William II of the Netherlands

{{redirect| Koning Willem de Tweede|the ship wrecked off the South Australian coast in 1857|Koning Willem de Tweede (ship)}}

{{Infobox royalty

| name = William II

| image = King Willem II.jpg

| caption = Portrait by Nicolaas Pieneman, {{circa|1849}}

| succession = {{plainlist|

| reign = {{Nowrap|7 October 1840 – 17 March 1849}}

| predecessor = William I

| successor = William III

| coronation = 28 November 1840

| cor-type = Inauguration

| spouse = {{marriage|Anna Pavlovna of Russia|1816}}

| issue = {{plainlist|

| house = Orange-Nassau

| father = William I of the Netherlands

| mother = Wilhelmine of Prussia

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1792|12|6}}

| birth_place = Noordeinde Palace, The Hague, Dutch Republic

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1849|03|17|1792|12|6}}

| death_place = Tilburg, Netherlands

| religion = Dutch Reformed Church

| signature = Signature of William II of the Netherlands (1848).svg

| module = {{Infobox officeholder

| embed = yes

| battles={{tree list}} (incomplete)

}}

William II ({{langx|nl|Willem Frederik George Lodewijk}}; English: William Frederick George Louis; 6 December 1792 – 17 March 1849), known as Koning Willem de Tweede or Koning Willem II in the Netherlands, was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg.

William II was the son of William I and Wilhelmine of Prussia. When his father, who up to that time ruled as sovereign prince, proclaimed himself king in 1815, he became Prince of Orange as heir apparent of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. With the abdication of his father on 7 October 1840, William II became king. During his reign, the Netherlands became a parliamentary democracy with the new constitution of 1848. William II was married to Anna Pavlovna of Russia. They had four sons and one daughter. William II was succeeded by his son William III.

Early life and education

Willem Frederik George Lodewijk was born on 6 December 1792 in The Hague. He was the eldest son of the then Prince William and Wilhelmine of Prussia. His maternal grandparents were King Frederick William II of Prussia and his second wife Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt. William had one younger brother, Frederick, and two younger sisters, Pauline and Marianne.

When William was two, he and his family fled to England after allied British-Hanoverian troops left the republic and entering French troops defeated the army of the United Provinces, claiming liberation by joining the anti-Orangist Patriots. William spent his youth in Berlin at the Prussian court, where he followed a military education and served in the Prussian Army. After this, he studied civil law at Christ Church, University of Oxford.{{Cite web|url=http://www.dbnl.org/tekst/molh003nieu01_01/molh003nieu01_01_2266.php|title=Nieuw Nederlandsch biografisch woordenboek. Deel 1 |website=DBNL|language=nl|access-date=1 September 2017}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.parlement.com/id/vg09llxqm0r5/koning_willem_ii_koning_willem_frederik|title=Z.M. (koning Willem II) koning Willem Frederik George Lodewijk, koning der Nederlanden, groothertog van Luxemburg, hertog van Limburg, prins van Oranje-Nassau|website=parlement.com|language=nl|access-date=1 September 2017}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.scheveningen1813-2013.nl/ballingschaporanjes/7frederik/1-9/4lodewijk/index.html|title=Willem Frederik George Lodewijk (1792–1849)|website=scheveningen1813-2013.nl|access-date=1 September 2017}}

Military service

File:Nicaise de Keyser (1813-87) - William II (1792-1849), King of the Netherlands, when Prince of Orange - RCIN 405151 - Royal Collection.jpg, by Nicaise de Keyser, 1846]]

He entered the British Army, and in 1811, as a 19-year-old aide-de-camp in the headquarters of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, was allowed to observe several of Wellington's campaigns of the Peninsular War. Though not yet 20, the young prince, according to the customs of the time, was made lieutenant colonel on 11 June 1811{{London Gazette|issue=16494|page=1068|date=11 June 1811}} and colonel on 21 October that year.{{London Gazette|issue=16533|page=2033|date=22 October 1811}} He took part in the Siege of Badajoz and the Battle of Salamanca in Spain in 1812. Later that year, on 8 September, he was made an aide-de-camp to the Prince Regent{{London Gazette|issue=16642|page=1812|date=8 September 1812}} and on 14 December 1813 promoted to major-general.{{London Gazette|issue=16824|page=2528|date=14 December 1813}} His courage and good nature made him very popular with the British, who nicknamed him "Slender Billy". He returned to the Netherlands in 1813 when his father became sovereign prince, and in May 1814 succeeded Sir Thomas Graham as the highest-ranking officer of the British forces stationed there.{{cite web|author=Andrew Bamford|url=http://www.napoleon-series.org/military/battles/1814/c_lowcountries1814.pdf|title=The British Army in the Low Countries, 1813–1814|date=2014|website=The Napoleon Series|access-date=16 August 2015}}

