King William II
William Frederic George Louis of Orange Nassau, was born on the 6th of December 1792, in The Hague, as the oldest son of King William I and Wilhelmina of Prussia, a cousin of the king. When the French invaded the Netherlands in 1795, the royal family was forced to leave the country. For 18 years they had to live in exile. Willem II studied at Oxford. In 1811 he enlisted in the English army where he, as aide-de-camp of General Wellesley (the future Duke of Wellington), took part in the Napoleonic wars. He led the Belgium and Dutch troops at waterloo in 1815 at Waterloo, the year his father was declared king of the Netherlands and Belgium.
In 1816 William II married Anna Paulovna Romanova, the daughter of the Russian tsar Paul I. Four children were born out of this marriage: in 1817 William (the future William III), in 1818 Alexander, in 1820 Hendrick and in 1824 Sophie.
When the Belgians revolted in 1830 against his father King Willem I, Willem II pled for more autonomy of the southern Netherlands. King Willem I did however not want to hear. In the following year the young William got the task to restore the peace with the aid of Dutch troops. In 1830 an army of considerable size, was positioned in north Braband and William was during that time mostly in Tilburg, which served as base for the 10 day charge of August 1831, which was lead by him. The army of the Belgians, led by Leopold, lost near Hasselt and Leuven from the bigger, stronger and better organised army of the kingdom. By French military intervention and English political pressure the Netherlands are forced to a seize fire, which enabled the Southern Netherlands to separate themselves, and thus found the Kingdom Belgium, which gained independence in 1839.
In 1840 William II succeeded his father as king of the Netherlands. The most important act during his short reign was the new liberal constitution in 1848, under pressure of revolutions that took place evrywhere trough Europe. The ministerial responsibility was introduced and in future there would be elections.
Even before William was king William, he spend huge amounts of money on (amongst others) his collection of paintings. As king he was continuously in financial difficulties. Shortly before his death he borrows one million guilders. His heirs were forced, after his sudden death, to organise several auctions from (amongst others) these paintings. Part of the collection was bought by the Russian Tsar, and they can still be viewed in in the Hermitage in st. Petersburg. William II died in 1849 and was succeeded by his son king William III.