left the city. Archduke Leopold Wilhelm managed to drive off the opponents. At times Ferdinand managed to get Prince George I Rákóczi of Transylvania, an ally of France and Sweden, on his side.

In the 1645 Peace of Linz the Emperor had to guarantee the Hungarian estates the right of imperial representation and freedom of religion for the Protestants, which prevented the Counter-reformation and future Absolutist rule in Hungary.

The Habsburgs could no longer win the war without the support of the Spanish allies. Due to domestic difficulties, financial and military Spanish support for Ferdinand was completely stopped in 1645. Without foreign military funds, the imperial troops were incapable of offensive operations, which weakened Ferdinand’s position in negotiations.

“Celebration of the Peace of Münster” Bartholomeus Van Der Helst – 1648

The emperor reissued the instructions for the peace talks for Trautmannsdorf, who left for Westphalia as chief negotiator. These documents were kept strictly secret and were only published in 1962. Reviews revealed, that Ferdinand surrendered numerous previous claims and was ready for greater concessions than were ultimately necessary.

A total of 109 delegations arrived to represent the belligerent states, but not all delegations were present at the same time. Two treaties were signed to end the war in the Empire: the Treaty of Münster and the Treaty of Osnabrück.

These treaties ended the Thirty Years’ War in the Holy Roman Empire, with the Habsburgs (rulers of Austria and Spain) and their Catholic allies on one side, battling the Protestant powers (Sweden and certain Holy Roman principalities) allied with France, which was Catholic but strongly anti-Habsburg under King Louis XIV. The separate Peace of Münster ended the Eighty Years’ War between Spain and the United Provinces.

The negotiators agreed to the Peace of Münster in 1648, but Willem II, Stadtholder of the United Provinces and Prince of Orange opposed acceptance of the treaty, even though it recognized the independence of the (northern) Netherlands, because it left the southern Netherlands in the hands of the Spanish monarchy. A separate peace furthermore violated the alliance with France formed in 1635. However, the States of six provinces voted to accept it.

Willem II, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of the United Provinces

Secretly, Willem II opened his own negotiations with France with the goal of extending his own territory under a more centralized government. In addition, he worked for the restoration of his exiled brother-in-law, Charles II, to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland.

Resulting from the treaty the power asserted by Emperor Ferdinand III was stripped from him and returned to the rulers of the Imperial States. The rulers of the Imperial States could henceforth choose their own official religions. Catholics and Protestants were redefined as equal before the law, and Calvinism was given legal recognition as an official religion. The independence of the Dutch Republic, which practiced religious toleration, also provided a safe haven for European Jews.

The dual rule of pope and emperor was effectively ended at the Peace of Westphalia at the conclusion of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648, wherein the empire was severed from the papacy for good. The papacy played no role in the negotiations and in the eyes of Pope Innocent X, the peace destroyed the connection between pope and emperor which had held Europe together since the time of Charlemagne eight centuries prior.

The Holy See was very displeased at the settlement, with Pope Innocent X calling it “null, void, invalid, iniquitous, unjust, damnable, reprobate, inane, empty of meaning and effect for all time” in the bull Zelo Domus Dei.

Where international disputes between the rulers of Europe had previously been solved and mediated by the pope and/or emperor, the 17th century saw the true emergence of the modern system of international relations and diplomacy.

The main tenet of the Peace of Westphalia:

All parties would recognize the Peace of Augsburg of 1555, in which each prince had the right to determine the religion of his own state (the principle of cuius regio, eius religio). However, the ius reformandi was removed: Subjects were no longer forced to follow the conversion of their ruler. Rulers were allowed to choose Catholicism, Lutheranism, or Calvinism.

Another repercussion of the Peace of Westphalia was it gave the rulers of the many states within the Empire greater autonomy not only over religious issues but secular issues as well.

