Prince Frederick
Photograph of Prince Frederick
Born(1797-02-28)28 February 1797
Berlin
Died8 September 1881(1881-09-08) (aged 84)
Wassenaar
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1825; died 1870)​
Issue
HouseOrange-Nassau
FatherWilliam I of the Netherlands
MotherWilhelmine of Prussia
ReligionDutch Reformed Church

Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau (full names: Willem Frederik Karel; 28 February 1797, in Berlin – 8 September 1881, in Wassenaar), was the second son of William I of the Netherlands and his wife, Wilhelmine of Prussia.

Early life

The prince grew up at the court of his grandfather Frederick William II of Prussia and uncle Frederick William III of Prussia. One of his tutors was Carl von Clausewitz. Aged 16, the prince fought in the Battle of Leipzig.

The prince first entered the Netherlands in December 1813. As he spoke no Dutch, the prince was sent to Leiden University to get a further education. He was also educated by Karl Ludwig von Phull in The Hague. When Napoleon returned from Elba, during the Hundred Days the prince was given command of a detachment of Wellington's army which was posted in a fall back position near Braine-le-Comte should the battle taking place at Waterloo be lost.

Prince of the Netherlands

Based on a house treaty, Frederick was to inherit the family's German possessions upon his father's death. After the treaty of Vienna these were no longer in the possession of the family. He instead was made heir to the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. In 1816, Frederick relinquished this claim in exchange for land in the Netherlands and the title of Prince of the Netherlands. As a further compensation he received a yearly amount of 190,000 Dutch guilders.[1] This made him the wealthiest member of the House of Orange-Nassau.[1] With the money he bought a large estate in Germany, which made him the largest land owner from the Netherlands.[1]

Aged 18, Frederick was made a major-general by his father and given nominal command of the Dutch-Belgian 1st Division (lt.-gen. Stedman) that was tasked with guarding Wellington's escape route to the sea in case things would have gone awry for the Anglo-Dutch army at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon was, however, defeated, also thanks to the other two Dutch-Belgian divisions that did fight at that battle. Fredrick then took part in the invasion of northern France that followed Napoleon's defeat[2]

Prince Frederick in his Grand Master's regalia

In 1816 Frederick was appointed Grand Master of the Grand Orient of the Netherlands a function he would hold until 1881.[3]

In 1826 Frederick was appointed Commissary-general of the Department of War. In this office, Frederick reorganized the army on a Prussian model. Frederick founded the Royal military academy in Breda and reequipped the army with modern weapons.

In 1829 Frederick was a candidate for the Greek throne, but he declined because he did not want to be king of a country whose language and traditions were foreign to him.[4]

When the Belgian Revolution broke out in 1830, Frederick commanded the troops sent to Brussels to suppress the rebellion there. Frederick led these troops in several days of fighting in Brussels, but could not retake the city. Frederick also took part in the campaign of his brother's 1831 Ten Days' Campaign in Belgium.

Schloss Muskau
Muskau Park

When his father abdicated in 1840, Frederick withdrew from public life to his estates at Wassenaar. In 1846 he acquired Schloss Muskau in Prussia where he completed Muskau Park, the largest and one of the most famous English gardens in Central Europe, stretching along both sides of the present German–Polish border on the Lusatian Neisse. The park had been laid out from 1815 onwards at the behest of Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785–1871). In July 2004, Muskau Park was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Upon the death of his elder brother in 1849, the country was left with a large debt. Frederick managed to pay off a million guilder to Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, who was brother-in-law to William II.[1] The new King William III of the Netherlands (Frederick's nephew) did not want to inherit the kingship from his father, but Frederick managed to convince him to take up the position, offering to assist him.[1] William III recalled Frederick and made him Inspector-General of the army. Frederick held that office until 1868, when he resigned because of the lack of support for his plans to modernize the army. Frederick managed to prevent a divorce between King William III and Queen Sophie of Württemberg by establishing a legal separation.[1] He retired to Muskau Castle which was remodeled in Renaissance revival style between 1863 and 1866.

Marriage

Prince Frederick married in Berlin on 21 May 1825 his first cousin Louise, daughter of Frederick William III of Prussia. They had four children:

Honours

Ancestry

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lambert Teuwissen (10 May 2015). "Prins Frederik was beter dan onze eerste koningen" (in Dutch). Nederlandse Omroep Stichting. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
  2. ↑ Hamilton-Williams, David (1993). Waterloo. New Perspectives. The Great Battle Reappraised. London: Arms & Armour Press. pp. 239–240. ISBN 978-0-471-05225-8.
  3. ↑ Caransa, A. (2001). Vrijmetselarij en Jodendom: de wereld een tempel (in Dutch). Hilversum: Verloren. p. 80. ISBN 9065501835. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  4. ↑ "1 juni jarig:Otto I van Griekenland". IsGeschiedenis (in Dutch). Retrieved 1 May 2023.
  5. ↑ "Militaire Willems-Orde: Oranje-Nassau, Willem Frederik Karel, Prins van" [Military William Order: Orange-Nassau, William Frederick Charles, Prince of]. Ministerie van Defensie (in Dutch). 8 July 1815. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  6. ↑ "Militaire Willems-Orde: Oranje-Nassau, Willem Frederik Karel, Prins van" [Military William Order: Orange-Nassau, William Frederick Charles, Prince of]. Ministerie van Defensie (in Dutch). 18 August 1831. Retrieved 3 May 2020.
  7. ↑ Staats- und Adreß-Handbuch des Herzogthums Nassau (1866), "Herzogliche Orden" p. 12
  8. ↑ "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Hof- und Staatshandbuch für das Königreich Hannover: 1837. Berenberg. 1837. p. 19.
  10. ↑ Hessen-Kassel (1862). Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch: 1862. Waisenhaus. p. 16.
  11. ↑ Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Oldenburg: für das Jahr 1872/73, "Der Großherzogliche Haus-und Verdienst Orden" p. 30
  12. ↑ Königlich Preussische Ordensliste (in German), vol. 1, Berlin, 1877, pp. 8, 909, 922, 964 – via hathitrust.org{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ↑ Almanach de la cour: pour l'année ... 1817. l'Académie Imp. des Sciences. 1817. pp. 63, 78.
  14. ↑ "Caballeros Grandes Cruces existentes en la Real y distinguida Orden Española de Carlos Tercero", Calendario Manual y Guía de Forasteros en Madrid (in Spanish): 81, 1834, retrieved 23 May 2020
  15. ↑ Sveriges Statskalender (in Swedish), 1877, p. 368, retrieved 3 May 2020 – via runeberg.org
  16. ↑ Sveriges och Norges statskalender. Liberförlag. 1874. p. 703.
  17. ↑ Anton Anjou (1900). "Utländske Riddare". Riddare af Konung Carl XIII:s orden: 1811–1900: biografiska anteckningar (in Swedish). p. 175.
  18. ↑ Württemberg (1873). Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreichs Württemberg: 1873. p. 31.
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