Charlotte de Bourbon
Four years after the separation with Anna of Saxony, William of Orange [KD1] married the French Duchess Charlotte de Bourbon. Charlotte had led an extraordinary life before her marriage. When she was thirteen, her parents forced her to enter a convent. As a member of the nobility, she later became abbess, the head of the convent. But Charlotte subsequently converted to Protestantism and decided to flee the convent. A few years later, she received Willem’s marriage proposal.
The couple had six daughters in six years. After a failed attempt on Willem’s life, Charlotte nursed her badly injured husband. He recovered, but shortly afterwards Charlotte died of exhaustion due to the extensive nursing activities.
