Amalia of Solms-Braunfels (31 August 1602 – 8 September 1675) was Princess of Orange by marriage to Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange . She acted as the political adviser of her spouse during his reign, and acted as his de facto deputy and regent during his infirmity from 1640 to 1647. She also served as chair of the regency council during the minority of her grandson William III, Prince of Orange from 1650 until 1672.
28-677: Willem II may refer to: People [ edit ] William II, Prince of Orange (1626–1650), stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands William II of the Netherlands (1792–1849), King of the Netherlands Other uses [ edit ] Willem II (football club) , a Dutch football club Willem II (women) , the women's division of
56-405: A form of Alzheimer's) made it increasingly difficult for him to participate in politics, and during these seven years, Amalia therefore effectively functioned as regent and stadtholder, maintaining diplomatic contacts and making political decisions on his behalf. Her de facto political position was acknowledged and diplomats, aware of this, tried to influence her decisions by costly presents. It
84-525: A fresh and appealing appearance. Amalia was the prime mover of several royal marriages, including that of her son William III to Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (daughter of King Charles I of England ) and of their daughters with several German princes. The relationship between Amalia and Frederik Hendrik was described as happy, and Amalia is acknowledged to have acted as his political adviser. From 1640 until his death in 1647, Frederik Hendrik's health (he suffered from gout and probably also from
112-403: A result, Mary declined William's hand in marriage. In late 1640–early 1641, King Charles I decided to renew negotiations with Prince Frederick Henry of Orange. On 10 February 1641, Charles announced to Parliament that the betrothal of his daughter was actually concluded and that it only remained to consider this union from a political point of view. Charles himself hoped that in case of emergency,
140-486: A second marriage ceremony. From this union, William and Mary had the following offspring: William II used the following arms during his time as prince of Orange, Stadholder or Holland, etc., and Captain-General: Amalia of Solms-Braunfels Amalia was born in Braunfels as a daughter of Count Johann Albrecht I of Solms-Braunfels (1563-1623) and his wife, Countess Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein (1568-1617). She
168-536: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages William II, Prince of Orange William II ( Dutch : Willem II ; 27 May 1626 – 6 November 1650) was sovereign Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of Holland , Zeeland , Utrecht , Guelders , Overijssel and Groningen in the United Provinces of the Netherlands from 14 March 1647 until his death three years later on 6 November 1650. His death marked
196-614: Is named after Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. The wine honours the role played by her in Dutch political life. Her grandson, William III, King of England, provided refuge and support to thousands of French Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Some 180 of these refugees, fleeing religious persecution, were relocated to the Cape and granted farms in Franschhoek. Here they laid
224-549: The House of Orange was at first rejected by King Charles I, who wanted to give his daughter in marriage to Balthasar Charles, Prince of Asturias , only son and heir of King Philip IV of Spain and also Mary's maternal first cousin. A prerequisite for such a union was Mary's conversion to Catholicism , but the princess, who at the request of her mother studied the basics of the Catholic religion, did not want to change her faith. As
252-483: The States of Holland (including Jacob de Witt ) in the castle of Loevestein . In addition, he sent his cousin, Willem Frederik of Nassau-Dietz with an army of 10,000 men to seize Amsterdam by force. Bad weather foiled this campaign, but Amsterdam did give in. By early 1650, William's consort Mary was pregnant again. William for most of his life enjoyed quite good health. However, in late October-early November, when
280-480: The States-General , an assembly of representatives from each of the seven provinces, but usually dominated by the largest and wealthiest province, Holland . In January 1640, William of Orange proposed to Mary, Princess Royal , the eldest daughter of Charles I of England, Scotland, & Ireland , by his wife Queen Henrietta Maria of France . The young princess was only 8-years old at the time. The offer of
308-661: The Oude Hof on the Noordeinde, maintaining her court and diplomatic contacts with royalty. In 1672, her grandson was declared an adult and his regency council thereby dismissed. Amalia retired and witnessed him becoming stadholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland and Overijssel and captain-general of the Union. She died at her home in The Hague , aged 73. A wine from wine estate Solms-Delta in Franschhoek (South Africa)
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#1732793383789336-647: The Prince of Orange would help him to maintain royal power in England. A modest wedding ceremony took place on 2 May 1641 at the Chapel Royal in Whitehall Palace , London . William was not yet fifteen, while Mary was just nine at that time. Mary and William were congratulated by courtiers, and received several gifts; in addition, in honour of the couple, a volley of 120 guns was fired. Almost as soon as
364-532: The above club, active 2007–2011 Willem II–Gazelle , a professional cycling team active between 1966 and 1970 A Dutch brand of cigars See also [ edit ] King Willem (disambiguation) Wilhelm II (disambiguation) , lists people named with the German equivalent of Willem II William II (disambiguation) , lists people named with the English equivalent of Willem II Topics referred to by
392-676: The beginning of the First Stadtholderless Period , leading to the rise of Johan De Witt , who stayed in power for the next 22 years. His only child, William III , reigned as King of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1689, following the Glorious Revolution . His son William also became Stadtholder of the Five Dutch Provinces in 1672, marking the end of the formentioned Stadtholderless Period. William II (or Willem II), Prince of Orange,
420-453: The ceremony ended, William returned to the Netherlands. In November 1643, the second marriage ceremony between the 17-year-old William and 12-year-old Mary took place in The Hague . The marriage was not consummated until 1644. In February 1644, Mary completely merged into the life of her husband's court. In 1647, his father, Frederick Henry died on 14 March, after a long illness (he suffered from gout and possibly some kind of Alzheimer's in