On 8 July 1814, he was promoted to lieutenant-general in the British Army,{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=16915|page=1393|date=9 July 1814}} and on 25 July to general.{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=16924|page=1609|date=9 August 1814}} As such, he was senior officer of the Allied army in the Low Countries when Napoleon I of France escaped from Elba in 1815. He relinquished command on the arrival of the Duke of Wellington, and, though this was his first real battle, served as commander of the I Allied Corps, first at the Battle of Quatre Bras (16 June 1815) and then at the Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815), where he was woundedHofschröer, Peter, 1815, The Waterloo Campaign, The German Victory pp. 137, 200. in his left shoulder by a musket ball.{{Cite web|title=William, Prince of Orange, wounded at the Battle of Waterloo, 1815 {{!}} Online Collection {{!}} National Army Museum, London|url=https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?q=searchType=simple&simpleText=peninsular&themeID=&resultsDisplay=grid&page=10&pos=184&total=505&acc=1971-02-33-430-1|access-date=14 February 2022|website=collection.nam.ac.uk}} He was aged 22. As a sign of gratitude for what the Dutch throne styled "his" victory at Waterloo, William was offered Soestdijk Palace by the Dutch people.{{Cite web |url=https://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/encyclopedie/geschiedenis/koningen-en-koninginnen/willem-ii-koning-(1792-1849)/ |title=Willem II, Koning (1792-1849) |website=Het Koninklijk Huis |language=nl |access-date=15 December 2014 |archive-date=24 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140824102128/https://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/encyclopedie/geschiedenis/koningen-en-koninginnen/willem-ii-koning-(1792-1849)/ |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.paleissoestdijk.nl/het-paleis/geschiedenis-van-paleis-soestdijk.html|title=Geschiedenis van het Paleis Soestdijk|website=Paleis Soestdijk|language=nl|access-date=16 June 2015|archive-date=10 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161210123327/https://www.paleissoestdijk.nl/het-paleis/geschiedenis-van-paleis-soestdijk.html|url-status=dead}}

Military historian William Siborne blamed many casualties suffered by Coalition forces during the Waterloo campaign to William's inexperience.Siborne, William. "History of the War in France and Belgium in 1815", 1844 In response, Siborne was accused by Lieutenant-General Willem Jan Knoop of misrepresenting William's actions at Waterloo.Knoop, Willem Jan. "Beschouwingen over Siborne’s Geschiedenis van den Oorlog van 1815", 1846 An inspection into the archives of Siborne by Dutch officer Francois de Bas in 1897 claimed to discover the "selective use of sources" and "numerous miscounts and untruths".Historisch Nieuwsblad, June 2015: "[https://www.historischnieuwsblad.nl/nl/artikel/43323/willem-ii-en-de-slag-bij-waterloo-1815.html Willem II en de Slag bij Waterloo – 1815]"

Marriage

File:Willem II anna paulowna.jpg (1816) by Jan Willem Pieneman]]

In 1814, William was briefly engaged to Princess Charlotte of Wales, only child of the Prince Regent (later George IV of the United Kingdom) and his estranged wife, Caroline of Brunswick. The engagement was arranged by the Prince Regent, but it was broken off because Charlotte's mother was against the marriage and because Charlotte did not want to move to the Netherlands.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

On 21 February 1816 at the Chapel of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, William married Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia, youngest sister to Tsar Alexander I of Russia, who arranged the marriage to seal the good relations between Imperial Russia and the Netherlands. On 17 February 1817 in Brussels, his first son, William, the future King William III, was born.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

File:YoungwilliamII.jpg]]

In 1819, he was blackmailed over what Minister of Justice Van Maanen termed in a letter his "shameful and unnatural lusts": presumably bisexuality. Separately, his signing the constitutional reform of 1848, enabling a parliamentary democracy, may have been partly influenced by blackmail.{{cite news|url=http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2013/11/29/koning-willem-ii-werd-gechanteerd-vanwege-homoseksualiteit|title=Koning Willem II gechanteerd wegens homoseksualiteit|newspaper=NRC |date=29 November 2013 |last1=Jaeger |first1=Toef }} He may also have had a relationship with a dandy by the name of Pereira.Hermans, Dorine and Hooghiemstra, Daniela: Voor de troon wordt men niet ongestrafd geboren, ooggetuigen van de koningen van Nederland 1830–1890, {{ISBN|978-9035131149}}, 2007.

