William I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was a Prince of Orange, the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He was the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic.
After the Patriot revolt had been suppressed in 1787, he in 1788–89 attended the military academy in Brunswick which was considered an excellent military school, together with his brother.
After the Patriot revolt had been suppressed in 1787, he in 1788–89 attended the military academy in Brunswick which was considered an excellent military school, together with his brother.
In 1790 he visited a number of foreign courts like the one in Nassau and the Prussian capital Berlin, where he first met his future wife. William subsequently studied briefly at the University of Leiden.
In 1790 he was appointed a general of infantry in the States Army of which his father was Captain general, and he was made a member of the Council of State of the Netherlands.
In Berlin on 1 October 1791, William married his maternal first cousin (Frederica Louisa) Wilhelmina of Prussia, born in Potsdam.
In November 1791 he took his new bride to The Hague. After the National Convention of the French First Republic had declared war on the stadtholder of the Dutch Republic in February 1793, William was appointed commander-in-chief of the veldleger (mobile army) of the States Army (his father remained the nominal head of the armed forces).
The Hague, 6 December 1792 – d.
In November 1791 he took his new bride to The Hague. After the National Convention of the French First Republic had declared war on the stadtholder of the Dutch Republic in February 1793, William was appointed commander-in-chief of the veldleger (mobile army) of the States Army (his father remained the nominal head of the armed forces).
As such he commanded the troops that took part in the Flanders Campaign of 1793–95.
He took part in the battles of Veurne, Menin, and Wervik (where his brother was wounded) in 1793, the siege of Landrecies (1794), whose fortress surrendered to him, and the Battle of Fleurus (1794), to name the most important.
In May 1794 he had replaced general Kaunitz as commander of the combined Austro-Dutch forces on the instigation of Emperor Francis II who apparently had a high opinion of him.
When in the winter of 1794–95 the rivers in the Rhine delta froze over, the French breached the southern Hollandic Water Line and the situation became militarily untenable.
After the Batavian Revolution in Amsterdam on 18 January 1795 the stadtholder decided to flee to Britain, and his sons accompanied him.
The next day the Batavian Republic was proclaimed. ===Exile=== Soon after the departure to Britain the Hereditary Prince went back to the Continent, where his brother was assembling former members of the States Army in Osnabrück for a planned invasion into the Batavian Republic in the Summer of 1795.
There William formed the King's Dutch Brigade with these troops, a military unit in British service, that swore oaths of allegiance to the British King, but also to the States General, defunct since 1795, "whenever those would be reconstituted." This brigade trained on the Isle of Wight in 1800 and was eventually used by the British in Ireland. When peace was concluded between Great Britain and the French Republic under First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte the Orange exiles were at their nadir.
Married Russian Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna. Stillborn son (Hampton Court, Palace, Middlesex, 18 August 1795). Willem Frederik Karel (b.
Berlin, 28 February 1797 – d.
However, the neutral Prussian government forbade this. In 1799, William landed in the current North Holland as part of an Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland.
There William formed the King's Dutch Brigade with these troops, a military unit in British service, that swore oaths of allegiance to the British King, but also to the States General, defunct since 1795, "whenever those would be reconstituted." This brigade trained on the Isle of Wight in 1800 and was eventually used by the British in Ireland. When peace was concluded between Great Britain and the French Republic under First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte the Orange exiles were at their nadir.
The surrendered ships of the Batavian navy were not returned, due to an agreement between the stadtholder and the British government of 11 March 1800.
Berlin, 1 March 1800 – d.
The Dutch Brigade was dissolved on 12 July 1802.
Meanwhile, William's brother-in-law Frederick William III of Prussia, neutral at the time, promoted a Franco-Prussian convention of 23 May 1802, in addition to the Treaty of Amiens, that gave the House of Orange a few abbatial domains in Germany, that were combined to the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda by way of indemnification for its losses in the Batavian Republic.
After an agreement with Napoleon, he became the ruler of the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda from 1803 until 1806, when he was deposed by Napoleon.
After an agreement with Napoleon, he became the ruler of the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda from 1803 until 1806, when he was deposed by Napoleon.
Until 1806, William was formally known as William VI, Prince of Orange-Nassau, and between 1806 and 1813 also as Prince of Orange.
The stadtholder gave this principality immediately to his son. When Napoleon invaded Germany in 1806 and war broke out between the French Empire and Prussia, William supported his Prussian relatives, though he was nominally a French vassal.
After the Peace of Tilsit William received a pension from France in compensation. In the same year, 1806, his father, the Prince of Orange died, and William not only inherited the title, but also his father's claims on the inheritance embodied in the Nassau lands.
Freienwalde, 22 December 1806). Stillborn son (Berlin, 30 August 1806). Wilhelmina Frederika Louise Charlotte Marianne (b.
This would become important a few years later, when developments in Germany coincided to make William the Fürst (Prince) of a diverse assembly of Nassau lands that had belonged to other branches of the House of Nassau. But before this came about, in 1809 tensions between Austria and France became intense.
William did not hesitate to join the Austrian army as a Feldmarschalleutnant (major-general) in May 1809 As a member of the staff of the Austrian supreme commander, Archduke Charles he took part in the Battle of Wagram, where he was wounded in the leg. Tsar Alexander I of Russia played a central role in the restoration of the Netherlands.
The Netherlands had been annexed to the French Empire by Napoleon in 1810.
Berlin, 9 May 1810 – d.
