Prince Willem of the Netherlands
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Willem Nicolaas Alexander Frederik Karel Hendrik van Oranje-Nassau (The Hague, 4 September 1840 – Paris, 11 June 1879) Prince of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, from 17 March 1849 Prince of Orange, and thus Crown Prince of the Netherlands.
He was the oldest son of King Willem III of the Netherlands and his first wife, Princess Sophie of Württemberg. His nickname was Wiwill. In 1849, after the death of his grandfather King Willem II of the Netherlands, he became the heir apparent and thus the Crown Prince. His Victorian upbringing turned out to be a disaster. His tutor punished him because of his masturbation, something that led to feelings of shame and of guilt.[citation needed] But he was said to possess a sharp mind.[citation needed]
After the failed plans for a marriage between Prince Willem and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, the second eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, the prince fell in love with the noblewoman named Mathilde van Limburg Stirum. The relationship between the prince and his parents became very problematic, as the parents refused to accept Mathilde as his bride. By the standards of the Dutch royal family, a marriage between a member of the royal family and a member of the nobility was unequal and not acceptable. Possibly it also had to do with King William III having had a relationship with Mathilde's mother. Thus he might have feared that Mathilde was Prince Willem's half-sister.[citation needed]
Willem then went into exile in Paris, where he threw himself into a life of sex, drink and gambling. Henriette Hauser, his Parisian mistress, gave the Prince of Orange the pet name Lemon, something that led to him being known in the Parisian boulevard papers as the Prince of Lemon when they reported about his debauched and scandaluous lifestyle. Prince Willem died at age 38 in his apartment near the Paris Opera from a combination of typhus, liver complaints and total exhaustion. One 26 June 1879, his body was entombed in the royal crypt at the New Church of Delft. But he had not lost all his social position in Paris. On his coffin there was a wreath from French Empress Eugénie and one from the British Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). After his death, his brother Willem Alexander became heir and Prince of Orange. However he also died before their father, and Willem III was succeeded by the princes' half-sister Wilhelmina.
| House of Orange-Nassau Born: 4 September 1840; Died: 11 June 1879 |
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| Preceded by: William III |
Prince of Orange 1849-1879 |
Succeeded by: William Alexander |
