Wilhelmine of Prussia, Queen of the Netherlands

Wilhelmine of Prussia (Friederike Luise Wilhelmine; 18 November 1774 – 12 October 1837) was the first Queen consort of the Netherlands as the first wife of King William I of the Netherlands. She had a modest public role but acted as a patron of the arts.

Wilhelmine of Prussia
Portrait by Joseph Paelinck
Queen consort of the Netherlands
Grand Duchess consort of Luxembourg
Tenure16 March 1815 – 12 October 1837
Born(1774-11-18)18 November 1774
Potsdam, Prussia
Died12 October 1837(1837-10-12) (aged 62)
Noordeinde Palace, The Hague, Netherlands
Burial
Spouse
(m. 1791)
IssueWilliam II of the Netherlands
Prince Frederick
Princess Pauline
Princess Marianne
Names
Friederike Luise Wilhelmine
HouseHohenzollern
FatherFrederick William II of Prussia
MotherFrederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt
ReligionCalvinism

Biography

Princess Wilhelmine was born in Potsdam. She was the fourth child of eight born to King Frederick William II of Prussia and Queen Frederica Louisa. Her upbringing was dominated by the strict regime of her great-uncle, Frederick the Great, but in general very little is known about her youth. She was given a conventional education for a girl of her time and tutored in needlework and the arts, and described as pretty and sweet.[1]

Marriage

On 1 October 1791, she married her cousin William of the Netherlands, son of Stadtholder William V, Prince of Orange and Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, in Berlin. The marriage was arranged as a part of an alliance between the House of Orange and Prussia, but it was also, in fact, a love match and became a happy one.[1] The young couple went to live at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague.

In 1795, the French invaded the Dutch Republic, and the princely family went into exile. They first stayed in England, and from 1796 in Berlin. In Berlin, the couple lived with her birth family in royal state in the "Niederländischen Palais" ('Dutch Palace').[1] In 1806, Wilhelmine was again forced to flee from the French army, and settled under difficult economic circumstances in Poland.

Wilhelmine returned to The Hague at the beginning of 1814.

Queen

Queen Wilhelmine of the Netherlands in middle age, by Jan Baptist van der Hulst, 1833.

Wilhelmine became Queen of the Netherlands in 1815. At the time, the Netherlands included the present-day country of Belgium. The court divided their time between the two and divided their winters between The Hague and Brussels, and their summers between Het Loo and Laeken.[1] Wilhelmine personally visited Berlin once a year until her death, where she continued to live in the "Niederländischen Palast" during her visit. She participated in royal representation during her stay in Berlin, as well as attending to her estates in Silesia.[1]

Queen Wilhelmine was modest and stayed in the background, and she did not play any dominant role as queen.[1] She was beloved by her family but was not a popular queen, and was criticized in The Netherlands for isolating the royal family, and later Belgium for her German fashion. Beginning in 1820, her health worsened, and after 1829, she was rarely seen in public, though she continued her trips to Berlin and visiting relatives.[1]

She was interested in painting, attended exhibitions, and helped to protect museums and support artists.[1] She was herself a student of art and regarded as a talented dilettante, ultimately being inducted as an honorary member to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam.[1] She was a student of Friedrich Bury, financed an Italian study trip for Bonaventura Genelli, and supported the renovation of the royal museum.[1]

She died at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague in 1837, aged 62, and is entombed in the New Church in Delft.

Issue

NameBirthDeathNotes
King William II of the Netherlands6 December 179217 March 1849married, 1816, Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia; had issue
Stillborn son18 August 179518 August 1795 
Prince Frederick of the Netherlands28 February 17978 September 1881married, 1825, Princess Louise of Prussia; had issue
Princess Pauline of Orange-Nassau1 March 180022 December 1806 
Stillborn son30 August 180630 August 1806 
Princess Marianne of the Netherlands9 May 181029 May 1883married, 1830, Prince Albert of Prussia; had issue

Ancestry

References

  1. Marjan P. Nekkers-Kapitein, Wilhelmina van Pruisen, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/WilhelminaPruisen [13/01/2014]
  2. Généalogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrième degré inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes des maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivants [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bordeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768., pp. 17 (father's side), 69 (mother's side)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.