Belgian Revolution

File:The replacement of the injured horse of the Prince of Orange during the battle of Boutersem in 1831 (cropped).jpg]]

William II enjoyed considerable popularity in what is now Belgium (then the Southern Netherlands), as well as in parts of the rest of the Netherlands for his affability and moderation, and in 1830, on the outbreak of the Belgian Revolution, he did his utmost in Brussels as a peace broker, to bring about a settlement based on administrative autonomy for the southern provinces, under the House of Orange-Nassau. His father then rejected the terms of accommodation that he had proposed without further consultation;{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=William II., King of the Netherlands|volume=28|page=670|first=George|last=Edmundson|author-link=George Edmundson}} afterwards, relations with his father were once again tense.

In April 1831, William II was sent by his father to be the military leader during the Ten Days' Campaign in order to recover what would become Belgium. Although initially successful, the Dutch withdrew after French intervention on the side of the rebels. European mediation established Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (widower of William's former fiancée, Charlotte) on the throne of a new monarchy. Peace was finally established in 1839 when Belgium was recognized by the Netherlands.{{cite web |last1=Van Assche |first1=Dirk |title=Belgium and the Netherlands Officially Divorced 180 Years Ago |url=https://www.the-low-countries.com/article/belgium-and-the-netherlands-officially-divorced-180-years-ago/ |date=April 2019}}

Reign

File:De inhuldiging van koning Willem II in de Nieuwe Kerk te Amsterdam, 28 november 1840 Rijksmuseum SK-A-3852.jpeg of William II on 28 November 1840, by Nicolaas Pieneman]]

On 7 October 1840, on his father's abdication, he acceded to the throne as William II. Although he shared his father's conservative inclinations, he did not intervene in governmental affairs nearly as much as his father had. There was increased agitation for broad constitutional reform and a wider electoral franchise.

1847 had been a year of political unrest. The Netherlands had seen food riots in the Northern Provinces and a plot had been discovered to murder the King and his eldest son. William II's personal life was fraught with difficulties as well. The king had for some time been in very poor health. He suffered from heart disease (among other things) and his doctor had told the family he didn't have long to live. On top of that, Williams beloved second son Prince Alexander had fallen ill in January 1847 and the 29-year-old's condition became increasingly concerning as the year continued. Prince Alexander went to Madeira to winter in a warm climate, but his health only worsened further and his desperate father sent his own personal physician to the island in a last bid attempt to save his son's life. Alexander would eventually die on 20 March 1848.{{Cite journal |last=Winter-Agterhuis |first=Tessa de |date=1 April 2024 |title=Onze Sasja is niet meer: Het verlies van een veelbelovende prins in het revolutiejaar 1848 |url=https://www.aup-online.com/content/journals/10.5117/TvG2024.1.005.WINT |journal=Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis |language=nl |volume=137 |issue=1 |pages=64–83 |doi=10.5117/TvG2024.1.005.WINT |issn=0040-7518|url-access=subscription }}

The Revolutions of 1848 broke out all over Europe. In Paris the July Monarchy fell in February 1848. Warned that the revolution might spread to the Netherlands next, William decided to institute a more liberal regime, believing it was better to grant reforms instead of having them imposed on him on less favourable terms later. As he later put it, "I changed from conservative to liberal in one night". He chose a committee headed by the prominent liberal Johan Rudolf Thorbecke to create a new constitution, which was instituted on 17 March 1848.

The new document designed by the constitutional committee provided that the Eerste Kamer (Senate), previously appointed by the king, would be elected indirectly by the provincial states. The Tweede Kamer (House of Representatives), previously elected by the provincial states, would be elected directly via census suffrage in electoral districts, with the franchise limited to those who paid a certain amount in taxes. The most significant change, however, was the curbing of royal power. The king had previously been a near-autocrat, and ministers were responsible solely to him. The new constitution made the ministers fully responsible to the Tweede Kamer. For all intents and purposes, the real power passed to the Tweede Kamer, and the king was now a servant of government rather than its master. The constitution of 1848 has been amended numerous times since (most notably by the replacement of census suffrage by universal manhood suffrage and districts with nationwide party-list proportional representation, both in 1917).

