William II, Prince of Orange
William II, Prince of Orange (May 27, 1626 - November 6, 1650), stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands (March 14, 1647 - November 6, 1650).
William II, Prince of Orange, was the son of stadtholder Frederik Hendrik of Orange and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. William the Silent had been succeeded in the position known as stadtholder and as military commander by his son Maurits of Nassau, who in turn was followed by his brother Frederick Henry. William II’s ancestors governed in conjunction with the States-General, an assembly made up of representatives of each of the seven provinces but usually dominated by the largest and wealthiest province, Holland.
On May 2, 1641 William married Mary Henrietta Stuart, the Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria in the Chapel Royal, Whitehall Palace, London.
In 1648 he opposed acceptance of the Treaty of Münster, despite the fact that it recognized the independence of the Netherlands. Secretly, William opened his own negotiations with France with the goal of extending his own territory under a centralized government. In addition, he worked for the restoration of his brother-in-law, Charles II, to the throne of England. In 1650 William II became involved in a bitter quarrel with the province of Holland and the powerful merchants of Amsterdam over troop reduction following the Treaty of Münster. William opposed the reduction in the size of the army which would diminish his powerbase. This resulted in William putting many members of the provincial assembly in prison in the castle of Loevestein. In addition he send his cousin Willem Frederik of Nassau-Dietz with an army of 10 thousand troops with the aim of taking Amsterdam by force. Bad weather foiled this campaign 1.
After ruling for only three years, he died of smallpox in 1650. Following his death, no stadtholder was appointed in Holland and four other provinces for more than 20 years.
His son, born shortly after William’s death, would become William III of England.
References
- 1 Russel Shorto, The Island at the Centre of the World ISBN 0552999822
| Preceded by: Frederick Henry |
Prince of Orange 1647–1650 |
Succeeded by: William III |
| Preceded by: Frederick Henry |
Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders and Overijssel 1647–1650 |
Succeeded by: William III |
