100 things challenge - 43: Dutch monarchy II

[birdienl]

In the last 100 things post I posted about the beginning of the Dutch monarchy, a relative short while ago. Only three generations later, it seemed for a while the line of Dutch monarchs would end. King William III had married his cousin Sophie van Württemberg in 1839. Though the marriage was a very bad one (mainly due to the many mistresses William kept), three sons were born. Tragically, they all died young. The oldest, also called William, had settled in Paris due to a conflict with his father about his choice of bride. Here, he died at 38, a destitute alcoholic. Maurits, the second son, died from meningitis at the age of only 6. The couple's third son, Alexander, had always been a problem child. Though highly intelligent and involved in scientific pursuits, he had been sickly from a young age. He died of typhus in 1884.

At that time, William III's first wife had also passed away and William had married for a second time, to the 40-year younger German princess Emma van Waldeck-Pyrmont. Emma gave birth to a daughter called Wilhelmina in 1880. After Alexander died 4 years later, the young child was suddenly the only hope of a continuing line of monarchs. 

King William himself died in 1888, making his only 8-year old daughter in fact Queen. Her mother Emma had however been appointed as Regent and ruled in her daughter's name until Wilhelmina was 18. 

Wilhelmina was the first of three subsequent Queens of The Netherlands and coming April we will have a King again for the first time in over a 100 years!

I stole this meme fro caffeinatedlife:

'Ask me my Top Five Whatevers. Fannish or literary or otherwise. Any top fives. Doesn't matter what, really! Fandoms, ice cream flavours, cartoon moments, women/men in my fandoms, OTPs, ideal holiday destinations, goals for the future, celebrity crushes, books I wish would be made into movies, love songs... And I will answer them all in comments and in a seperate entry!'

Comments

[ever-maedhros.livejournal.com]

Wow, I had no idea The Netherlands was a Queen's world unto itself for so long! Now I want to research more. :)

As for your Top Five, I would have to ask your Top Five Classical Music Pieces. (If you can choose just five . . .)

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

How about a feminist's country ;-) Our current queen had only sons and now the crown-prince (soon to be king) has only daughters again!

Sorry about my lateness with this reply, I had to think about your top 5 question for a while. But here they are:
1.'For unto us a Child is born' from the Messiah by G.F. Händel. Classic Christmas music. It's not really Advent until I've listened to my Messiah cd a few times!
2. Utrecht Te Deum by G.F. Händel. Written by Händel to commemorate the Treaty of Utrecht to end the Spanish Succession war in 1713. I sang this piece to commemorate the 370th birthday of Utrecht University 5 years ago. Good memories and a great piece of music!
3. The lark ascending by Ralph Vaughn William. The first piece of classical music I fell in love with. Very atmospheric!
4. 'Coffee cantata' or BWV 211 by J.S. Bach. Because the lyrics are just so theatrical and funny!
5. A ceremony of carols by B. Britten. Also classic Christmas music! And I also sung it myself!

[ever-maedhros.livejournal.com]

Ahh, these are all great pieces! (I hadn't heard The Lark Ascending yet, so I consulted YouTube and fell in love with it. :D)

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

Yay, it's good to hear I've added a new fan to this relatively little known, but brilliant piece of music!

[msantimacassar.livejournal.com]

That's so cool! I've never heard anything about the Dutch monarchy so this is really fascinating! Do you have any good book recommendations on the subject? I would be very interested to learn more!

Oooh, fun meme! I want to ask all of them but I'll limit to myself to two... Top 5 Period Drama Couples and Top 5 Books?

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

I guess most books about Dutch monarchy would be written in Dutch... I did a quick Amazon search, but found no books about only the Dutch monarchy, multiple ones about the European monarchies in modern times. I did however find an MP3 lecture about the Dutch monarchy here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Road-To-Dutch-Monarchy/dp/B002TE7LMK/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1360580293&sr=8-8

Favourite books? I thought you would know never to ask that of a bibliophile ;-) But oké....

Books (really in no particular order, that's too hard)
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
Arena - Karen Hancock (Christian fantasy/allegory)
Redeeming Love - Francine Rivers
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the with and the wardrobe - C.S. Lewis

Honorable mentions: Emma - Jane Austen, the Thursday Next novels - Jasper Fforde, North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell, almost anything by Lynn Austin

Period drama couples:
1: Elizabeth Bennet/Mr. Darcy (P&P)
2: Jane Eyre/Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre)
3: Elinor Dashwood/Edward Ferrars (S&S)
4: Bathseba Everdene/Gabriel Oak (Far from the Madding Crowd)
5: Bella Wilfer/John Harmon aka John Rokesmith (Our Mutual Friend)

Honorable mentions (could also slide in places 4-5, depending on what I've been watching last): Amy Dorrit/Arthur Clennam (Little Dorrit), Sybil/Branson (Downton Abbey), Peggy Bell/William Buxton (Return to Cranford), Margaret Hale/Mr. Thornton (North and South)

[msantimacassar.livejournal.com]

That would make sense but is too bad for me! I will see if I can get that lecture, it may not work since I am in the US...

Hehe, because I am an evil person! :p

Nice! I have been meaning to start the Thursday Next series for a while now, glad to hear it's a favorite!

All wonderful couples, I agree! It is so hard to pick, isn't it?

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

It is hard to pick! I now had Gabriel/Bathseba in the top 5, because I recently wrote an article about them for Femnista. But when I'd just finished watching series 2 of Downton I would probably put Sybil/Branson in the top 5. Etc. etc.

But the top-3 is I think rather firm, they are really classic couples after all!

[msantimacassar.livejournal.com]

It really does depend on what you've watched most recently! But then, of course, there are the core ones that will never change! Agreed.

[caffeinatedlife.livejournal.com]

That's awesome that you guys had a queen for quite a while! =D Thanks for such informative posts =)

For the meme: Top 5 classics you'd like to see adapted (or adapted again, lol) =)

[birdienl.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! They're even informative for myself often!

Oke, on to the top 5:
1. Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell: I loved the book, it's got great characters and interesting social issues. I even planned to do a casting picspam for it once, but you know, time....
2. Sanditon by Jane Austen: A whole new Austen, without adapting a prequel, sequel or modernized version, wouldn't that be great? I've always been partial to the Sanditon version finished by 'an unknown lady', I found the story charming and it could very well make a 1-part feature length tv film, like the last Northanger Abbey. After all, they tackeled Edwin Drood, so should be able to do Sanditon.
3. Not really a classic, but wouldn't it be great to have a film about the life of the Brontë sisters? I recently read a very good novel about them (of which I really should write review...), that would be a good starting point for an adaptation
4. Vilette by Charlotte Brontë: Jane Eyre has been adapted to 'death', why not try another of Charlotte's novels? Vilette is a very powerful and very personal story with a strong heroine to rival Jane Eyre. Perhaps they should only change the very ending in the adaptation....
5. A tale of two cities by Charles Dickens: The last adaptation was in the '80s. I have read the book, but did not really love or understand it, while many other Dickens fans name it their favourite. Maybe an adaption would help me love it more!