As mentioned yesterday, many states in Europe had become string nations due to the formation of a powerful centralized government. The Empire was in an opposite state. The lack of a standing army, a central treasury, weak central control of the government (that did not have a capitol) and exercised by a monarch who was elective and not hereditary all contributed to the idea that there was no unified German state. In the view of its contemporaries, the empire had regressed from a “regular” monarchy into a highly irregular one.

One of the saving graces of the Habsburg monarchy at this time was that they remained powerful within thier Crown Lands which laid both within and without the boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire.

April 25, 1843: Birth of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine

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Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and By Rhine, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Albrecht of Prussia, Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine, Prince of Orange, Prince Willem of the Netherlands, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Princess Royal, Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom., Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (Alice Maud Mary; April 25, 1843 – December 14, 1878) was Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine from June 13, 1877 until her death in 1878 as the wife of Grand Duke Ludwig IV.

She was the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Alice was the first of Queen Victoria’s nine children to die, and one of three to predecease their mother, who died in 1901. Her life had been enwrapped in tragedy since her father’s death in 1861.

In this blog entry I will be focusing on her marriage to the future Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine.

When her father, Prince Albert, became fatally ill in December 1861, Alice nursed him until his death. Following his death, Queen Victoria entered a period of intense mourning and Alice spent the next six months acting as her mother’s unofficial secretary.

Alice’s matrimonial plans were begun in 1860 by her mother. Queen Victoria had expressed her wish that her children should marry for love, but this did not mean that her choice of suitors would necessarily be extended to anybody outside the Royal Houses of Europe.

Raising a British subject to royalty, however high their rank, was politically objectionable, and also wasted any opportunity for a useful foreign alliance. The Queen instructed her daughter Victoria, recently married to Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, to produce a list of eligible princes in Europe.

Her search produced only two suitable candidates: the Willem, Prince of Orange; and Prince Albrecht of Prussia. Prince Albrecht of Prussia was a cousin to Victoria’s husband Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia.

Prince Albrecht of Prussia

Prince Albrecht of Prussia (1837 – 1906) was also a cousin of the Prince of Orange given he was the son of Prince Albrecht of Prussia and his wife Princess Marianne of the Netherlands, daughter of King Willem I of the Netherlands.

Willem, Prince of Orange (1840 – 1879), was heir apparent to the Dutch throne as the eldest son of King Willem III and his first wife, Princess Sophie of Württemberg. In 1849, after the death of his grandfather King Willem II of the Netherlands, he became Prince of Orange as heir apparent. His Victorian upbringing turned out to be a disaster.

The Prince of Orange was soon discounted. He journeyed to Windsor Castle so that Queen Victoria could look him over in person, but he proved unpalatable to Alice.

Prince Willem of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange

Albrecht of Prussia was born in Berlin, the son of Prince Albrecht of Prussia and his wife Princess Marianne, daughter of King Willem I of the Netherlands. His father was a brother of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia and of Wilhelm I, German Emperor, whose son was Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia (future German Emperor Friedrich III) the wife of Princess Alice’s sister, Princess Victoria the Princess Royal.

Prince Albrecht of Prussia also showed little interest in Alice, despite strong pressure from his pro-British mother, Queen Sophie of the Netherlands. Prince Albrecht, too, was spurned, with Prince Friedrich Wilhelm remarking that his cousin would not do for “one who deserves the very best”.

With both of the leading candidates now discounted, Princess Victoria suggested Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine, a minor German royal, the nephew of the Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Princess Victoria had gone to the court of Hesse to inspect Ludwig’s sister, Princess Anna, as a potential bride for her brother, the Prince of Wales.

Princess Alice of the United Kingdom

Although not favorably impressed with Princess Anna, she was impressed with Ludwig and his brother Prince Heinrich. Both were invited to Windsor Castle in 1860, ostensibly so they could watch the Ascot Races in the company of the royal family, but in reality, the visit was a chance for the Queen to inspect her potential son-in-law.

