Donald E. Wilkes, Jr. Collection: William III, Prince of Orange

      William III, Prince of Orange was born on 14 Nov. 1650 NS in Binnenhof Palace in the Hague.[1]  He was the son of Mary, Princess Royal of England, and William II Prince of Orange.[2] He was a direct lineal descendant of William I, who successfully lead the Dutch in their revolt against the French.[3]  William III was the sovereign prince of Orange from birth, due to his father’s death from smallpox on 6 November 1650 NS.[4]  Up until the moment of his baptism on 21 January 1651, there was disagreement between his mother and his fraternal grandmother, Amalia of Solms Bromfels, concerning his name.  Mary desired to name him Charles, while Amalia, who would prevail, insisted that he be named William to convey his relationship to William I to the Dutch people,[5]  William was educated in the Dutch state religion of Calvinism starting in April of 1656 through the teachings of Cornelius Trigland, a Calvinist preacher.[6]  It was these lessons that would lead William to firmly believe in the Calvinist doctrine of predestination.[7]

     William was adored greatly by his uncle Charles II, King of England, to a point that Mary became jealous of the affection her brother showed towards William.[8]  When William was nine, he was sent north of the Hague to Leiden to be educated by scholars, such as Jufis Van Traen.[9]  While at Leiden, William was educated in matters of geography and history, with emphasis also placed on the languages of English, Dutch and French.  Political affairs intrigued him more than science or the great works of literature.[10]  He attended church twice daily: once in English and again in Dutch.[11]

     William returned to The Hague for a visit with his mother in September of 1660.  His last visit with her occurred on 29 September 1960 NS, prior to her trip to England to visit her older brother, Charles II, who had recently been restored to the throne of England, displacing Cromwell.[12]  William addressed a letter to his Uncle Charles II concerning his mother’s visit.[13]  On the day the letter was written, 24 December 1660 NS, Mary died of smallpox in Whitehall Palace.[14] The sadness brought on by the death of his mother compounded William’s health problems.  From early childhood, William had difficulty breathing, suffered from excruciating headaches, and was easily tired.[15]

As specified in Mary’s will, the responsibility of raising William was vested in Charles II, who delegated it to his mother Amalia.[16] In 1664, William was appointed the services of  a page, who was a year older than him, named William Bentinck. Bentinck would prove to be one of William’s closest friends and remain a close confidant for over thirty years. [17]  The friendship was strengthened after Bentinck provided William care while he suffered from smallpox. This attentive care is often credited with sparing the prince’s life.[18]  The friendship was documented in letters written to Bentinck by William, which expressed the prince’s inner thoughts and secrets in an uncharacteristically candid manner.[19]

     Although William came from a prominent family, the time in which he was born was a difficult one for the family of Orange.  As a result of previous generations’ extravagance, a large amount of the family’s wealth had been depleted, and there were mounting debts.[20]  The final blow to the power of the Orange party was dealt at the end of the Anglo-Dutch war when a annex to the Treaty of Westminster, termed the Act of Seclusion, contained a provision prohibiting any member of the house of Orange from becoming Stadtholder of Holland.  Although such act was later declared void, since the restoration of Charles II eliminated the power of one of the signers, none of the Dutch States decided to make William stadtholder.  William was later declared a ward of the States General.  When an attack by the French and English became imminent, William was temporarily given the position of captain general in February 1672.[21] In March and April, Louis XIV and Charles II declared war against the Dutch. They attempted to cross the Rhine River, but their ships were stopped by the Dutch forces.  William defended the low lying areas that had been flooded for protection.[22]  After the panic that followed the attempted invasion, William was made Stadtholder of the Dutch on 8 July, against opposition.[23]  In accord with the desire of the Dutch states, William rejected the offer for peace from France and England, that called for a large payment to be made to both countries. 

     In 1670, William met Princess Mary of York on a trip to visit Charles II.  Mary was the daughter of James II, William’s uncle. In 1977, William made a trip to England to seek approval to wed Mary.  James II had previously desired for Mary  to wed the Catholic Dauphin of France.  However, Charles II consented to the marriage in exchange for agreement on peace abroad.[24] Mary was distraught when James II informed her of the decision.[25]  There were many differences between the reserved quiet William and his bride who stood several inches above him.  Mary was more talkative and did not share William’s love for politics.[26] The match was motivated more by William’s political ambitions than personal feelings.[27]  The marriage occurred in Mary II’s bedroom in St. James’s Palace with a small crowd of family members, including James II who was upset at the parting of his daughter.[28]  Along with his relationship to Mary, William had several mistresses.[29]   

    In 1686, Mordaunt, one of William’s advisors proposed an attempt to take control over England.  Although William listened intently to the advice, he thought that the conditions were not right for a foreign invasion of England.  William was correct in such an assessment as the Whig party would likely have taken up arms at that point in defense of James II, and the Anglican Church at that time still held to its doctrine of nonresistance.[30]  William needed to wait until the Anglicans had faced sufficient oppression from James II.

