King/Grand Duke Willem II (1792-1849), Queen Anna Paulowna (1795-1865) and family

[Marengo]

King Willem II (1792-1849), Queen Anna (1795-1865) and descendants

This thread is about King Willem II Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk of The Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Prince of Oranje-Nassau etc etc, (The Hague, Dec 6, 1792 - Tilburg, Mar 17, 1849) and Queen Anna Pavlovna of The Netherlands, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Princess of Oranje-Nassau, Grand Duchess of Russia, (St. Petersburg, June 17 1818 - The Hague, Mar 1, 1865)

Parents Willem: King Willem I of The Netherlands and Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands, nee Princess of Prussia.

Parents Anna: Emperor Paul I of Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, nee Princess of Wurttemberg.

Children Willem and Sophie: King Willem III, Prince Alexander, Prince Casimir, Prince Hendrik of The Netherlands and Grand Duchess Sophie of Saxe-Weimar.

Siblings Willem II: Prince Frederik, Princess Pauline of The Netherlands and Princess Marianne of Prussia.

Siblings Anna: Emperor Alexander I of Russia, Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, Archduchess Alexandra of Austria, Hereditairy Grand Duchess Elena of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Grand Duchess Marie of Saxe-Weimar, Queen Catherine of Wurttemberg, Grand Duchess Olga of Russia, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and Grand Duke Michael of Russia.

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painting left: King Willem II
painting right: Queen Anna

Note 1: All the pictures posted from post 1-20 are free of copyrights, unless stated differently.

Note 2: Most pictures were originally posted by Thijs at the Alexander Palace Forums

 

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King Willem II (from Wikipedia)

William II, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg (William Frederick George Louis) (December 6, 1792 – March 17, 1849) ruled from October 7, 1840 until his death.

He was born in The Hague, the son of King William I of the Netherlands and Queen Wilhelmina, princess of Prussia. His maternal grandparents were Frederick William II of Prussia and his second wife Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt. When William was three he and his family fled to England after allied British-Hanoverian mercenaries left the Republic and entering French troops joined the anti-orangist Patriots. William spent his youth in Berlin at the Prussian court. There he followed a military education and served in the Prussian army. Afterwards he studied at the University of Oxford.

Military service
He entered the British Army, and in 1811, as aide-de-camp to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, took part in several campaigns of the Peninsular War. He returned to the Netherlands in 1813 when his father became sovereign prince. In 1815 William became crown prince and he took service in the army when Napoleon I of France escaped from Elba. He fought as commander of the Dutch-Belgian forces at the Battle of Quatre Bras (June 16) and the Battle of Waterloo (June 18), where he was wounded. He showed personal courage and energy, but frequently displayed atrocious military judgement, leading to many heavy casualties. The Duke of Wellington attributed this to his lack of command experience, however, rather than to him being a bad leader.

Read more about Willem II in this wikipedia article.

 

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more Willem II

 

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More King Willem II

 

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Queen Anna (from wikipedia)

Anna Pavlovna of Russia (18 January1795, Saint Petersburg - 1 March1865, The Hague) was Queen of the Netherlands.
She was born as the eighth child and sixth daughter of Paul I of Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna (born Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg), and thus was Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia. In the Netherlands, due to 19th century Dutchtransliteration conventions, she is better known as Anna Paulowna.

She was a younger sister to Alexander I of Russia; Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich, Viceroy of Poland; Alexandra Pavlovna, Archduchess of Austria; Elena Pavlovna, Hereditary Princess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; Maria Pavlovna, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach; Catherine Pavlovna, Queen of Württemberg; and Olga Pavlovna, who died as a child. She was also an older sister to Nicholas I of Russia and Michael Pavlovich.

Read more about Queen Anna Pauwlowna in this wikipedia article

 

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Queen Anna paintings

 

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More of Queen Anna Paulowna

 

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The couples eldest child was King Willem III Alexander Paul Frederik Lodewijk, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxemburg (Brussels 19 Feb 1817-Het Loo 23 Nov 1890); m.1st Stuttgart 18 Jun 1839 Sophie Pss of Württemberg (Stuttgart 17 Jun 1818-The Hague 3 Jun 1877); m.2d Arolsen 7 Jan 1879 Emma Pss zu Waldeck und Pyrmont (Arolsen 2 Aug 1858-The Hague 20 Mar 1934).
For more information on the couple's eldest son, King Willem III and his family, follow this TRF link.

 

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The couples second son was Prince Willem Alexander Frederik Constantijn Nicolaas Michiel (Soestdijk Palace 2 Aug 1818- Mantua [per one source] or Madeira [per another] 20 Feb 1848). He was considered one of the marriage candidates for Queen Victoria of Great Britain, but he sadly died too young, due to a cold that he acquired when a tree fell on his coach and he had to walk (that was the strory at least).