The Queen admired both Ludwig and Heinrich, but noted how well Ludwig and Alice got along together. When the Hessian family departed, Ludwig requested Alice’s photograph, and Alice made it clear that she was attracted to him.

Engagement and wedding

Alice was engaged to Prince Ludwig of Hesse on 30 April 30,1861, following the Queen’s consent. The Queen persuaded the Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, to secure the agreement of Parliament for Alice to receive a dowry of £30,000 (£2.86 million as of 2022).

Although the amount was considered generous at the time, Prince Albert remarked that “she will not be able to do great things with it” in the little realm of Hesse, compared to the riches that her sister Victoria would inherit as future Queen of Prussia and German Empress.

Furthermore, the couple’s future home in Darmstadt, the Grand Ducal seat, was uncertain. Although Queen Victoria expected that a new palace would be built, the people of Darmstadt did not want to meet that expense, and the resulting controversy caused resentment there. This meant that Alice was unpopular in Darmstadt before she even arrived.

Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine

Between the engagement and the wedding, Alice’s father Prince Albert died on December 14, 1861. Despite the Queen’s grief, she ordered that the wedding should continue as planned.

On July 1, 1862, Alice and Ludwig were married privately in the dining room of Osborne House, which was converted into a temporary chapel. The Queen was ushered in by her four sons, acting as a living screen blocking her from view, and took her place in an armchair near the altar.

Alice was given away by her uncle, Albert’s brother Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and was flanked by four bridesmaids: her younger sisters, Princesses Helena, Louise and Beatrice, as well as Louis’s sister Princess Anna. For the ceremony, Alice wore a simple white dress, with a veil of Honiton lace and a wreath of orange blossom and myrtle, but was required to wear black mourning clothes before and after the ceremony.

Prince and Princess Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine

The Queen, sitting in an armchair, struggled to hold back her tears, and was shielded from view by the Prince of Wales and Prince Alfred, her second son, who cried throughout the service.

The weather at Osborne was dreary, with winds blowing up from the Channel. The Queen wrote to her eldest daughter, Victoria, that the ceremony was “more of a funeral than a wedding”, and remarked to Alfred, Lord Tennyson that it was “the saddest day I can remember”.

The Princess’s life in Darmstadt was unhappy as a result of impoverishment, family tragedy and worsening relations with her husband and mother.

April 24, 1533: Birth of Willem I the Silent, Prince of Orange

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Anne of Saxony, Dutch Uprising, King Philip II of Spain, Margaret of Parma, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland, the Netherlands, Willem the Silent, William the Silent, Zeeland and Utrecht

Willem the Silent (April 24, 1533 – July 10, 1584) was the main leader of the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648) and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1581. Born into the House of Nassau, he became Prince of Orange in 1544 and is thereby the founder of the Orange-Nassau branch and the ancestor of the monarchy of the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, he is also known as Father of the Fatherland.

Early life and education

Willem was born on April 24, 1533 at Dillenburg Castle in the County of Nassau-Dillenburg, in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the eldest son of Count Wilhelm I of Nassau-Dillenburg and Juliana of Stolberg.

Willem’s father had one surviving daughter by his previous marriage, and his mother had four surviving children by her previous marriage. His parents had twelve children together, of whom Willem was the eldest; he had four younger brothers and seven younger sisters. The family was religiously devout and Willem was raised a Lutheran.

In 1544, Willem’s agnatic first cousin, René of Châlon, Prince of Orange, died in the siege of St Dizier, childless. In his testament, René of Chalon named Willem the heir to all his estates and titles, including that of Prince of Orange, on the condition that he receive a Roman Catholic education.

Willem’s father acquiesced to this condition on behalf of his 11-year-old son, and this was the founding of the House of Orange-Nassau. Besides the Principality of Orange (located today in France) and significant lands in Germany, Willem also inherited vast estates in the Low Countries (present-day Netherlands and Belgium) from his cousin. Because of Willem’s young age, Emperor Charles V, who was the overlord of most of these estates, served as regent until Williem was old enough to rule them himself.

