Louise de Coligny

Louise de Coligny was a French countess. She married an important French Protestant at the age of sixteen. Protestants were persecuted in Catholic France; in the year of her marriage both her husband and her father – another leading Protestant – were murdered. Louise fled to Switzerland.

Ten years later William of Orange asked for her hand in marriage after the death of his third wife Charlotte de Bourbon. Their son Frederik Hendrik (Frederick Henry) was born the year after, but Willem was assassinated just six months later. Louise witnessed the attack from close quarters.

After the death of her husband Louise cared for her many stepchildren. She spent the final years of her life in France.