King William III
Alexander Paul Frederic Louis of Orange-Nassau, was born in Brussels the 19th of February 1817 as the son of William II and Anna Paulowna. After a military education he married, on the 18 of June 1839, his cousin Sophia of Wurttemberg. From this Marriage three sons were born: in 1840 Willem, in 1843 Maurits, and in 1851 Alexander. It was however not a happy marriage. In 1851 the family in-law takes the first preparation steps for a divorce. The divorce never took place but the queen lives from then on separate from her husband, at the royal palace in the Hague. Only on official occasions they appear together. She died the 3rd of June 1877.
As crown prince, Willem III was by his father, with whom he had almost continuous conflicts, left out of all matters of state. Especially the resolution of William II, to crevice the constitution leads to a huge difference of opinion. After this revised constitution was accepted in 1848, which limited the personal powers of the king considerably, the crown prince abdicated his heirloom to the throne and insisted in publication of this fact in the states bulletin. His father refused this however.
Shortly after William II died, William III was crowned king in November 1849. He was with this forced to accept the government of Thorbecke, which was to none of his liking. King William III tried to resist, without effect, against the new constitutional and liberal changes. In the first year there were rumours that the king was planning a coup d'etat . especially when the April-movement seemed to create the right climate for this.
The liberal constitution of 1848 gave all churches the right to organise according to their own believes. The announced creation of the Catholic arch-diocese Utrecht, and the four catholic dioceses Haarlem, 's-Hertogenbosch, Breda en Roermond, got enormous resistance from the protestants in the Netherlands. Thorbecke approves however the Papal decision Nederland. The April movement collected 200.000 signatures and hands these to William III with the request to overrule this decision. The king reacted, against the decision of the government, with a sympathising answer. In reaction to this Thorbeckes government requests resignation which was granted by the king. Other evidence of the kings Protestant-movement thinking we find in the law on primary education of 1857. Apart from this William does not get tempted into anti-papal behaviour.
In general King William III let his ministers perform their tasks, but the slightest indication of breach of his rights infuriated him. King William III also let his own sympathies and antipathies, for example against Thorbecke, influence his decisions in cases like the formation of a government, in which King William III had the casting vote. King William III did not want to know of 'parliamentary' and 'homogenate' government. William, opposed to further liberalism, could not stop another amendment to the constitution which involved a further democratisation of the government rule.
In the years 1867-1868 the so called Luxemburg-issue takes place. Since 1814 the duchy Luxemburg belonged to the personal assets of the House of Orange. The French emperor Napoleon III wanted to annexate Luxemburg however to restore the European balance of power. After William II tried to sell Luxemburg to Napoleon III, a compromise was agreed upon in London in 1867; Luxemburg was kept with the house of Orange and would stay neutral.
The kings personal live caused often irritation, even abroad. Several weeks after the death of Queen Sophia, King William III indicated he wants to marry a French opera singer, mademoiselle Ambre, who he - without ministerial improvements and thus unlawfully - raised to nobility. The government protested and his cousin Frederic advised him to abdicate. The king revised his plans and a year later his engagement to the 20 year old princes Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont was announced.
This marriage took place on the 7th of January 1879. On the 31 of August 1880 princes Wilhelmina was born. From this point in time onwards, King William III mainly resided at Palace 't Loo, where he would die on the 23rd of November 1890. Since his sons, out of his first marriage, died before him, William was succeeded by his daughter Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina was however only 10 years old and therefore her mother Queen Emma would rule as regent of the Netherlands up to 1898 (The year Wilhelmina would be 18 years of age). Because a female head of state was not acceptable for the duchy Luxemburg, it steps out of the United Kingdom of The Netherlands in 1898.