On July 6, 1551, Willem married Anna, daughter and heir of Maximiliaan van Egmond, an important Dutch nobleman, a match that had been secured by Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Anna’s father had died in 1548, and therefore Willem became Lord of Egmond and Count of Buren upon his wedding day. The marriage was a happy one and produced three children, one of whom died in infancy. Anna died on March 24, 1558, aged 25, leaving Willem much grieved.

On August 25, 1561, Willem of Orange married for the second time. Willem’s second wife was Anna of Saxony, the daughter of Maurice, Elector of Saxony, and Agnes, eldest daughter of Philipp I, Landgrave of Hesse

His new wife was described by contemporaries as “self-absorbed, weak, assertive, and cruel”, and it is generally assumed that Willem married her to gain more influence in Saxony, Hesse and the Palatinate. The couple had five children. They divorced in 1571.

The marriage used Lutheran rites, and marked the beginning of a gradual change in his religious opinions, which was to lead Willem to revert to Lutheranism and eventually moderate Calvinism. Still, he remained tolerant of other religious opinions.

Up to this time Willem’s life had been marked by lavish display and extravagance. He surrounded himself with a retinue of young noblemen and dependents and kept open house in his magnificent Nassau palace at Brussels.

Consequently the revenue of his vast estates was not sufficient to prevent him being crippled by debt. But after his return from France, a change began to come over Willem. King Felipe II of Spain made him councillor of state, knight of the Golden Fleece, and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht, but there was a latent antagonism between the natures of the two men.

Willem married for a third time to the former Abbess of Jouarre, Charlotte de Bourbon-Montpensier, a daughter of Louis II of Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier, and his first wife, Jacqueline de Longwy.

Willem also served the Habsburgs as a member of the court of Margaret of Parma, governor of the Spanish Netherlands and natural half-sister to Felipe II.

The Dutch uprising began with the increased opposition to Spanish rule among the then mostly Catholic population of the Netherlands. Lastly, the opposition wished to see an end to the presence of Spanish troops.

Willem was unhappy with the centralisation of political power away from the local estates and with the Spanish persecution of Dutch Protestants, Willem joined the Dutch uprising and turned against his former masters. The most influential and politically capable of the rebels, he led the Dutch to several successes in the fight against the Spanish. Declared an outlaw by Felipe II of Spain in 1580, he was assassinated by Balthasar Gérard in Delft in 1584.

Willem’s eldest son, Philip Willem, by his first wife Anna van Egmont, succeeded him as Prince of Orange.

Elizabeth Stuart of England, Scotland and Ireland and Queen of Bohemia. Conclusion.

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Anna van Solms, Charles II of England, Elizabeth Stuart of England, Frederick V of the Palatinate, Prince of Orange, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Queen of Bohemia, Scotland and Ireland, The Hague

Fearing the worst, by the time of the defeat at the Battle of White Mountain, Elizabeth already had left Prague and was awaiting the birth of her fifth child at the Castle of Custrin, about 80 km (50 mi) from Berlin. It was there on 6 January 1621 that she “in an easy labour lasting little more than an hour” was delivered of a healthy son, Maurice.

The military defeat, however, meant that there was no longer a prospect of returning to Prague, and the entire family was forced to flee. They could no longer return to the Palatinate as it was occupied by the Catholic league and a Spanish contingent. So, after an invitation from Maurice, the Prince of Orange, they made their move towards The Hague.

Elizabeth arrived in The Hague in spring 1621 with only a small court. Elizabeth’s sense of duty to assist her husband out of the political mess in which they had found themselves, meant that “she became much more an equal, if not the stronger, partner in the marriage”. Her lady-in-waiting, Amalia van Solms, soon became involved with Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and married him in 1625. The two women became rivals at the court of The Hague.

