William V, Prince of Orange

William V (Willem Batavus; 8 March 1748 – 9 April 1806) was Prince of Orange and the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. He went into exile to London in 1795. He was furthermore ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau until his death in 1806. In that capacity, he was succeeded by his son William.

Early life

In *The Orangerie* (1796), James Gillray caricatured William's dalliances during his exile, depicting him as an indolent Cupid sleeping on bags of money, surrounded by pregnant amours

William Batavus was born in The Hague on 8 March 1748, the only son of William IV, who had the year before been restored as stadtholder of the United Provinces. He was only three years old when his father died in 1751, and a long regency began. His regents were:

Dowager Princess Anne, his mother, from 1751 to her death in 1759;
Dowager Princess Marie Louise, his grandmother, from 1759 to her death in 1765;
Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg, from 1759 to 1766, and kept on as a privy counsellor, in accordance with the Acte van Consulentschap, until October 1784;
Princess Carolina, his sister (who at the time was an adult aged 22, while he was still a minor at 17), from 1765 to William's majority in 1766.

William was made the 568th Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1752.

Stadtholder

William V assumed the position of stadtholder and Captain-General of the Dutch States Army on his majority in 1766. However, he allowed the Duke of Brunswick to retain a large influence on the government with the secret Acte van Consulentschap. On 4 October 1767 in Berlin, Prince William married Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, the daughter of Augustus William of Prussia, niece of Frederick the Great and a cousin of George III. (He himself was George III's first cousin). He became an art collector and in 1774 his Galerij Prins Willem V was opened to the public.

The position of the Dutch during the American War of Independence was one of neutrality. William V, leading the pro-British faction within the government, blocked attempts by pro-American, and later pro-French, elements to drag the government to war in support of the Franco-American alliance. However, things came to a head with the Dutch attempt to join the Russian-led League of Armed Neutrality, leading to the outbreak of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in 1780. In spite of the fact that Britain was engaged in fighting on several fronts, the war went badly for the poorly prepared Dutch, leading to the loss of Sint Eustatius and Nagapattinam. Scandals like the Brest Affair undermined belief in the Dutch navy. The stadtholderian regime and the Duke of Brunswick were suspected of treason in the matter of the loss of the Barrier fortresses. The deterioration of the prestige of the regime made minds ripe for agitation for political reform, like the pamphlet Aan het Volk van Nederland, published in 1781 by Joan van der Capellen tot den Pol.

After the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1783), there was growing restlessness in the United Provinces with William's rule. A coalition of old Dutch States Party regenten and democrats, called Patriots, was challenging his authority more and more. Mid September 1785 William left The Hague and removed his court to Het Loo Palace in Gelderland, a province remote from the political center. In September 1786 he sent States-Army troops to Hattem and Elburg to overthrow the cities' Patriot vroedschap, despite the defense by Patriot Free Corps, organised by Herman Willem Daendels. This provoked the Patriot-dominated States of Holland to deprive him of his office of Captain-General of the Army. (His function was given to Rhinegrave Salm.) In June 1787 his energetic wife Wilhelmina tried to travel to The Hague to foment an Orangist rising in that city. Outside Schoonhoven, she was stopped by the Gouda Free Corps, taken to a farm near Goejanverwellesluis and after a short detention made to return to Nijmegen.

To Wilhelmina and her brother, Frederick William II of Prussia, this was both an insult and an excuse to intervene militarily. Frederick launched the Prussian invasion of Holland in September 1787 to suppress the Patriots. Many Patriots fled to the North of France, around Saint-Omer, in an area where Dutch was spoken. Until his overthrow they were supported by King Louis XVI of France.

Exile in Great Britain and Ireland

William V joined the First Coalition against Republican France in 1793 with the coming of the French Revolution. His troops fought in the Flanders Campaign, but in 1794 the military situation deteriorated and the Dutch Republic was threatened by invading armies. The year 1795 was a disastrous one for the ancien régime of the Netherlands. Supported by the French Army, the revolutionaries returned from Paris to fight in the Netherlands, and in 1795 William V went into exile in England. A few days later the Batavian Revolution occurred, and the Dutch Republic was replaced with the Batavian Republic.

Directly after his arrival in England, the Prince wrote a number of letters (known as the Kew Letters) from his new residence in Kew to the governors of the Dutch colonies, instructing them to hand over their colonies to the British as long as France continued to occupy the "mother country". Only a number complied, while those that demurred from doing so became confused and demoralised. Almost all Dutch colonies were eventually captured by the British, who in the end returned most, but not all (South Africa and Ceylon), first at the Treaty of Amiens and later with the Convention of London signed in 1814.

