Wilhelmina of Prussia

Wilhelmina grew up in Berlin. Her uncle was Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. She married Willem V when she was sixteen. The couple had a daughter and two sons. Two other sons died at an early age.

As wife of the stadtholder Wilhelmina was very much involved in affairs of state. When the unrest in the Republic of the United Netherlands became such that it seemed Willem V might need to leave the country, Wilhelmina decided to travel to The Hague to demand that her husband remain stadtholder. But before she reached The Hague she was apprehended by an anti-Stadtholder militia; she was not allowed to travel on to The Hague. Following this incident, her brother, the King of Prussia, decided to invade the Republic to keep Stadtholder Willem V in power.

A few years later Willem V and his family were forced to flee the country after all, moving first to England and then to Germany. When Wilhelmina’s son Willem I returned to the Netherlands, Wilhelmina came to live here again too. By then her husband had already passed away. Wilhelmina died at Paleis Het Loo.