William swore in his first and only cabinet under the terms of the new constitution a few months before his sudden death in Tilburg, North Brabant (1849).{{cn|date=May 2025}}

Honours

File:Royal Monogram of William II of the Netherlands and Luxembourg.svg

{{flag|Netherlands}}: Grand Cross of the Military William Order, 8 July 1815{{cite web|url=https://www.defensie.nl/onderwerpen/onderscheidingen/dapperheidsonderscheidingen/databank-dapperheidsonderscheidingen/1815/07/08/oranje-nassau-willem-frederik-george-lodewijk-prins-van |title=Militaire Willems-Orde: Oranje-Nassau, Willem Frederik George Lodewijk, Prins van|trans-title=Military William Order: Orange-Nassau, William Frederick George Louis, Prince of|website=Ministerie van Defensie|language=nl|access-date=3 May 2020|date=8 July 1815}}
{{flag|Luxembourg}}: Founder of the Order of the Oak Crown, 29 December 1841Mémorial A n° 1 du 3 January 1842, [https://web.archive.org/web/20160303174554/http://www.legilux.public.lu/leg/a/archives/1842/0001/a001.pdf#page=1 Arrêté royal grand-ducal du 29 décembre 1841, Litt. A, portant institution, pour le Grand-Duché du Luxembourg d'un Ordre de la Couronne de Chêne.] (Foundation of the Order)
{{flag|Baden}}:Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1845), "Großherzogliche Orden" [https://digital.blb-karlsruhe.de/blbihd/periodical/pageview/1869301 pp. 32], [https://digital.blb-karlsruhe.de/blbihd/periodical/pageview/1869317 48]
Knight of the House Order of Fidelity, 1841
Grand Cross of the Order of the Zähringer Lion, 1841
{{flag|Kingdom of Hanover}}:
Knight of the Order of St. George, 1840{{cite book|title=Hof- und Staatshandbuch für das Königreich Hannover: 1846|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L_pSAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA36|year=1846|publisher=Berenberg|page=36}}
Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Kingdom of Prussia (1803-1892).svg}} Kingdom of Prussia: Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle, 17 December 1808Liste der Ritter des Königlich Preußischen Hohen Ordens vom Schwarzen Adler (1851), "Von Seiner Majestät dem Könige Friedrich Wilhelm III. ernannte Ritter" [https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb10362193?page=26 p. 16]
{{flag|Russian Empire}}:{{cite book|title=Almanach de la cour: pour l'année ... 1817|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8ZpKAAAAcAAJ|year=1817|publisher=l'Académie Imp. des Sciences|pages=63, 78, 91}}
Knight of the Order of St. Andrew, 22 June 1814
Knight of the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, 22 June 1814
Knight of the Order of St. George, 2nd Class, 8 July 1815
{{flag|Austrian Empire}}: Commander of the Military Order of Maria Theresa{{citation|chapter-url=http://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=shb&datum=1847&size=45&page=141|chapter=Ritter-Orden|title=Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Österreichischen Kaiserthumes|date=1847|access-date=28 July 2020|page=[http://alex.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/alex?aid=shb&datum=1847&page=145&size=45 11]}}
{{flag|Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach}}: Grand Cross of the Order of the White Falcon, 24 June 1838Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1843), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" [https://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/rsc/viewer/jportal_derivate_00183829/Staatshandbuch_Film_Nr_12_0017.tif p. 8] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200706122254/https://zs.thulb.uni-jena.de/rsc/viewer/jportal_derivate_00183829/Staatshandbuch_Film_Nr_12_0017.tif |date=6 July 2020 }}
{{flag|Spain|1785}}: Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, 18 September 1814{{citation |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ucm.5325545189&view=1up&seq=44|title=Caballeros Existentes en la Insignie Orden del Toison de Oro|date=1819|journal=Calendario Manual y Guía de Forasteros en Madrid|access-date=17 March 2020|page=42|language=es|last1=Guerra|first1=Francisco}}
{{flag|Württemberg}}: Grand Cross of the Military Merit Order, 1819{{cite book|title=Staatshandbuch für Württemberg|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_blsAAAAAcAAJ/page/n51/mode/2up|year=1833|page=35|publisher=Guttenberg}}

