William Pull - William III: From Prince of Orange to King of England

H e did not know that he was dying as the waters lapped against the yacht that was carrying him through the river and canal systems of the United Provinces to The Hague. The day before he had been hunting at his country house at Dieren, near Arnhem, returning with a fever. But a couple of days after his arrival at his quarters at the Binnenhof at The Hague the rash that had broken out over his body was recognised as smallpox. On Sunday 6 November 1650, at about 9 oclock in the evening, Prince William II of Orange died.

In the same quarters, in the evening of Monday 14 November, between 8 and 9 oclock, his son, William III, was born.

It was the birthday of his mother, Mary, who was 19 years old.

William IIIs family of Orange-Nassau derives its origins from the hilly country of Nassau in Germany, through whose territory there flows the pleasant Lahn river, which joins the Rhine just south of Coblenz; and in the surrounding areas the little towns of Dillenburg, of Siegen and of Dietz provided the different branches of the family with distinguishing suffixes to add to the Nassau name. By the second half of the 12th century the counts of Nassau had acquired a modest significance, accompanying the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, on his wars in Italy, in the Holy Land, and in Germany itself. Their aims were those of their military caste, to gain reputation, to increase their status, and to extend their territorial possessions. But, until the latter end of the Middle Ages, they remained on a middling footing.

What raised them from the position of run-of-the-mill German counts were shrewd marriages and the skilful exploitation of relations with the powerful dynasties of their day. In 1403 one of them married an heiress, the great-niece of a banker who had financed the princes and rulers of the Netherlands, and whose political influence had become as extensive as his fortune. The Nassaus were solidly established in the Netherlands, a position, as the Dutch royal family, they have retained to this day.

Making use of these firm foundations, they developed ties, which, despite some setbacks, became ever closer, with the dukes of Burgundy, a cadet branch of the French royal family, who had in the 15th century become the major power in the Low Countries.