Alexander of Orange-Nassau
Prince Wilhelm Alexander Karl Heinrich Friedrich von Oranien-Nassau (Dutch Prins Willem Alexander Karel Hendrik Frederik van Oranje-Nassau ; born August 25, 1851 in The Hague ; † June 21, 1884 ibid) was from June 11, 1879 until his death fourth Crown Prince of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg .
Life
Alexander was the youngest son of King Wilhelm III. of the Netherlands and his cousin Sophie von Württemberg , who led an increasingly broken marriage.
Unlike his older brother Wilhelm , Alexander was considered disciplined, intellectual and well-read. He remained unmarried and suffered from melancholy after the death of his mother in 1877 .
After the death of his brother Wilhelm on June 11, 1879, Alexander succeeded him as Prince of Orange , i.e. as Crown Prince of the Netherlands. Since then he has been associated with it, the Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Alexander was the fourth and last Prince of Orange as Crown Prince of the Netherlands from the direct male line of the House of Nassau and the last Hereditary Prince of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg from the Orange-Nassau line . Since he died after his older brother, but before his father, the king, he never achieved the royal dignity provided for him by the constitution, and never succeeded as regent of Luxembourg.
After his father married the teenage Princess Emma zu Waldeck and Pyrmont at the age of 62 in January 1879 , he avoided contact with his father and became increasingly depressed. He never saw his half-sister, who was born in 1880 and later became Queen Wilhelmina .
In 1882 he became the Grand Master of the Dutch Freemasons, succeeding his great uncle Friedrich von Oranien-Nassau .
From 1883 it became more and more obvious that he suffered from typhoid as well as his mental illness, from which he finally died on June 21, 1884 at the age of 32 while his father was on cure .
He was buried in the family crypt in Delft.
Web links
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| William of Orange-Nassau |
Prince van Oranje 1879–1884 |
Willem-Alexander |
Individual evidence
- ↑ Biography of Alexander of the Netherlands (accessed May 12, 2013)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Alexander of Orange-Nassau |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wilhelm Alexander Karl Heinrich Friedrich of Orange-Nassau; Willem Alexander Karel Hendrik Frederik van Oranje-Nassau (Dutch) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Crown Prince of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 25, 1851 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | The hague |
| DATE OF DEATH | June 21, 1884 |
| Place of death | The hague |