     William and Mary were asked for their support of James II’s attempt at issuing the Declaration of Indulgence of 1687.  Although William and Mary were of the progressive view of complete religious toleration, they perceived the means by which James II intended to provide such freedoms to be illegal.  Modification of the Test Act required action of a Parliament, as does any change to a bill passed by Parliament.[31]  Along with the illegality of the proposal, William and Mary were concerned that the method by which the Test Act was suspended would allow James II to reinstitute it at will.[32]  William also suspected that James II did not desire only to put the Catholics on equal ground with the Anglicans, but wished to exalt the Catholic faith so radically that such proposal did not elicit the approval of the Pope.[33]

     William sent a request through Russell designed to enlist the support of the English noblemen.  William realized that without this support it would be difficult to effect a political change in England.[34] On 30 June 1688, the same day that the seven bishops were acquitted for seditious libel, Sidney drafted a petition to William urging him to come to England and seize the government from the control of James II.  The document specified that the vast majority of the English people, ninety-five percent, would support an attempt by William to change the government.[35] The letter did not request that William become monarch of England, but provide sufficient protection to the people of England, until they could mount a revolution of their own.[36]

    William’s primary motivation for bringing political change in England was a desire to have it as an ally with the Dutch in opposition to Louis XIV. If England stayed out of the affairs of continental Europe, Louis would be free to continue his assaults on the freedoms of France and Germany.[37]  William also was motivated to protect his wife’s position in line to the throne.[38]  The succession of Mary was jeopardized  when James II’s wife Mary Beatrice gave birth to a son on 10 June 1688. The child displaced Mary as the next heir to the throne, and his succession would likely continue the Roman Catholic monarchy.[39] William wrote a declaration to the English, outlining the illegality of James II suspension of the Test Act, appointment of Catholics to political office, and the desecration of England’s most esteemed universities.[40] When planning his invasion, William decided that an invasion was necessary after attempts to moderate James II’s policies and bring him in allegiance against France failed. The number of troops to include in the invasion had to be delicately balanced. If he brought too few, he would be defeated and the monarchy would be strengthened, but if the invasion had too many troops, the people of England would perceive William’s army as a foreign enemy attempting to conquer their country, and thus be unsupportive of his proposed reforms.[41]  William also faced difficulties in obtaining the required troops, as commissioning of troops required the unanimous support of the heads of each of the Dutch towns.[42] 

     William waited until his strategy for the descent on England was complete to seek the support of the Dutch towns.  This ensured both that the towns would be provided with a complete information to base their approval, and minimized the chances that James II would be informed of the plan.[43]  Eight thousand soldiers and almost as many sailors were trained for battle, even though they could not be commissioned without the assent of the cities, so that once word came that approval had been given, they could be deployed.

     William relied heavily on the use of English agents to keep him informed of the current political sentiment.  James II however failed to head the warnings of the approaching uprising.  The invasion of England by William was aided when Louis XIV entered Palatinate, which removed the threat of the Dutch being invaded. When James II became aware of the impending invasion, he could have bolstered his protections through the acceptance of Louis XIV offer to send up to fifteen-thousand soldiers, but James II rejected this offer amid negative sentiment towards Louis XIV in England.[44] On 30 October William left Holland with his large fleet of ships carrying troops made up of English, Scots, Dutch troops, English refugees, and French Huguenots.[45]  The fleet encountered a harsh wind on 31 October, and was forced to return to Hellevoetsluis.[46]  Several of the ships were in need of heavy repair when upon returning to port.

