Philip William | |
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Prince of Orange | |
Portrait of Philip William by Michiel Jansz van Mierevelt
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Born |
Buren, Seventeen Provinces |
19 December 1554
Died | 20 February 1618 Brussels, Southern Netherlands |
(aged 63)
Burial | Diest, Belgium |
Spouse | Eleonora of Bourbon-Condé |
House | House of Orange-Nassau |
Father | William the Silent |
Mother | Anna van Egmont |
Religion | Roman Catholic |
Philip William, Prince of Orange (19 December 1554 in Buren, Gelderland – 20 February 1618) was the eldest son of William the Silent by his first wife Anna van Egmont. He became Prince of Orange in 1584 and Knight of the Golden Fleece in 1599.
Philip William, Filips Willem in Dutch, was born on 19 December 1554 in Buren, Guelders, Seventeen Provinces. He was the first son of William the Silent and Anna van Egmont.
When his father William the Silent ignored Alva's summons to return to Brussels, remaining in Germany, Philip William, only a boy of 13, was studying at the University at Leuven in Brabant. He was seized in February 1568, and taken to Spain partly as a hostage, but especially to be raised as a good Catholic and loyal subject. He would never see his father again, and his mother had died in 1558.
In Spain he continued his studies at the university of Alcalá de Henares. He remained in Spain until 1596 when he returned to the southern Netherlands. His interests in the Dutch Republic were vigorously defended by his sister, Maria of Nassau, against his half-brother Maurice of Nassau who contested his brother's right to the barony and city of Breda.