William III (Dutch: Willem III, French: Guillaume III; 19 February 1817 – 23 November 1890) was King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1849 until his death in 1890, and was also the Duke of Limburg from 1849 until the abolition of the duchy in 1866. Having reigned for 41 years, he is the second-longest reigning Dutch monarch, only surpassed by his daughter, Wilhelmina.
William was the son of King William II and Anna Pavlovna of Russia. On the abdication of his paternal grandfather William I in 1840, he became the Prince of Orange. On the death of his father in 1849, he succeeded as king of the Netherlands.
William married his cousin Sophie of Württemberg in 1839 and they had three sons, William, Maurice, and Alexander, all of whom predeceased him. After Sophie's death in 1877, he married Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont in 1879 and they had one daughter Wilhelmina, who succeeded William to the Dutch throne. Meanwhile, being the last agnatic dynastic descendant of Otto I, Count of Nassau, the throne of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg passed to his patrilineal seventeenth cousin once removed (and matrilineal third cousin), Adolphe. As of 2026, he is the last Dutch monarch to die whilst on the throne as all of his successors have abdicated in favor of their children.
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Early life
William was born on 19 February 1817 in the Palace of the Nation in Brussels, which was one of the capitals of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. He was the eldest son of the future king William II of the Netherlands and Anna Pavlovna of Russia. He had three brothers, one of whom died in infancy, and one sister. William was particularly close to his brother Alexander, who was only 18 months his junior and for the most part was raised alongside him. As adults the two princes shared a passion for outdoor pursuits like shooting, riding and falconry as well as horse racing. Both were active members of the Royal Loo Hawking Club, which drew a large crowd of hunting enthusiasts to Het Loo Palace during the 1840s and early 1850s. William and Alexander also shared a deep frustration at not being given any meaningful tasks in the military. Alexander, who had a lively, amiable, tactful personality, got on well with his hot headed, capricious brother. His death at age 29 was a great loss to William, who counted him a true friend. He never became close to his youngest brother Henry, who was painfully shy, easily embarrassed and anxious to avoid incurring William's wrath.
William and his brothers were raised by military men (their governors were distinguished officers decorated with the Military Order of William) and expected to join the military. In 1827, at the age of ten, William was made an honorary colonel in the Royal Netherlands Army by his grandfather. In the 1830s, he served as lieutenant in the Grenadiers Regiment and studied at Leiden University for a while, though without attempting to attain any degree. In 1834, during a visit to his maternal uncle Tsar Nicholas I, he was made honorary commander of the Grenadiers Regiment of Kiev nr. 5 in the Imperial Russian Army.
He married his first cousin, Sophie, daughter of King William I of Württemberg and Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, in Stuttgart on 18 June 1839. This marriage was unhappy and was characterized by struggles about their children. Sophie was a liberal intellectual, hating everything leaning toward dictatorship, such as the army. William was simpler, more conservative, and loved the military. He prohibited intellectual exercise at home, for which action Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, who corresponded with Princess Sophie, called him an uneducated farmer. His extramarital enthusiasms, however, led the New York Times to call him "the greatest debauchee of the age". Another cause of marital tension (and later political tension) was his capriciousness; he could rage against someone one day, and be extremely polite the next. The situation was made worse by Sophie, who made no secret of the fact she had never wanted to marry William in the first place and considered herself intellectually superior to him. She could be very dramatic, often complaining about her suffering and her wish to die and expressing negative opinions about pretty much everyone who crossed her path in The Netherlands, especially her inlaws.
William struggled with his position as heir to the throne. Upon his father's investiture as king in 1840 he was made Inspector-General of Infantry and promoted to Lieutenant-General. The position was purely honorary and William relinquished it only 5 years later. His father gave him no role in politics and did little to prepare him for his future role.
William loathed the 1848 constitutional changes initiated by his father (William II) and Johan Rudolf Thorbecke. His father saw them as key to the monarchy's survival in changing times. Sophie, who was a liberal, also shared this view. William himself saw them as useless limitations of royal power, and would have preferred to govern as an enlightened despot in the mold of his grandfather, William I.
He considered relinquishing his right to the throne to his older son. His mother convinced him to cancel this action. The Dutch constitution provided no way to relinquish one's claim to the throne.
On 17 March 1849, his father died and William succeeded to the throne of the Netherlands. He was at that moment a guest of the Duchess of Cleveland in Raby Castle. Representatives of the Dutch government traveled to London to meet their new king. William was reluctant to return, but he was convinced to do so. Upon arrival the new queen welcomed her spouse with the question "did you accept?". The new king nodded, but he remained uncertain about the matter for some time.
Reign
William repeatedly contemplated abdicating as soon as his eldest son William, Prince of Orange, turned eighteen. This occurred in 1858, but as William was uncomfortable making a decision he remained king. The new king's first act was the inauguration of the parliamentary cabinet of Thorbecke, the designer of the liberal 1848 constitution. Before 1848, the king had been a near-autocrat, but the 1848 document stripped the crown of most of its political powers while transferring most of the real power to the States-General (parliament).
When the Roman Catholic hierarchy of bishops was restored in 1853, he found growing conservative support and a reason to dismiss Thorbecke. In the first two decades of his reign, he dismissed several cabinets and disbanded parliament several times. He was able to install royal cabinets which ruled as long as there was support in the elected second chamber of parliament.
In what became known as the "Luxembourg Coup of 1856", William unilaterally instituted a new, reactionary constitution for Luxembourg, which he ruled personally, separate from the Dutch crown.
In 1867, France offered to buy Luxembourg, leading to the Luxembourg Crisis, which almost precipitated war between Prussia and France. However, the subsequent Second Treaty of London confirmed Luxembourg as a fully independent country.
During his reign, the king became more and more unpopular with his bourgeois-liberal subjects, his whims provoking their resistance and mockery, but remained quite popular with the common man.
The king was a man of immense stature and with a boisterous voice. He could be gentle and kind, then suddenly he could become intimidating and even violent. His ministers were afraid of him. Most people around him agreed that he was, to some degree, insane.
The king could be erratic, he ordered the dismissal and even the arrest and execution of those that he found in lack of respect, including a Mayor of The Hague. Orders like these were disregarded. The king who thought of himself as a specialist on all matters military frequently tried to take command of manoeuvres, creating chaos wherever he went.
Family and issue
Of William III's four legitimate children, three reached adulthood, two sons from his marriage to Queen Sophie and one daughter from his marriage to Queen Emma:
Willem Nicolaas Alexander Frederik Karel Hendrik (1840–1879), heir apparent to the throne from 1849 to his death
Willem Frederik Maurits Alexander Hendrik Karel (1843–1850)
Willem Alexander Karel Hendrik Frederik (1851–1884), heir apparent to the throne from 1879 to his death
Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria (1880–1962), Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 to 1948
Standing at 196 cm (6 ft 5 in) he was an exceptionally large and strong man. William III was known to be a philanderer and had several dozen illegitimate children from various mistresses.
Honours and arms
National orders and decorations
Founder and Joint Grand Master of the Order of the Gold Lion of Nassau, 16 March 1858
Foreign orders and decorations