448-493: The death of his half-brother Prince Maurice, his influence grew substantially, as did Amalia's. Together Frederick Henry and Amalia succeeded in expanding court life in The Hague. They had several palaces built, including Huis ten Bosch . Amalia was a great collector of art and amassed many jewels, which were inherited by her four surviving daughters. She was described as intelligent, arrogant and ambitious, not beautiful but with
476-762: The emperor forbade it as Frederick had been placed under an Imperial ban. Elizabeth went into labour during their flight and Amalia helped her with her delivery of Prince Maurice at Küstrin castle. The end of their journey was The Hague , where stadtholder Maurice, Prince of Orange , uncle of the elector gave them asylum in 1621. They often appeared at his court, where Maurice's younger half-brother Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange became infatuated with Amalia in 1622. She refused to become his lover and held out for marriage. They were first cousins, once removed. When Maurice of Nassau died, he made his half-brother Frederick Henry promise to wed. Frederick married Amalia on 4 April 1625. When Frederick Henry became stadtholder after
504-399: The last few years of his life), and William II succeeded to both his hereditary titles and his elective offices as stadtholder of six of the seven provinces: Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, Overijssel and Groningen at the young age of 21. Soon after he became stadtholder, his wife Mary suffered a miscarriage, after which she couldn't concieve for a few years. The Netherlands at this time
532-654: The princess's pregnancy was coming to an end, William fell ill with smallpox and died on 6 November, just after his attempt to capture Amsterdam from his political opponents. William served as stadtholder for only three years. His only son William was born two days before his death. This was the beginning of the First Stadtholderless Period . His son succeeded him in 1672 as stadtholder and later, in 1689, also became King of England . On 2 May 1641, William II married Mary, Princess Royal , second surviving child and eldest daughter of King Charles I of England by his French consort Henrietta Maria of France . In 1643, they held
560-454: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Willem II . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Willem_II&oldid=1171243642 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Human name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
588-538: The southern Netherlands in the hands of the Spanish monarchy. A separate peace furthermore violated the alliance with France formed in 1635. However, the States of six provinces voted to accept it. Secretly, William opened his own negotiations with France with the goal of extending his own territory under a more centralized government. In addition, he worked for the restoration of his exiled brother-in-law, Charles II , to
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#1732793383789616-630: The throne of England, William's father-in-law Charles I had been executed months earlier. In 1650 William II became involved in a bitter quarrel with the province of Holland and the powerful Regents of Amsterdam , Cornelis and Andries Bicker and their more diplomatic cousin Cornelis de Graeff . With the Peace of Münster, the Regents wanted to reduce the army, saving money. That would also diminish William's authority. William imprisoned eight members of
644-469: Was a member of the House of Solms , a ruling family with Imperial immediacy , and spent her childhood at the parental. She became part of the court of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia , wife of Frederick V of the Palatine , the "Winter King" of Bohemia. After imperial forces defeated Frederick V, she fled from Prague with the pregnant queen to the west. Shelter was denied to them along the way because
672-522: Was appointed during his minority, and Amalia and her former daughter-in-law Mary Stuart fought over guardianship and thereby chairmanship of the regency council; the High Court of Holland and Zeeland finally granted both Mary and Amalia shared guardianship, and thereby shared part in the regency council of Orange. Amalia was supported against Mary by her son-in-law, the Elector of Brandenburg, and she
700-826: Was born on 27 May 1626, as the first legitimate child and elder son of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange , and his wife Amalia of Solms-Braunfels . Frederick Henry was the youngest son of William the Silent (stadtholder 1559–1584); his older half brother Maurits of Nassau was Stadtholder (1585–1625); Frederick Henry was stadtholder from 1625 to 1647. Frederick Henry also had another half-brother, Philip William , who reigned as Prince of Orange (1584−1618). William had eight liveborn siblings, but his surviving siblings were Luise Henriette (1627−1667), Albertine Agnes (1634−1696), Henriette Catherine (1637−1708) and Maria (1642−1688). All of his surviving sisters married into German nobility. The stadtholders governed in conjunction with
728-522: Was engaged in the Eighty Years' War against Spain for its independence. Under Frederick Henry, the Netherlands had largely won the war, and since 1646 had been negotiating with Spain on the terms for ending it. The negotiators agreed to the Peace of Münster in 1648, but William opposed acceptance of the treaty, even though it recognized the independence of the (northern) Netherlands, because it left
756-570: Was on good terms with the Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt , a relationship which did not change with the Act of Seclusion of 1654, barring the prince from all ancestral offices. When Mary died in 1660, Amalia in practice took sole control of the regency of her grandson. She maintained good relations to De Witt even by the passing of the 1667 Eternal Edict , which abolished the office of stadholder entirely. During this time she lived in
784-579: Was reportedly Amalia who was behind Frederik Hendrik's participation in the negotiations which was eventually to result in the Peace of Münster of 1648. As a recognition, King Philip IV of Spain granted her the seigniory and castle of Turnhout in 1649. In 1647, her spouse died and was succeeded as stadtholder and Prince of Orange by their son William II, Prince of Orange . After the death of her son William II in 1650, her grandson William III (Prince William III of Orange and later also King William III of England) became prince of Orange. A regency council
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