Countess Emilia of Nassau

Countess Emilia of Nassau (10 April 1569 – 16 March 1629) was the youngest daughter of William the Silent and his second wife Anna of Saxony.

Biography

Emilia was born in Cologne. She is named after Amalia of Neuenahr, who was in charge of her mother's household at the time of her birth. Emilia's mother had an affair with the father of painter Peter Paul Rubens. Due to this infidelity Emilia and her siblings Anna and Maurice were taken out of their mother's care and went to live with their uncle John VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg at Dillenburg. Emilia later went to live in Delft with her father and in Friesland with her sister Anna.

After her father's death, she acted as hostess at the court of her brother Maurice. It was on one of those occasions that she met Dom Manuel de Portugal (son of pretender to the Portuguese throne, António, Prior of Crato). She secretly wed him in 1597. Maurice was firmly opposed to the marriage and banished her from court for ten years. They made peace with each other later on and she was with him at his deathbed.

Emilia and her husband had ten children. They went to live separately later on when her husband decided - due to financial concerns - to live at the court of Isabella of Spain, archenemy of the house of Orange, in Brussels. Emilia went to Geneva with her daughters where she died three years later.

Children:

• Daughter (1598–1602)
• Maria Belgica of Portugal (1599–1647)
• Emanuel II of Portugal (1600–1666)
• Lodewijk Willem of Portugal (1601–1660)
• Daughter (1602–1603)
• Emilia Louise of Portugal (1603–1670)
• Anna Louise of Portugal (1605–1669)
• Juliana Catharina of Portugal (ca. 1607–1680)
• Mauritia Eleonora of Portugal (1609–1674) married Georg Friedrich (Nassau-Siegen) (1606–1674) son of John VII, Count of Nassau a great nephew of William I of Orange
• Sabina Delphica of Portugal (1612–1670)

Ancestry

References

• "Emilia van Oranje-Nassau:" last accessed April 10, 2007