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!'