In 1799 the Hereditary Prince took an active part in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, engineering the capture of a Batavian naval squadron in the Vlieter Incident. The surrender of the ships (that had been paid for by the Batavian Republic) was formally accepted in the name of William V as stadtholder, who was later allowed to sell them to the Royal Navy (for an appreciable amount). But that was his only success, as the troops suffered from choleric diseases, and civilians at that time were unwilling to re-instate the old regime. The arrogance of the tone in his proclamation, demanding the restoration of the stadtholderate, may not have been helpful, according to Simon Schama.

After the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, in which Great Britain recognised the Batavian Republic, an additional Franco-Prussian Convention of 23 May 1802 declared that the House of Orange would be ceded in perpetuity the domains of Dortmund, Weingarten, Fulda and Corvey in lieu of its Dutch estates and revenues (this became the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda). As far as Napoleon was concerned, this cession was conditional on the liquidation of the stadtholderate and other hereditary offices of the Prince. William V, however, had no interest in towns, territories and abbeys confiscated from other rulers, including alternatives as Würzburg and Bamberg, but wanted what was his due: his arrears in salaries and other financial perquisites since 1795, or a lump sum of 4 million guilders. The foreign minister of the Batavian Republic, Maarten van der Goes, was willing to secretly try to persuade the Staatsbewind of the Batavian Republic to grant this additional indemnity, but Napoleon put a stop to it, when he got wind of the affair.

The last of the Dutch stadtholders, William V died in exile at his daughter's palace in Brunswick, now in Germany. His body was moved to the Dutch Royal Family crypt in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft on 29 April 1958.

In 1813, his son, William VI returned to the Netherlands and proclaimed himself king, thus becoming the first Dutch monarch from the House of Orange.

Issue

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

An unnamed son (23–24 March 1769).
Princess Frederika Luise Wilhelmina of Orange-Nassau (The Hague, 28 November 1770 – The Hague, 15 October 1819), married in The Hague on 14 October 1790 Karl, Hereditary Prince of Braunschweig (London, 8 February 1766 – Antoinettenruh, 20 September 1806), a son of Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg and Princess Augusta of Great Britain, without issue.
An unnamed son (born and deceased on 6 August 1771).
Willem Frederik, Hereditary Prince of Orange-Nassau (The Hague, 25 August 1772 – 12 December 1843), who became the first King of the Netherlands as William I .
Prince Willem Georg Frederik, Prince of Orange-Nassau (The Hague, 15 February 1774 – Padua, 6 January 1799), unmarried and without legitimate issue.

Ancestry

Ancestors of William V, Prince of Orange

8. Henry Casimir II, Count of Nassau-Dietz

4. John William Friso, Prince of Orange

9. Henriëtte Amalia van Anhalt-Dessau

2. William IV, Prince of Orange

10. Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel

5. Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel

11. Maria Amalia of Courland

1. William V, Prince of Orange

12. George I of Great Britain

6. George II of Great Britain

13. Sophia Dorothea of Celle

3. Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange

14. John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach

7. Caroline of Ansbach

15. Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach

Appreciation

During his life and afterward, William V was a controversial person, in himself, and because he was the unwilling center of a political firestorm that others had caused. Many historians and contemporaries have written short appreciations of him that were often acerbic. Phillip Charles, Count of Alvensleben, who was the Prussian envoy to the Hague from 1787 (so not someone who must be suspected to be prejudiced against William) may be taken as an example. He wrote:

His education has all been theory. Duke Louis of Brunswick kept him away from practical affairs and did all the work himself, while the stadtholder merely signed documents. Hence this habit, this compulsion, of talking about public affairs, and turning the functions of stadtholder into the holding of tedious audiences of five, six, seven hours in length, swamping practical problems in useless verbiage, though putting forward wide-ranging proposals, often marked by sound reasoning, sometimes even by genius. Finally, the cardinal defect of settling nothing, of bringing nothing to a point, of replying to nothing, of signing nothing, of concluding nothing; but always of being the stadtholder in theory and never in practice. When he sets to work he does not know how to distinguish the functions of the head of the chancery from those of a mere secretary. In place of taking decisions on a hundred cases, he wastes his time in copying out some memorandum that has been presented to him. Nothing will ever change him, his bent is fixed, and when the Patriots declared that he fulfilled his functions in a ghastly fashion they were quite right.

His great-great-granddaughter Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was less kind. She simply called him a sufferd (dummy).

Legacy

Orange County, North Carolina was named for William V of Orange
Orange County, Indiana was named after the North Carolina county.
The Orange River, the longest river in South Africa was named in honour of William V of Orange.