Relationships

William II had a string of relationships with both men and women, which led him to be blackmailed.{{Cite web|url=http://www.gay-news.com/article/4186/Intense-Male-Friendships-Made-King-Willem-II-Liable-to-Blackmail/|title=Intense Male Friendships Made King Willem II Liable to Blackmail|website=gay-news.com|access-date=1 September 2017}}{{Cite book|title=Koning Willem II: 1792–1849|last=Jeroen van|first=Zanten|date=2013|publisher=Gay News|isbn=978-9461051851|volume=dl. 2|location=Amsterdam|oclc=864666575}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2013/11/30/willem-ii-intelligent-chantabel-en-in-de-knel-1323230-a505273|title=Willem II: intelligent, chantabel en in de knel|work=NRC|access-date=1 September 2017|language=nl}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.historischnieuwsblad.nl/nl/artikel/32562/boeken-jeroen-van-zanten-koning-willem-ii-1792-1849.html|title=Boeken: Jeroen van Zanten, Koning Willem II (1792–1849)|work=Historisch Nieuwsblad|access-date=1 September 2017|language=nl}} The homosexual relationships that William II had as crown prince and as king were reported by journalist {{Interlanguage link|Eillert Meeter|nl}}.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/hollanditsinsti00meetgoog|title=Holland: its institutions, its press, kings and prisons|last=Meeter|first=E.|date=1857|language=en}} The king surrounded himself with male servants whom he could not dismiss because of what Meteer described as his "abominable motives" for hiring them in the first place.{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/hollanditsinsti00meetgoog|title=Holland: its institutions, its press, kings and prisons|last=Meeter|first=E.|date=1857|pages=[https://archive.org/details/hollanditsinsti00meetgoog/page/n344 320]|language=en}} One of his closest friends was the Wallonian aristocrat Albéric du Chastel. William II was blackmailed for the first time for his intimacies with men in 1818. After the Dutch secret police captured the blackmailers they were deported to the Dutch overseas colonies.Jeroen van Zanten, Koning Willem II: 1792-1849, p. 274.

In fiction

William II is a recurring character in the historical novels of Georgette Heyer, most notably in An Infamous Army.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

William appears as a character in the historical fiction novel Sharpe's Waterloo by Bernard Cornwell, and its television adaptation, in which he is portrayed by Paul Bettany.{{cn|date=May 2025}}

Ship

The passenger and cargo vessel Koning Willem de Tweede was built in Fop Smit's shipyards, completed on 8 December 1840. It was wrecked off the coast of the colony of South Australia in 1857, with the loss of 16 crew.{{cite book | title=Wrecks and Relics | url=https://cms-web.seamuseum.net/sites/default/files/2025-01/robe_conservation-booklet_final.pdf| publisher= Australian National Maritime Museum| date=2024|ISBN =978-0-9756430-0-6 | access-date=11 May 2025}}

Issue

File:Jan Baptist van der Hulst - Koning Willem II en familie.jpg]]

William II and queen Anna Pavlovna had five children:

William Alexander Paul Frederick Louis (19 February 1817 – 23 November 1890), William III, King of the Netherlands (1849 to 1890). Married firstly Sophie of Württemberg and had issue. Married secondly Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont and had issue, including Queen Wilhelmina.
William Alexander Frederick Constantine Nicholas Michael (2 August 1818 – 20 February 1848). Nicknamed Sasha. Never married.
William Frederick Henry "the Navigator" (13 June 1820 – 13 January 1879). Married firstly Princess Amalia of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and secondly Princess Marie of Prussia, but had no issue.
Prince William Alexander Frederick Ernest Casimir (21 May 1822 – 22 October 1822), died in infancy
Wilhelmina Marie Sophie Louise (8 April 1824 – 23 March 1897). Married Karl Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, and had issue.

Ancestry

{{ahnentafel

|collapsed=yes |align=center

|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;

|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;

|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;

|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;

|1= 1. William II of the Netherlands

|2= 2. William I of the Netherlands

|3= 3. Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia

|4= 4. William V, Prince of Orange

|5= 5. Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia

|6= 6. Frederick William II of Prussia

|7= 7. Princess Frederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt

|8= 8. William IV, Prince of Orange

|9= 9. Anne, Princess Royal

|10= 10. Prince Augustus William of Prussia

|11= 11. Duchess Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

|12= 12. Prince Augustus William of Prussia (= 10)

|13= 13. Duchess Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (= 11)

|14= 14. Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt

|15= 15. Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken

}}

References

External links

{{Cite EB1911|wstitle= William II., King of the Netherlands |volume=28 |last=Edmundson |first=George |author-link=George Edmundson |page=670 |short=1 }}

{{S-hou|House of Orange-Nassau|6 December|1792|17 March|1849|House of Nassau}}

{{S-ttl|title=King of the Netherlands
Grand Duke of Luxembourg
Duke of Limburg|years=1840–1849}}