While in exile Elizabeth produced eight more children, four boys and four girls. The last, Gustavus, was born on January 2, 1632 and baptised in the Cloister Church where two of his siblings who had died young, Louis and Charlotte, were buried. Later that same month, Friedrich farewell to Elizabeth and set out on a journey to join the king of Sweden on the battlefield.

After declining conditions set out by King Gustavus II Adolphus that would have seen the Swedish king assist in his restoration, the pair parted with Friedrich heading back towards The Hague. however, he had been suffering from an infection since the beginning of October 1632, and he died on the morning of November 29, 1632 before reaching The Hague.

Widowhood

When Elizabeth received the news of Friedrich’s s death, she became senseless with grief and for three days did not eat, drink, or sleep. When Charles I heard of Elizabeth’s state, he invited her to return to England; however, she refused. The rights of her son and Friedrich’s heir Charles Ludwig “remained to be fought for”. Elizabeth then fought for her son’s rights, but she remained in The Hague even after he regained the Electorate of the Palatinate in 1648.

She became a patron of the arts, and commissioned a larger family portrait to honour herself and her husband, to complement the impressive large seascape of her 1613 joyous entry to the Netherlands. Her memorial family portrait of 1636 was outdone however by Amalia van Solms who commissioned the Oranjezaal after the death of her husband Frederick Henry in 1648–1651.

Elizabeth filled her time with copious letter writing and making marriage matches for her children. Her life after the death of Friedrich, however, had its share of heartache. Between his death in 1632 and her own death 30 years later, she witnessed the death of four more of her ten surviving children: Gustavus in 1641, Philip in 1650, Henriette Marie in 1651, and Maurice in 1652.

Elizabeth suffered another blow with the execution of her brother Charles I, King of England, Scotland and Ireland in early 1649, and the removal into exile of the surviving Stuart family during the years of the Commonwealth. The relationships with her remaining living children also became somewhat estranged, although she did spend time with her growing number of grandchildren. She began to pay the price for having been “a distant mother to most of her own children”, and the idea of going to England now was uppermost in her thoughts.

Death

In 1660, the Stuarts were restored to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland in the person of Elizabeth’s nephew Charles II. Elizabeth, now determined to visit her native land, arrived in England on May 26, 1661. By July, she was no longer planning on returning to The Hague and made plans for the remainder of her furniture, clothing, and other property to be sent to her.

She then proceeded to move to Drury House, where she established a small, but impressive and welcoming, household. On January 29, 1662 she made another move, to Leicester House, Westminster, but by this time she was quite ill. Elizabeth was suffering from pneumonia, and on February 10, 1662 she haemorrhaged from the lungs and died soon after midnight on February 13, 1662.

Her death caused little public stir as by then her “chief, if not only, claim to fame was as the mother of Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the legendary Cavalier general”. On the evening of February 17, when her coffin (into which her remains had been placed the previous day) left Somerset House, Rupert was the only one of her sons to follow the funeral procession to Westminster Abbey. There in the chapel of Henry VII, “a survivor of an earlier age, isolated and without a country she could really call her own” was laid to rest among her ancestors and close to her beloved elder brother, Henry, Prince of Wales.

History of Male British Consorts Part XI

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Ernest III of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, King Consort, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince of Orange, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel; August 26, 1819 – December 14, 1861) was the consort of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom from their marriage on February 10, 1840 until his death in 1861.

Albert was born on August 26, 1819 at Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, Germany, in the Saxon duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld to a family connected to many of Europe’s ruling monarchs. Prince Albert was the second son of Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and his first wife, Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. His first cousin and future wife, Victoria, was born earlier in the same year with the assistance of the same midwife, Charlotte von Siebold.

