William III of the Netherlands

and his family'' (1832) by Jan Baptist van der Hulst with William III on the far left William was born on 19 February 1817 in the Palace of the Nation in Brussels, which was one of the capitals of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. He was the eldest son of the future king William II of the Netherlands and Anna Pavlovna of Russia. He had three brothers, one of whom died in infancy, and one sister. William was particularly close to his brother Alexander, who was only 18 months his junior and for the most part was raised alongside him. As adults the two princes shared a passion for outdoor pursuits like shooting, riding and falconry as well as horse racing. Both were active members of the Royal Loo Hawking Club, which drew a large crowd of hunting enthusiasts to Het Loo Palace during the 1840s and early 1850s. William and Alexander also shared a deep frustration at not being given any meaningful tasks in the military. Alexander, who had a lively, amiable, tactful personality, got on well with his hot headed, capricious brother. His death at age 29 was a great loss to William, who counted him a true friend. He never became close to his youngest brother Henry, who was painfully shy, easily embarrassed and anxious to avoid incurring William's wrath. William and his brothers were raised by military men (their governors were distinguished officers decorated with the Military Order of William) and expected to join the military. In 1827, at the age of ten, William was made an honorary colonel in the Royal Netherlands Army by his grandfather. In the 1830s, he served as lieutenant in the Grenadiers Regiment and studied at Leiden University for a while, though without attempting to attain any degree. In 1834, during a visit to his maternal uncle Tsar Nicholas I, he was made honorary commander of the Grenadiers Regiment of Kiev nr. 5 in the Imperial Russian Army. He married his first cousin, Sophie, daughter of King William I of Württemberg and Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, in Stuttgart on 18 June 1839. This marriage was unhappy and was characterized by struggles about their children. Sophie was a liberal intellectual, hating everything leaning toward dictatorship, such as the army. William was simpler, more conservative, and loved the military. He prohibited intellectual exercise at home, for which action Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, who corresponded with Princess Sophie, called him an uneducated farmer. His extramarital enthusiasms, however, led the New York Times to call him "the greatest debauchee of the age". Another cause of marital tension (and later political tension) was his capriciousness; he could rage against someone one day, and be extremely polite the next. The situation was made worse by Sophie, who made no secret of the fact she had never wanted to marry William in the first place and considered herself intellectually superior to him. She could be very dramatic, often complaining about her suffering and her wish to die and expressing negative opinions about pretty much everyone who crossed her path in The Netherlands, especially her inlaws. ==Reign==

, 1856 William repeatedly contemplated abdicating as soon as his eldest son William, Prince of Orange, turned eighteen. This occurred in 1858, but as William was uncomfortable making a decision he remained king. The new king's first act was the inauguration of the parliamentary cabinet of Thorbecke, the designer of the liberal 1848 constitution. Before 1848, the king had been a near-autocrat, but the 1848 document stripped the crown of most of its political powers while transferring most of the real power to the States-General (parliament). When the Roman Catholic hierarchy of bishops was restored in 1853, he found growing conservative support and a reason to dismiss Thorbecke. In the first two decades of his reign, he dismissed several cabinets and disbanded parliament several times. He was able to install royal cabinets which ruled as long as there was support in the elected second chamber of parliament. In what became known as the "Luxembourg Coup of 1856", William unilaterally instituted a new, reactionary constitution for Luxembourg, which he ruled personally, separate from the Dutch crown. In 1867, France offered to buy Luxembourg, leading to the Luxembourg Crisis, which almost precipitated war between Prussia and France. However, the subsequent Second Treaty of London confirmed Luxembourg as a fully independent country. During his reign, the king became more and more unpopular with his bourgeois-liberal subjects, his whims provoking their resistance and mockery, but remained quite popular with the common man. The king was a man of immense stature and with a boisterous voice. He could be gentle and kind, then suddenly he could become intimidating and even violent. His ministers were afraid of him. Most people around him agreed that he was, to some degree, insane. William remained eager to remarry. In 1878, he first proposed to his niece, Princess Elisabeth Sybille of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. He then considered marriage with Princess Pauline of Waldeck and Pyrmont, a small German principality, and Princess Thyra of Denmark, who had her own private scandalous history. He finally decided to marry Pauline's younger sister Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Some politicians were quite angry, as she was 41 years the king's junior. Emma showed herself, however, as a cordial woman. William asked permission from parliament, this was easily granted. The couple were quickly married in Bad Arolsen on 7 January 1879. William III had to deal with low popularity in the last years of his reign. One cause for this was the satirical pamphlet From the life of King Gorilla, in which the many scandals of William III were mentioned. In 1880, Wilhelmina was born. She became heir presumptive in 1884 after the death of the last remaining son from William's first marriage. King William became seriously ill in 1887. He was suffering from a kidney ailment. However, in 1888, he personally presented a gold medal of honor to the lifeboat hero Dorus Rijkers, for saving the lives of 20 people. In 1889 and 1890, the ailing king became increasingly demented. The Council of State and then Queen Emma became regents. William III died at Het Loo Palace 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. ==Family and issue==

Of William III's four legitimate children, three reached adulthood, two sons from his marriage to Queen Sophie and one daughter from his marriage to Queen Emma: • Willem Nicolaas Alexander Frederik Karel Hendrik (1840–1879), heir apparent to the throne from 1849 to his death • Willem Frederik Maurits Alexander Hendrik Karel (1843–1850) • Willem Alexander Karel Hendrik Frederik (1851–1884), heir apparent to the throne from 1879 to his death • Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria (1880–1962), Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 to 1948 Standing at he was an exceptionally large and strong man. William III was known to be a philanderer and had several dozen illegitimate children from various mistresses. == Honours and arms ==

;National orders and decorations • Founder and Joint Grand Master of the Order of the Gold Lion of Nassau, 16 March 1858 ;Foreign orders and decorations ==References==