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

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; ; ; ) is a city and a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital city, capital and largest city of the province of Limburg (Netherlands), Limburg. Maastricht is loca ...

–26 October 1864 at Rahe Castle in

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) 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 may refer to: Kings * William the Conqueror (–1087), also known as William I, King of England * William I of Sicily (died 1166) * William I of Scotland (died 1214), known as William the Lion * William I of the Netherlands and Luxembour ...

. Being the morganatic wife of the King, she was never made Queen Consort.

Life

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

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

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 (, ), also known as the House of Orange because of the prestige of the princely title of Orange, also referred to as the Fourth House of Orange in comparison with the other noble houses that held the Principality of Or ...

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

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting (alternatively written lady in waiting) or court lady is a female personal assistant at a Royal court, court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking nobility, noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was o ...

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 Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal is the c ...

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

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. 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 List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

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