References

^ Schama, Simon (1992). Patriots and Liberators. Revolution in the Netherlands 1780-1813. Vintage books.
^ Israel, J.I. (1995). The Dutch Republic. Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477-1806. Clarendon Press.
James, W.M. (2002). The Naval History of Great Britain: During the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Vol. 2 1797-1799. Stackpole books. pp. 309–310.
Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 88.
Cobban, A. (1954). Ambassadors and secret agents: the diplomacy of the first Earl of Malmesbury at the Hague. Jonathan Cape. p. 23.
Meerkerk, E. van (October 2007). "De laatste stadhouder. Willem V (1748-1806)". Historisch Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 11 May 2018.
Earle, Anton et al. (2005), A preliminary basin profile of the Orange/Senqu River (pdf), African Centre for Water Research, retrieved 30 June 2007

External links

Media related to William V, Prince of Orange at Wikimedia Commons

Dutch nobility
William V, Prince of Orange House of Orange-NassauCadet branch of the House of NassauBorn: 8 March 1748 Died: April 9 1806
Preceded byWilliam IV	Prince of Orange 1751–1806	Succeeded byWilliam VI
Regnal titles
Preceded byWilliam IV of Orange	Prince of Orange-Nassau 1751–1806	Succeeded byWilliam VI of Orange
	Baron of Breda 1751–1795	Lordship dissolved incorporated in Batavian Republic
	General Stadtholder of the United Provinces 1751–1795	Function abolished followed by Batavian Republic

v t e Stadtholders of Guelders
Willem van Egmond Willem van Egmond jr. Philip I of Croÿ-Chimay Willem van Egmond jr. Adolf III of Nassau-Wiesbaden-Idstein John V of Nassau-Siegen Philip of Burgundy Floris van Egmond René of Châlon Philip de Lalaing Philip de Montmorency, Count of Hoorn Karel van Brimeu Gillis van Berlaymont John VI of Nassau-Dillenburg Willem IV van den Bergh Adolf van Nieuwenaar Maurice of Nassau Frederick Henry of Orange William II of Orange interregnum William III of Orange interregnum William IV of Orange William V of Orange

Stadtholders of Guelders

v t e Stadtholders of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht
Hugo van Lannoy Willem van Lalaing Gozewijn de Wilde Jean de Lannoy Lewis de Bruges Wolfert VI van Borselen Joost van Lalaing Jan III van Egmond Henry III of Nassau-Breda Antoon van Lalaing René of Châlon Louis of Flanders Maximilian II of Burgundy William of Orange Maximilian of Hennin Philip of Noircarmes William of Orange Adolf van Nieuwenaar (Utrecht only) Maurice of Nassau Frederick Henry of Orange William II of Orange interregnum William III of Orange interregnum William IV of Orange William V of Orange

Stadtholders of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht

v t e Stadtholders of Friesland
Floris van Egmond Willem van Roggendorff Jancko Douwama Georg Schenck van Tautenburg Maximiliaan van Egmond Jean de Ligne Charles de Brimeu Gillis van Berlaymont Caspar de Robles George de Lalaing, Count of Rennenberg Francisco Verdugo William of Orange Willem Lodewijk Ernst Casimir Hendrik Casimir I Willem Frederik Hendrik Casimir II Johan Willem Friso of Orange William IV of Orange William V of Orange

Stadtholders of Friesland

v t e Stadtsholders of Groningen
Cristoffel van Meurs Jasper van Marwijck Karel van Gelre Ludolf Coenders Georg Schenck van Toutenburg Maximiliaan van Egmond Jan van Ligne Karel van Brimeu Gillis van Berlaymont Caspar van Robles Georges van Lalaing Francisco Verdugo Willem Lodewijk Maurice of Nassau Ernst Casimir Hendrik Casimir I Frederick Henry of Orange William II of Orange Willem Frederik Hendrik Casimir II Johan Willem Friso of Orange William IV of Orange William V of Orange

Stadtsholders of Groningen

v t e Stadtholders of Overijssel
Georg Schenck van Toutenburg Maximiliaan van Egmond Jan van Ligne Karel van Brimeu Gillis van Berlaymont Caspar van Robles Georges van Lalaing Francisco Verdugo Adolf van Nieuwenaar Maurice of Nassau Frederick Henry of Orange William II of Orange William III of Orange William IV of Orange William V of Orange

v t e Stadtholders of Drenthe
Christoph van Moers Jasper van Marwijck Charles, Duke of Guelders Ludolf Coenders Georg Schenck van Toutenburg Maximiliaan van Egmond Jan van Ligne Karel van Brimeu Gillis van Berlaymont Caspar van Robles Georges van Lalaing Francisco Verdugo Willem Lodewijk of Nassau-Dietz Maurice of Nassau Ernst Casimir Hendrik Casimir I Willem Frederik Hendrik Casimir II William II of Orange William III of Orange William IV of Orange William V of Orange

Stadtholders of Drenthe

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