Five Brothers and a War

History—1800 to 1900 AD

In 1839, nine years after Belgium declared its independence, the matter resolved with Holland, when a treaty was signed in London that finally set the borders between the two nations. Holland has a tradition, unlike England, of allowing its monarchs to retire, and then pass the crown to their children through abdication rather than through death. This began with its very first monarch, Koning Willem I, who abdicated in favor of his son, Willem II, on December 12, 1843. There have been seven monarchs in the Kingdom’s history—Willem I, Willem II, Willem III, Wilhemina, Juliana, Beatrix and Willem-Alexander. Willem-Alexander is the current king, leaving six transitions. Of those six, two were through death (Willem II and Willem III) while four were through abdication (Willem I, Wilhelmina, Juliana, and Beatrix). The last time a Dutch monarch ascended the throne through death was when Willem III died in 1890—now more than 120 years ago. As the monarch abdicates, they become a prins or a prinses, and are referred to as such, until they die, at which point they regain the title Koning or Koningin . As an example, Koningin Juliana abdicated in favor of her daughter, Prinses Beatrix, at which point the titles were Prinses Juliana and Koningin Beatrix. However, once Juliana died, she was again referred to as Koningin Juliana. The exception to this was Willem I, who retained the title Koning Willem Frederik, Graaf van Nassau (“King William Frederick, Count/Earl of Nassau”). Willem’s abdication was not so much a grand gesture to give his son an opportunity, nor was it caused by old age. Those factors were critical in subsequent abdications, but not the first. Willem was greatly disappointed with the loss of Belgium from the Kingdom, and he was also interested in marrying a Belgian, Countess Henriëtte d’Oultremont. Because she was not royal, this marriage was considered one of unequal ranking, and was called a “left-handed wedding”, because at the ceremony, the groom had to hold the bride’s right hand with his left hand, rather than the normal groom’s right hand with the bride’s left. In normal circumstances, these marriages did not permit children from that union to inherit titles nor succession rights, though these rules gradually disappeared. But even worse than marrying a Belgian immediately after losing Belgium was the fact that Henriëtte was a Roman Catholic. To this day, a person removes themselves from the line to the throne when they marry a Roman Catholic in both England and Holland.

holland

Five Brothers and a War

Page 104