William II of the Netherlands

William II (William Frederick George Louis) (December 6, 1792 – March 17, 1849) was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from October 7, 1840 until his death on March 17, 1849.

Early life and education

He was born in The Hague, the son of King William I of the Netherlands and Queen Wilhelmina, princess of Prussia. His maternal grandparents were Frederick William II of Prussia and his second wife Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.

When William was three he and his family fled to England after allied British-Hanoverian mercenaries left the Republic and entering French troops joined the anti-orangist Patriots. William spent his youth in Berlin at the Prussian court. There he followed a military education and served in the Prussian army. Afterwards he studied at the University of Oxford.

Military service

He entered the British Army, and in 1811, as aide-de-camp to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, took part in several campaigns of the Peninsular War. He returned to the Netherlands in 1813 when his father became sovereign prince.

In 1815 William became crown prince and he took service in the army when Napoleon I of France escaped from Elba. He fought as commander of combined Dutch and Belgian forces at the Battle of Quatre Bras (June 16) and the Battle of Waterloo (June 18), where he was wounded. He was considered a hero although his military incompetence was the cause of several critical errors.

Marriage

In 1816 William became briefly engaged with Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, only daughter of George IV of the United Kingdom and Caroline of Brunswick. The marriage was arranged by George but Charlotte did not want to marry William so the engagement was broken.

On February 21, 1816, William married Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia, sister to Czar Alexander I of Russia, who arranged the marriage to seal the good relations between Imperial Russia and the Netherlands.

On February 17, 1817 his eldest son Willem Alexander was born (the future King William III) in Brussels, where he lived. Because he lived in Brussels he got affiliated with the Southern industrials.

Belgian revolution activities

He enjoyed considerable popularity in Belgium, as well as in 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 afterwards rejected the terms of accommodation that he had proposed. Relations with his father remained tense.

In April 1831 he was leader of the ten day campaign in Belgium which was driven back to the North by French intervention. European intervention established Leopold of Saxe-Gotha on the new throne of Belgium. Peace was finally established between Belgium and the Netherlands in 1839.

King of the Netherlands

On October 7, 1840, on his father's abdication, he acceded the throne as William II. Like his father he was conservative and less likely to initiate changes. He intervened less in policies than his father did. There was increased agitation for broad constitutional reform and a wider electoral franchise. And though he was personally conservative and no democrat, he acted with sense and moderation.

The Revolutions of 1848 broke out all over Europe. In Paris the Bourbon-Orléans monarchy fell. William became afraid of revolution in Amsterdam. One morning he woke up and said: "I changed from conservative to liberal in one night". He gave orders to Johan Rudolf Thorbecke to create a new constitution which included that the Eerste Kamer (Senate) would be chosen indirectly by the Provincial States and that the Tweede Kamer (House of Representatives) would be chosen directly. Electoral system changed into census suffrage in electoral districts (in 1917 census suffrage was replaced by common suffrage for all adults, and districts were replaced by party lists of different political parties), whereby royal power decreased sharply. The constitution is still in effect today.

He swore in the first parliamentary cabinet a few months before his sudden death in Tilburg, North Brabant (1849).

Children

William II had four children:

William III
William Alexander Sascha (1818-1848).
William Frederick Henry "the Navigator" (1820-1879). Married firstly Princess Amalia of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and secondly Princess Marie of Prussia, but had no issue.
Wilhelmina Marie Sophie (1824-1897). Married Karl Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.

On Screen

William II was later portrayed on television by Paul Bettany in Sharpe's Waterloo. In the episode (itself adapted from a novel by Bernard Cornwell), William suffers his wound after being shot by the fictitious hero, Richard Sharpe (played by Sean Bean). Whilst under William's command Sharpe becomes enraged after the crown prince's incompetence costs the lives of many Allied soldiers, including two of Sharpe's closest friends. Taken under the cover of battle, Sharpe's actions are not noticed by anyone who cares for the intransigent William and thus go unpunished.