William II of the Netherlands
| William II | |
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William II, by Jan Baptist van der Hulst, 1849
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King of the Netherlands Grand Duke of Luxembourg Duke of Limburg |
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| Reign | 7 October 1840 – 17 March 1849 |
| Inauguration | 28 November 1840 |
| Predecessor | William I |
| Successor | William III |
| Born |
6 December 1792 Noordeinde Palace, The Hague, Dutch Republic |
| Died | 17 March 1849 (aged 56) Tilburg, Netherlands |
| Spouse | Anna Pavlovna of Russia |
| Issue |
William III of the Netherlands Prince Alexander Prince Henry Prince Ernest Casimir Sophie, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach |
| House | Orange-Nassau |
| Father | William I of the Netherlands |
| Mother | Wilhelmine of Prussia |
| Religion | Dutch Reformed Church |
William II (Willem Frederik George Lodewijk, anglicized as William Frederick George Louis; 6 December 1792 – 17 March 1849) was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg.
William II was the son of William I and Wilhelmine of Prussia. When his father, who up to that time ruled as sovereign prince, proclaimed himself king in 1815, he became Prince of Orange as heir apparent of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. With the abdication of his father on 7 October 1840, William II became king. During his reign, the Netherlands became a parliamentary democracy with the new constitution of 1848.
William II was married to Anna Pavlovna of Russia. They had four sons and one daughter. William II died on 17 March 1849 and was succeeded by his son William III.
Willem Frederik George Lodewijk was born on 6 December 1792 in The Hague. He was the eldest son of King William I of the Netherlands and Wilhelmine of Prussia. His maternal grandparents were King Frederick William II of Prussia and his second wife Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.
When William was two, he and his family fled to England after allied British-Hanoverian troops left the Republic and entering French troops defeated the army of the United Provinces, claiming liberation by joining the anti-Orangist Patriots. William spent his youth in Berlin at the Prussian court, where he followed a military education and served in the Prussian Army. After this, he studied at the University of Oxford and had a splendid military career close to Wellington. William II had a string of relationships with both men and women. The homosexual relationships that William II had as crown prince and as king were reported by journalist Eillert Meeter. The king surrounded himself with male servants whom he could not dismiss because of his 'abominable motive' for hiring them in the first place.
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Wikipedia