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Prince Henry of the Netherlands (1820–1879)

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Prince Henry
Born(1820-06-13)13 June 1820
Soestdijk Palace, Baarn
Died13 January 1879(1879-01-13) (aged 58)
Walferdange Castle, Walferdange
Spouse
(m. 1853; died 1872)
(m. 1878)
HouseOrange-Nassau
FatherWilliam II of the Netherlands
MotherAnna Pavlovna of Russia
Military career
Allegiance The Netherlands
Service / branch

Prince William Frederick Henry of the Netherlands (Dutch: Willem Frederik Hendrik; 13 June 1820 – 13 January 1879) was the third son of King William II of the Netherlands and his wife, Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia. He was born at Soestdijk Palace.

Prince Henry became Governor of Luxembourg in 1850, in which capacity he served until his death in 1879. During his tenure, he worked with the government to launch the reactionary Coup of 1856, which consolidated power in the monarchy and the executive.[1] However, most of the changes were reversed by the new constitution issued in 1868 after the 1867 Luxembourg Crisis,[1] during which the crown tried to sell the grand duchy to France.

Career

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Henry as a 16-year-old lieutenant

Prince Henry was appointed an officer in the navy in his teens, and served many years, whence the sobriquet de Zeevaarder ("the Navigator"), after the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator. He visited the Dutch East Indies in 1837, remaining there for seven months.

Personal life

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He married twice. On 9 May 1853, in Weimar, he married Amalia Maria da Gloria Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Ghent, 20 May 1830 - Walferdange Castle, 1 May 1872). On 24 August 1878, in Potsdam, he married Marie Elisabeth Louise Frederica of Prussia (Marmorpalais, 14 September 1855 – Schloss Albrechtsberg, 20 June 1888). Both marriages were childless. At the time of his death at Walferdange Castle from measles, he was third in line of succession to the Dutch throne.

Throughout his life, his title was His Royal Highness Prince Henry of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau.

Legacy

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A bust of Prince Henry on Prins Hendrikkade in Amsterdam

The Prins Hendrikkade, a major street in Amsterdam, was named after Prince Henry following his death in 1879. A bust of Henry stands on the street.

The Prins Hendrik Stichting, a charity founded by Prince Henry in 1871 and named after him, provides care to sailors and their widows.[2]

In Luxembourg, an oak tree in Grünewald forest was planted and named after him following his death in 1879. The city of Luxembourg also has a street named after Henry, the Boulevard Prince-Henri.

Honours

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He received the following orders and decorations:[3]

Ancestry

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Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b Christiane Huberty (November 2006). "Le Conseil d'État – un produit du conflit constitutionnel du milieu du XIXe siècle" (PDF) (in French). forum.lu. Retrieved 2 December 2009.
  2. ^ "Historie", Prins Hendrik Stichting (Dutch)
  3. ^ Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1869), "Genealogie" pp. 9-10
  4. ^ Liste der Ritter des Königlich Preußischen Hohen Ordens vom Schwarzen Adler (1851), "Von Seiner Majestät dem Könige Friedrich Wilhelm IV. ernannte Ritter" p. 22
  5. ^ Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1864), "Großherzogliche Hausorden" p. 11
  6. ^ Württemberg (Kingdom). Statistisches Landesamt (1877). Staatshandbuch für Württemberg. Druck von W. Kohlhammer. p. 22.
  7. ^ Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish), 1877, p. 368, retrieved 6 January 2018 – via runeberg.org
  8. ^ Staatshandbücher für das Herzogtums Sachsen-Altenburg (1869), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 20
  9. ^ Staats- und Adreß-Handbuch des Herzogthums Nassau (1866), "Herzogliche Orden" p. 12
  10. ^ Hessen-Kassel (1866). Kurfürstlich Hessisches Hof- und Staatshandbuch: 1866. Waisenhaus. p. 14.
  11. ^ Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Oldenburg0: 1879. Schulze. 1879. p. 35.
  12. ^ Almanach royal officiel: 1879. 1879. p. 51.
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