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William V, Prince Of Orange
  CATEGORIES ABOUT WILLIAM V, PRINCE OF ORANGE
   
dutch stadtholders
   
lords of breda
   
orange-nassau, william v of
   
house of orange-nassau
   
knights of the garter
   
1748 births
   
william v of orange
   
1806 deaths
   
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LIFE ACCOUNT


William V was born at The Hague , the son of William IV Of Nassau and Anne, Princess Royal .

He was only 3 years old when his father died in 1751. William V assumed the position of stadtholder (chief executive and military commander) in 1766 after a long regency. His regents were:

  • Anne , his mother, from 1751 to her death in 1759

  • Marie Louise, his grandmother, from 1759 to her death in 1765

  • Carolina, his sister (who at the time was an adult 22, while he was still a minor at 17), from 1765 to William's majority in 1766

    • In 1767 Prince William married Princess Wilhelmina Of Prussia , sister of King Frederick William II Of Prussia .


In 1776, his nation was the first country to give official recognition to the newly independent United States . This was inspired by wealthy Dutch merchants, seeking to benefit in the New World at the expense of the Kingdom Of Great Britain . William advocated a policy of friendship with Great Britain (the House of Orange had always been very friendly with England) but was not able to stop the recognition of the break-away English colony. The English government tried to persuade the Dutch government to stop trading with their former colony, but to no avail. William could not, and his opponents would not change their course. In 1780, war was declared.

After four years, the Dutch were defeated, and an impoverished nation grew restless under William's rule. A band of young revolutionaries, called Patriots , was challenging his authority. William removed his court to Gelderland , a province remote from the political centre, but took no further action. This was against the wishes of his energetic wife Wilhelmina who tried to travel to The Hague . At Goejanverwellesluis, she was stopped by opponents and made to return to Gelderland.

To Wilhelmina and her brother, this was an insult. Frederick sent in an army to attack the dissidents. The patriots fled to France in time to see the overthrow of King Louis XVI Of France and the rise of "people power."

The year 1795 was a disastrous one for the Netherlands. The Dutch East India Company , rocked by a scandal of corruption and theft, had to declare bankruptcy.

Supported by the French Army, the revolutionaries returned from Paris to fight in the Netherlands, and in 1795 William V fled to the safety of his former enemy, England. The last of the Dutch stadtholders, he died in exile at Braunschweig (''Brunswick''), Germany .

In 1813 , his son, Stadtholder-King William VI/I returned to the Netherlands and become the first Dutch Monarch .


CHILDREN


William V and Wilhelmina of Prussia were parents to five children:



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