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

[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.