In November 1813, after the Defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig, he was asked to become the Sovereign Prince of the United Netherlands.
Until 1806, William was formally known as William VI, Prince of Orange-Nassau, and between 1806 and 1813 also as Prince of Orange.
Prince William VI (as he was now known), who had been living in exile in Prussia, met with Alexander I in March 1813.
Dynastic considerations of marriage between the royal houses of Great Britain and the Netherlands, assured British approval. ===Return=== After Napoleon's defeat at Leipzig (October 1813), the French troops retreated to France from all over Europe.
In the ensuing power vacuum a number of former Orangist politicians and former Patriots formed a provisional government in November 1813.
The Dutch population were pleased with the departure of the French, who had ruined the Dutch economy, and this time welcomed the prince. After having been invited by the Driemanschap (Triumvirate) of 1813, on 30 November 1813 William disembarked from and landed at Scheveningen beach, only a few yards from the place where he had left the country with his father 18 years before, and on 6 December the provisional government offered him the title of King.
He was inaugurated as sovereign prince in the New Church in Amsterdam on 30 March 1814.
In August 1814, he was appointed Governor-General of the former Austrian Netherlands and the Prince-Bishopric of Liège (more or less modern-day Belgium) by the Allied Powers who occupied that country, ruling them on behalf of Prussia.
"Retreat from Liberalism: William I, Freedom of the Press, Political Asylum, and the Foreign Relations of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, 1814-1818" PhD dissertation, U.
He proclaimed himself King of the Netherlands on 16 March 1815.
With the de facto addition of the Austrian Netherlands and Luxembourg to his realm, William had fulfilled his family's three-century dream of uniting the Low Countries. ==King of the Netherlands== Feeling threatened by Napoleon, who had escaped from Elba, William proclaimed the Netherlands a kingdom on 16 March 1815 at the urging of the powers gathered at the Congress of Vienna.
Stephen, 1837 Grand Cross of the Order of the White Falcon, 20 November 1839 ==Arms== {| border="0" align="center" width="80%" |- !width=25% | !width=25% | !width=25% | |- |style="text-align: center;" |Coat of arms of Willem I and his signature on the occassios of his Joyous Entry in Ghent on the sixth of September in 1815 in honour of the founding of the university of Ghent.
In 1817, he also founded three universities in the Southern provinces, such as a new University of Leuven, the University of Ghent and the University of Liège.
In 1822, he founded the Algemeene Nederlandsche Maatschappij ter Begunstiging van de Volksvlijt, which would become one of the most important institutions of Belgium after its independence.
Wassenaar, 8 September 1881), married on 21 May 1825 his first cousin Louise, daughter of Frederick William III of Prussia . Wilhelmina Frederika Louise Pauline Charlotte (b.
Many in the South feared that the King sought to extinguish Catholicism and the French language. ===Revolt of the Southern Provinces=== In August 1830 Daniel Auber's opera La muette de Portici, about the repression of Neapolitans, was staged in Brussels.
An independent state of Belgium emerged out of the 1830 Revolution. The next year, William sent his sons William, the Prince of Orange, and Prince Frederick to invade the new state.
Schloss Reinhartshausen bei Erbach, 29 May 1883), married on 14 September 1830 with Prince Albert of Prussia.
Stephen, 1837 Grand Cross of the Order of the White Falcon, 20 November 1839 ==Arms== {| border="0" align="center" width="80%" |- !width=25% | !width=25% | !width=25% | |- |style="text-align: center;" |Coat of arms of Willem I and his signature on the occassios of his Joyous Entry in Ghent on the sixth of September in 1815 in honour of the founding of the university of Ghent.
On 9 June of the same year, William I also became the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and in 1839 he became the Duke of Limburg.
In 1839, William was forced to end the war.
Stephen, 1837 Grand Cross of the Order of the White Falcon, 20 November 1839 ==Arms== {| border="0" align="center" width="80%" |- !width=25% | !width=25% | !width=25% | |- |style="text-align: center;" |Coat of arms of Willem I and his signature on the occassios of his Joyous Entry in Ghent on the sixth of September in 1815 in honour of the founding of the university of Ghent.
After his abdication in 1840, he styled himself King William Frederick, Count of Nassau. ==Prince of Orange== King William I's parents were the last stadtholder William V, Prince of Orange of the Dutch Republic, and his wife Wilhelmina of Prussia.
Weimar Republic). ===Constitutional changes and abdication in later life=== Constitutional changes were initiated in 1840 because the terms which involved the United Kingdom of the Netherlands had to be removed.
He fulfilled this intent on 7 October 1840 and his eldest son acceded to the throne as king William II.
Tilburg, 17 March 1849) later King William II of the Netherlands from 1840.
William I (Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was a Prince of Orange, the King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. He was the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic.
William I died in 1843 in Berlin at the age of 71. ==Children== With his wife Wilhelmina, King William I had six children: Willem Frederik George Lodewijk (b.
Tilburg, 17 March 1849) later King William II of the Netherlands from 1840.
Wassenaar, 8 September 1881), married on 21 May 1825 his first cousin Louise, daughter of Frederick William III of Prussia . Wilhelmina Frederika Louise Pauline Charlotte (b.
Schloss Reinhartshausen bei Erbach, 29 May 1883), married on 14 September 1830 with Prince Albert of Prussia.
of Delaware, 2003, 341pp.
Abstract: Dissertation Abstracts International 2003, Vol.
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