Wilhelmina of Prussia, Princess of Orange

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Wilhelmina of Prussia, born Frederika Sophia Wilhelmina, (7 August 1751 – 9 June 1820) was the daughter of Augustus William, Prince of Prussia and Louise Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

[edit] Life account

On 4 October 1767, Wilhelmina was married to William V of Orange, the last Dutch Stadtholder. She was a proud woman and very politically ambitious. When revolution broke out in the Netherlands and William moved his court to Guelders, she attempted to travel back to the capital at the Hague. She was stopped at Goejanverwellesluis and sent back to William in Gelderland.

She and her royal brother, King Frederick William II of Prussia perceived this as an insult, and Frederick attacked. The rebels had to flee to France, and William was temporarily restored to power. However, the rebels returned in 1795 with support from the French, and William fled to his former enemy, the Kingdom of Great Britain. The couple lived alternately in Nassau and Braunschweig, Holy Roman Empire, where William died.

When Wilhelmina and her daughter were both widowed in 1806, they lived together at various places in the Confederation of the Rhine.

Their son went with his father into exile, but returned in 1813 to eventually become King William I of the Netherlands, the founder of the present Dutch monarchy. Wilhelmina and her daughter returned to the Netherlands in 1814.

A striking equestrian portrait of Wilhelmina by Tethart Philipp Christian Haag hangs in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.