William II of Orange-Nassau and Mary I Stuart
The dynastic interests of the Oranges did not always correspond to the political course the States-General and the Grand Pensionary wanted to follow. This often led to tension. In 1641, Prince William II of Oranje-Nassau, the only son of Frederik Hendrik, Count of Nassau and Prince of Orange and Amalia van Solms married Mary I Stuart, daughter of the English King Charles I. Frederik Hendrik wanted to boost his status by marrying off his son to a woman with blue blood. However, this close relationship with the royal Stuart family represented also a potential threat to the liberty of the Netherlands.

William II became stadholder after the death of his father Frederik Hendrik in 1647. The negotiations for the Treaty of Munster, which was to end the Eighty Years’ War, had already started. William II was against these peace negotiations, but was unable to put a stop to them. The Treaty of Munster was signed in 1648.

At the time of William’s marriage to his then nineteen-year-old bride, the throne of her father Charles I was already in danger. In 1642, civil war broke out in England between the royalists and the Parliament. Charles I, William’s father-in-law was beheaded in 1649 and England became a Republic under the name of the Commonwealth with Oliver Cromwell as head of state.

William II wanted to come to the assistance of the Stuarts, but he did not receive any support from the government. He was also at variance with the States of Holland, which wanted to lay off troops on a large scale after the Treaty of Munster, whereas William II wanted nothing better than to resume the war with Spain. William II took up arms and seized Amsterdam. Talks were held, but the prince died unexpectedly of smallpox on 6 November 1650 at the age of twenty-four. The States decided that no new stadholder would be appointed for the time being, thus marking the beginning of the first Stadholderless Period (1651-1672).

William III of Orange-Nassau and Mary II Stuart
Willem Hendrik was born on 14 November 1650, eight days after his father’s death. The little prince of Orange was a bit of a hothouse plant, suffering from asthma and headaches. His grandmother Amalia van Solms and his mother Mary I Stuart were continuously at loggerheads about his guardianship and education.

In the Act of Seclusion they concluded with Cromwell in 1654, at the end of the First Anglo-Dutch War, the Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and the States of Holland promised that William III would never become stadholder. Cromwell wanted to prevent Willem III from trying to help his mother’s family regain the throne of England. As a concession to the Orangists, William III was declared Kind van Staat (State Child) in 1666. The States of Holland assumed the responsibility for his education and Johan de Witt became his mentor. In 1667, the States of Holland adopted the Eeuwig Edict (Perpetual Decree) by which the office of stadholder was forever abolished.

In the Year of Disaster 1672 the Netherlands were attacked from all sides. England, France, Munster and Cologne declared war on the Republic. The French army crossed the Rhine and William III, who was by this time in command of the army, was forced to withdraw behind the waterlinies (strips of land flooded as a defence line). The States faction gave in to the Orangists and William III was appointed stadholder. The Orangists made Johan de Witt the scapegoat, without William intervening. This led to the gruesome murder of Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis, who were lynched by a hysterical mob. The peace with England, Cologne and Munster was concluded in 1674.

In the meantime, William III had a suitable wife in mind, his first cousin Mary II Stuart, daughter of James II, who was the brother of the English King Charles II, and also of William’s mother Mary I Stuart. They married in 1677. The bride was fifteen years old at the time. This alliance altered the balance of power: a year later, the French King Louis XIV agreed to a proposal for peace that was advantageous for the Netherlands.

What motivated William III in his political ambitions was chiefly the need to safeguard the European power relations from French imperialist tendencies and the wish to protect the protestant religion. These two objectives were often in line, as on the occasion of the Glorious Revolution, William’s successful bid to secure the English throne.

> Read on: The Glorious Revolution
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