Wilhelmine of Prussia (Friederike Luise Wilhelmine; 18 November 1774 – 12 October 1837) was the first

Queen of the Netherlands The monarchy of the Netherlands is governed by the country's charter and constitution, roughly a third of which explains the mechanics of succession, accession, and abdication; the roles and duties of the monarch; the formalities of communica ...

as the first wife of King

William I of the Netherlands William I (Willem Frederik; 24 August 1772 – 12 December 1843) was King of the Netherlands and List of monarchs of Luxembourg, Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1815 until his abdication in 1840. Born as the son of William V, Prince of Orange, ...

. She had a modest public role but acted as a

patron of the arts Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

Biography

Princess Wilhelmine was born in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. She was the fourth child of eight born to King Frederick William II of Prussia and Queen Frederica Louisa. Her upbringing was dominated by the strict regime of her great-uncle,

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

, but in general very little is known about her youth. She was given a conventional education for a girl of her time and tutored in needlework and the arts, and described as pretty and sweet.

Marriage

On 1 October 1791, she married her cousin William of the Netherlands, son of

Stadtholder In the Low Countries, a stadtholder ( ) was a steward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and ...

William V, Prince of Orange William V (Willem Batavus; 8 March 1748 – 9 April 1806) was Prince of Orange and the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. He went into exile to London in 1795. He was furthermore ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau until his death in ...

and Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The marriage was arranged as a part of an alliance between the House of Orange and Prussia, but it was also, in fact, a love match and became a happy one.Marjan P. Nekkers-Kapitein, Wilhelmina van Pruisen, in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/WilhelminaPruisen 3/01/2014/ref> The young couple went to live at

Noordeinde Palace Noordeinde Palace (, ) is one of three official palaces of the Dutch Royal House, Dutch royal family. Located in the city center of The Hague in the province of South Holland, it has been used as the official workplace of King Willem-Alexander of ...

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. In 1795, the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

invaded the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

, and the princely family went into exile. They first stayed in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and from 1796 in Berlin. In Berlin, the couple lived with her birth family in royal state in the "Niederländischen Palais" ('Dutch Palace'). In 1806, Wilhelmine was again forced to flee from the French army, and settled under difficult economic circumstances in Poland. Wilhelmine returned to The Hague at the beginning of 1814.

Queen

Wilhelmine became Queen of the Netherlands in 1815. At the time, the Netherlands included the present-day country of Belgium. The court divided their time between the two and divided their winters between The Hague and Brussels, and their summers between Het Loo and Laeken. Wilhelmine personally visited Berlin once a year until her death, where she continued to live in the "Niederländischen Palast" during her visit. She participated in royal representation during her stay in Berlin, as well as attending to her estates in Silesia. Queen Wilhelmine was modest and stayed in the background, and she did not play any dominant role as queen. She was beloved by her family but was not a popular queen, and was criticized in The Netherlands for isolating the royal family, and later Belgium for her German fashion. Beginning in 1820, her health worsened, and after 1829, she was rarely seen in public, though she continued her trips to Berlin and visiting relatives. She was interested in painting, attended exhibitions, and helped to protect museums and support artists. She was herself a student of art and regarded as a talented dilettante, ultimately being inducted as an honorary member to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam. She was a student of

Friedrich Bury Friedrich (Fritz) Bury (12 March 1763 – 18 May 1823) was Court painter to the royal courts of Kassel and Brussels, a German painter born in Hanau. He studied first under his father Jean Jacques Bury, who was a goldsmith and professor in the ...

, financed an Italian study trip for

Bonaventura Genelli Giovanni Bonaventura Genelli (28 September 179813 November 1868) was an Italian painter. Biography Genelli was born in Berlin in 1798. He was the son of Janus Genelli, a painter whose landscapes are still preserved in the Schloss at Berlin; and ...

, and supported the renovation of the royal museum. She died at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague in 1837, aged 62, and is entombed in 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, ...

Issue

Ancestry

References

Wilhelmina van Pruisen
(in Dutch)

External links

*

, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilhelmine Of Prussia 1774-1837 1774 births 1837 deaths 18th-century German people 19th-century German people 18th-century German women 19th-century German women Queens consort of the Netherlands Grand ducal consorts of Luxembourg Princesses of Orange Dutch royalty House of Hohenzollern House of Orange-Nassau Prussian princesses People from Potsdam Burials in the Royal Crypt at Nieuwe Kerk, Delft William I of the Netherlands Daughters of kings Children of Frederick William II of Prussia German patrons of the arts Mothers of Dutch monarchs Daughters of princes regnant Daughters of prince-electors