Countess Henriëtte Adriana Maria Ludovica Flora d'Oultremont de Wégimont (28 February 1792 in

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

–26 October 1864 at Rahe Castle in

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th ...

) was the second,

morganatic Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spous ...

, wife of the first Dutch king,

William I William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 10 ...

. Being the morganatic wife of the King, she was never a queen.

Life

Henriëtte d'Oultremont was one of five children of Count Ferdinand d'Oultremont de Wégimont (1760-1799) from

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far fro ...

and his wife Johanna Susanna Hartsinck (1759-1830), daughter of Admiral Andries Hartsinck (1720-1788) and Johanna Cornelia de Bas (1721-1787). She was related to Count Charles Jean "John" d'Oultremont (1848-1917). Around 1840, King William found himself in discord with much of the Dutch population due to his refusal to implement demanded reforms. This discord was enhanced when the king, head of the strictly Protestant and royal

House of Orange-Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau ( Dutch: ''Huis van Oranje-Nassau'', ) is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherland ...

, announced his intention to marry the Catholic Countess Henriëtte, who had been a

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...

to his first wife, the late Queen Wilhelmine (1774-1837). The resistance was so great—Henriëtte was Catholic and a native of Belgium, which had seceded from the Netherlands—that William decided to abdicate in favour of his son William II on 7 October 1840. After abdication, he styled himself ''King William Frederick, Count of Nassau''. He married Henriëtte on 17 February 1841; he was 71 years old at the time, she was 47, and the couple would have no children. She had received the Dutch title, ''Countess of Nassau'' on 7 February 1841, by which she was known during the couple's subsequent retirement in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

. William I died two years later, in 1843. Because of her devoted care for her elderly husband, the Dutch royal family awarded her an allowance and a castle near

, where she died in 1864. Henriëtte was not buried below the New Church in

Delft Delft () is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, and The Hague, to the northwest. Together with them, it is part of both the Rotterdam–The Hague metropolita ...

with the Dutch kings and their queens; she was instead buried in the family vault in the chapel in the park surrounding Wégimont castle in Soumagne, near Liège in Belgium. In the Netherlands, she was nicknamed ("Henriëtta Thundermouth").

References and notes

External links

absolutefacts.nl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oultremont, Henrietta d' 1792 births 1864 deaths Morganatic spouses 19th-century Dutch people People from Maastricht William I of the Netherlands Dutch Roman Catholics Dutch ladies-in-waiting