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William III (William Henry; Dutch: Willem Hendrik; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the 1670s, and King of England, Ireland, and Scotland from 1689 until his death ...
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William III (born November 14 [November 4, Old Style], 1650, The Hague, Netherlands—died March 19 [March 8], 1702, London, England) stadholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands as William III (1672–1702) and king of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1689–1702), reigning jointly with Queen Mary II (until her death in 1694). He directed the Eu...
The son of William II, prince of Orange, and of Mary, the daughter of Charles I of England, William was born at The Hague in November 1650, eight days after his father’s death. As stadholder of five of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, William II had recently incurred the enmity of a powerful minority of a republican oligarchy that dominated the province of Holland and the city of Amsterdam. After his death this party determined to exclude the house of Orange from power, and the Act of Seclusion (1654) debarred the prince of Orange and his descendants from holding office in the state.
William III’s education, nevertheless, was, from the first, the training of a ruler. Contemporaries agree that he was a boy of great vivacity and charm, but frequent quarrels between his mother and his paternal grandmother disturbed his childhood and may have helped to breed the habit of reserve that was intensified by the difficulties of his later life. In 1660, after his uncle Charles II’s restoration to the English throne, the Act of Seclusion was rescinded. Shortly afterward his mother died, leaving him to the guardianship of his grandmother and of his uncle Frederick William, elector of Brandenburg.
Early in 1666 he was made a ward of the States General, the representative assembly of the United Provinces. Under Johan de Witt, the grand pensionary of Holland, he acquired a specialized knowledge of public business. His exceptional promise and the popular devotion he had inherited made it impossible to deny him all advancement, but the Perpetual Edict (1667) decreed that the offices of stadholder and captain general, formerly held simultaneously by the princes of Orange, should never again be held by the same person.
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In 1671 it became clear that Louis XIV of France and Charles II of England were planning a joint attack on the United Provinces, and demands for William’s appointment as captain general became insistent. He was appointed in February 1672, though at first with very limited authority. In March and April Charles and Louis declared war, and in June French troops crossed the Rhine River and overran three provinces in as many weeks. The Dutch navy was able to hold the English in check, but the army had been neglected and was ill-trained and ill-equipped. As a last expedient the polders, or low-lying areas, were flooded, and William, with his few unseasoned troops, was left to defend the “water line.”
Panic broke out in the country, and there were angry demands for the prince’s elevation to the stadholderate. The few dissenters were overruled, and on July 8 (New Style) he was proclaimed stadholder by the States General, later ratified by the provincial estates of the occupied provinces. One of his first acts, done with the States’ approval, was to refuse the ruinous peace terms offered by the two kings. Civil disorders, however, were not over. On August 20 Johan de Witt and his brother, who were unjustly suspected of treachery, were murdered by an infuriated mob at The Hague. William was in no way implicated in the crime and was enraged when he heard of it, but, because of the number of the murderers and perhaps because of the general revolutionary situation, he failed to bring them to justice.
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Sep 15, 2022 · William III of England (also William II of Scotland, r. 1689-1702) became king of England, Scotland, and Ireland after the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Protestant William, Prince of Orange, was invited to rule jointly with his wife Mary II of England (1689-1694), daughter of the deposed James II of England (1685-1688), who was Catholic.
- Mark Cartwright
- What was William III known for?William III of England was known for the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which saw him peacefully take the throne from James II of England who abdicat...
- Why was William called the Prince of Orange?William, Prince of Orange was a Dutchman, but he was so called because his family controlled the small principality of Orange in southern France.
- Why did William III and Mary II rule together?William III and Mary II ruled together because Parliament wanted to continue the direct line of Stuart monarchs through Mary but also have the powe...
- Who succeeded William III of England?William III of England, who had no children, was succeeded by his sister-in-law Anne, Queen of Great Britain in 1702.
William III - Dutch Stadholder, Glorious Revolution, Protestantism: In November 1677 William had married his cousin Mary, daughter of James, duke of York (later King James II of England). William himself stood fourth in the English succession, and this marriage with the heiress presumptive gave him added importance in England, though during ...
Feb 17, 2011 · William III was born in the Netherlands in 1650 and became stadhouder in 1672. He invaded England in 1688 to depose his Catholic uncle James II and rule with his wife Mary. He fought several wars against France to protect his European interests and those of Britain and Ireland.
William III (r. 1689-1702) and Mary II (r. 1689-1694) | The Royal Family. In 1689 Parliament declared that James had abdicated by deserting his kingdom. William (reigned 1689-1702) and Mary (reigned 1689-94) were offered the throne as joint monarchs.
History. William III (of Orange) William and his wife Mary were crowned joint monarchs of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1689. Their accession, known as the ‘Glorious Revolution’, marked...
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