In 1825, Albert’s great-uncle, Friedrich IV, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, died without an heir. His death led to a realignment of the Saxon duchies the following year and Albert’s father became the first reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Albert and his elder brother, Ernst, spent their youth in a close companionship marred by their parents’ turbulent marriage and eventual separation and divorce. After their mother was exiled from court in 1824, she married her lover, Alexander von Hanstein, Count of Pölzig and Beiersdorf. She presumably never saw her children again, and died of cancer at the age of 30 in 1831. The following year, their father married his niece, his sons’ cousin, Princess Marie of Württemberg; their marriage was not close, however, and Marie had little—if any—impact on her stepchildren’s lives.

The brothers were educated privately at home by Christoph Florschütz and later studied in Brussels, where Adolphe Quetelet was one of their tutors. Like many other German princes, Albert attended the University of Bonn, where he studied law, political economy, philosophy and the history of art. He played music and excelled at sport, especially fencing and riding. His tutors at Bonn included the philosopher Fichte and the poet Schlegel.

Marriage

The idea of marriage between Albert and his cousin, Victoria, was first documented in an 1821 letter from his paternal grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who said that he was “the pendant to the pretty cousin”. By 1836, this idea had also arisen in the mind of their ambitious uncle Leopold, who had been King of the Belgians since 1831.

At this time, Victoria was the heir presumptive to the British throne. Her father, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III, had died in 1820 when she was a baby, and her elderly uncle, King William IV, had no legitimate children. Her mother, the Duchess of Kent, was the sister of both Albert’s father—the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha—and King Leopold I of the Belgians. Leopold arranged for his sister, Victoria’s mother, to invite the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his two sons to visit her in May 1836, with the purpose of meeting Victoria. William IV, however, disapproved of any match with the Coburgs, and instead favoured the suit of Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, second son of the Willem, Prince of Orange, future King Willem II.

Victoria came to the throne aged eighteen on June 20, 1837. Although she resisted attempts to rush her into marriage, her letters of the time show interest in Albert’s education for the role he would have to play. In the winter of 1838–39, the prince visited Italy, accompanied by the Coburg family’s confidential adviser, Baron Stockmar.

Albert returned to the United Kingdom with Ernst in October 1839 to visit the Queen, with the objective of settling the marriage. Albert and Victoria felt mutual affection and the Queen proposed to him on October 15, 1839. Victoria’s intention to marry was declared formally to the Privy Council on November 23, and the couple married on February 10, 1840 at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace. Just before the marriage, Albert was naturalised by Act of Parliament, and granted the style of Royal Highness by an Order in Council.

Initially Albert was not popular with the British public; he was perceived to be from an impoverished and undistinguished minor state, barely larger than a small English county. The British Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, advised the Queen against granting her husband the title of “King Consort”; Parliament also objected to Albert being created a peer—partly because of anti-German sentiment and a desire to exclude Albert from any political role.

Albert’s religious views provided a small amount of controversy when the marriage was debated in Parliament: although as a member of the Lutheran Evangelical Church Albert was a Protestant, the non-Episcopal nature of his church was considered worrisome. Of greater concern, however, was that some of Albert’s family were Roman Catholic.

Lord Melbourne led a minority government and the opposition took advantage of the marriage to weaken his position further. They opposed the ennoblement of Albert and granted him a smaller annuity than previous consorts, £30,000 instead of the usual £50,000. Albert claimed that he had no need of a British peerage, writing: “It would almost be a step downwards, for as a Duke of Saxony, I feel myself much higher than a Duke of York or Kent.” For the next seventeen years, Albert was formally titled “HRH Prince Albert” until, on June 25, 1857, Victoria formally granted him the title Prince Consort.

For the second time a husband of a Queen Regnant was denied the title of King Consort. The concept of Jure uxoris (a Latin phrase meaning “by right of (his) wife”), became out of date. This term describes a title of nobility used by a man because his wife holds the office or title suo jure (“in her own right”). This practice slowly replaced as customs and laws changed and the sharing of Royal authority by foreigners was not welcome.

In the next entry I will examine Prince Albert’s political role as husband of Queen Victoria.