     This setback led William doubt the future success of the mission, causing William to say to the accompanying Gilbert Burnet that he reasoned he was not predestined to descent on England.  William decided ultimately to try the voyage again and took advice to set sail to southwest England. On 4 November, the fleet set out expecting to land in Devonshire.[47] The mission was in danger at first when it appeared that the east winds they were going to push the ships to Plymonth, where a significant portion of the English navy was stationed. However. the east wind subsided and south winds picked up leading the fleet to their landing in Torbay.[48] After landing in Torbay, William  initially felt that the reception he experienced was not as warm as he had expected.[49]  William proceeded to Exeter, where James II would likely have stood a chance of defeating the force, but instead hesitated.  While in Exeter, William experienced a warm reception from the western English, which included the request to turn over Jeffrey, the Lord Chancellor, to the western English in the event he was captured.[50] Within days many of the noblemen of Exeter would join William’s cause.[51] Such support was necessary to further William’s desire to gain control of England without negotiating with James II or getting into a pitch battle with the English troops.  Slowly, most of the influential people on James II’s side, including Churchill, joined William’s campaign.[52] James II was offered a chance to meet with the prince at Whitehall Palace to discuss a negotiation after James II consented to the calling of a free parliament.  Although such a meeting would have possibly preserved James II’s position on the throne, the offer was refused. William continued into Salisbury, which James II had fled nine days prior.  Feversham was provided vague military orders by James, but instead of following them, he decided to disband the entire army.  William was grieved by this decision, as he had aspired to use the English army against the French. On the 11^th of December, riots broke out after James fled to England. This mistake in strategy allowed William to take the reign over England. [53] James was caught by a fishing boat and returned to London. James II left England a second time on 22 December after being forced to go to Rochester.[54] William  took control of Whitehall Palace and fortified England with Dutch troops, as to make it clear to Louis XIV that the country could not be easily invaded.

     One of William’s first acts, after he was asked to take control over England by the lords, was to call a Convention in January 1689.[55]  there was great dissent amongst the lords at to whether William or Mary should take the throne, with a small population of Tories who still favored the return of James II.[56] Danby proposed that Mary should be made alone the Queen of England, as she was the closest person in the line of succession available.[57] William presented the Convention a choice of either allowing him to lead, or that he would return to Holland, as he refused to be subordinate to Mary as queen regninte. Mary had many years prior confided in Burnet that she would not, in accordance with her religious beliefs, accept the position of Queen alone.[58] The Convention consented to a compromise and made William and Mary the reigning sovereigns as long as they both lived, with the survivor to become the single ruling sovereign if one spouse was to die.[59]  William and Mary were named dual sovereigns of England on 13 February 1689.  The power of the monarchy was solely vested in William for his life.   William and Mary soon moved into Hampton Court Palace, which was better suited for William’s health conditions by being out in the country. They would shortly move again to Kensington Palace, after the citizens of London voiced their concern that the monarchy had become distant.[60]

     William was not well liked by a majority of the people in England.[61]  Gilbert Burnet suggested that one of the reasons the King was no well liked was that he was seen as unaccesible to the common people. Some of this inaccessibility can be explained by William’s numerous illnesses.  Charles Talbot, the Earl of Shrewsbury, was appointed one of William’s secretaries of state.  Talbot, a moderate Whig who belonged to the group who sent the invitation to William, became one of the King’s closest confidants.  He was charged with the task of reconciling the Whigs and the Tories.  Daniel Finch, the second Earl of Nottingham, was chosen to be William’s other Secretary of State.[62] Even though he had voted for a Regency rather than the monarchy, he still served William honorably.[63] William never developed a good relation with his Princess Anne.[64]  She was forced to petition Parliament for a monthly payment, rather than merely  rely on William’s prerogative.[65]  William showed religious toleration to the people of England with such acts as excusing the Jews  from the requirement to keep Sunday sacred and released the Quakers from the requirement of taking an oath.[66]  The Jacobites of Scotland still refused to recognize William as the King, as they thought James II still had claim to the throne.  They won a small victory at the Battle of Killiecrankie on 27 July 1689.  William was able to subdue them by early August.[67]  The French were set on trying to invade England, but their ships were destroyed by the Anglo-Dutch fleet led by William.[68]  In 1689, William also voluntarily released some of his powers to make the judiciary independent.  In December 1698, the newly created Parliament voted to reduce the size of the English army to seven-thousand native born men.  William viewed this measure as an insult to his heritage, as all of the Dutch Guard were forced back to the continent.[69]

     In May of 1664, William left England for a six month visit to Holland.  When William returned he and the queen were both of poor health. On 18 December the queen felt ill, and by 21 December showed signs of smallpox.[70]  William kept watch over her bed until her death in the early morning of December 28.

     William was injured on 21 February 1702, when the horse he was riding tripped causing William to fall.  He suffered a broken collarbone from the incident. When his recovery from the accident was nearly completely, on 5 March William caught pneumonia, and died on 8 March.  He was buried, in a private ceremony organized by the Privy Council, on the 12th of April in Westminster Abbey. [71]  William did not live to see the peace in Europe that he desired fulfilled, but was a major driving force for the protections eventually memorialized in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713.

Bibliography

 

[1] Stephen  Baxter, William III  (Longsman, Green, and Co. 1966) (1966)

Brian Bevan, 1 King William III Prince of Orange the first European (Rubicon press, 1997) (1997).

Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II  (1848) (1859).

Nesca Robb,  William of Orange (Morrison and Gibb press, 1962) (1962).

Oxford Dictionary of National Biographies, William III and II unpaginated.