 

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The third son of the couple was Prince Willem Frederik Hendrik (Soestdijk Palace 13 Jun 1820-Wolferdingen, Luxemburg 14 Jan 1879); m.1st Weimar 9 May 1853 Amelie Pss of Saxe-Weimar (Ghent 20 May 1830- Wolferdingen 1 May 1872); m.2d Potsdam 24 Aug 1878 Marie Pss of Prussia (Marmorpalais 14 Sep 1855-Schloß Albrechtsberg 20 Jun 1888).

For now this wikipedia article will do but the Prince will get a thread of his own soon. Note btw that the present Grand Duke off Luxembourg was named after this Prince Hendrik, who was a stadholder in Luxembourg, for his elder brother.

 

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Prince Willem Alexander Ernst Frederik Casimir (Brussels [per one source] or Soestdijk [per another] 21 May 1822-Brussels 22 Oct 1822) was the fourth son of the couple, sadly he died only a few months after his birth. It is unclear where exactly the little Prince died.

 

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The 5th child and only daughter of the couple was Princess Wilhelmina Maria Sophie Louise (The Hague 8 Apr 1824-Weimar 23 Mar 1897); m.The Hague 8 Oct 1842 Karl Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar (Weimar 24 Jun 1818-Weimar 5 Jan 1901).

The Princess soon left for Weimar but the relations with her Dutch relatives remained close. The Princess and her family will get a thread of her own soon where more pictures and information can be shared.

 

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Mixed family portraits (I): Paintings of Prince Willem (later King Willem III) and Prince Alexander.

 

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Anna as Princess of Orange with her daughter Sophie, the future Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/Jan-Maarten1/annapaulownaensophie.jpg

 

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Another family portrait, Hereditairy Prince Willem (future King Willem III)), Prince Alexander, Willem, Prince of Orange (future King Willem II), Princess Anna, Princess Sophie and Prince Hendrik.

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The enthronement of King Willem II:

 

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The death of King Willem II in Tilburg, Queen Anna at his side:

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King Willem II's funeral procession:

http://i174.photobucket.com/albums/w112/Jan-Maarten1/willmII-stefbed.jpg

 

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Queen Anna's paternal grandmother was Empress Catherine the Great

Queen Anna's father was Emperor Paul I of Russia

Queen Anna's mother was Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, nee Princess Sophie-Dorothee of Wurttemberg

 

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Queen Anna largely grew up after the death of her father. The only man who came close to being a father figure in Anna's life was her elder brother Emperor Alexander I of Russia.

Alexander I:

His wife, Empress Elisabeth:

 

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Here a couple of paintings of Anna's sisters:

Helena and Alexandra: ...........................................................................Maria:

Anna was closest to her brothers Nicolas (I) and Michael. Here a few paintings of Czar Nicolas I:

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, sister-in-law of Queen Anna and wife to Emperor Nicholas I:

 

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The Russian influence soon became visable with King Willem II. Unlike hios frugal father Willem II liked to show off his wealth. For his enthronement he ordered this new throne and he also ordered a new (fake) crown/religia.

 

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In 1824-1825 Princess Anna went back to visit her relatives in St. Petersburg. One of her ladies in waiting, Countess Cornelie van Wassenaer van Obdam kept a diary during this journey. The diary was recently published. More information in Dutch can be found here.

The book also appeared in english. At Amazon they still have it for example.

 

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King Wiollem II had an enormous collection of Art. Sadly after his death his widow had to sell most of it to her brother, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, as the King made large debts. So most of the Dutch masters that are shown at the Hermitage in St. petersburg today came to Russia through this way.

Read more about the art collection of King Willem II here: Hoogsteder Journal 11 | The Fortunes of a Royal Painting

 

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Several things were named after King Willem II and his wife.

There is the Paulownia plant for example. But also the village and polder of Anna Paulowna in Noord Holland.

The footballclub in Tilburg received the name of the only Dutch King who ever lived and died there, so it is named Willem II.

 

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A sketch of Queen Anna visiting a orphenage.

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Below: Queen Anna and some of her Russian relatives in Zaandam, in the small house where Peter the Great learnt all about shipbuilding:

 

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I wonder if anybody knows which paintings of Rembrandt and other Dutch masters were owned by King Willem II and sold by Queen Anna to her brother Tsar Nicholas I? Are they all shown in the Hermitage?

 

[lucien]

I wonder if anybody knows which paintings of Rembrandt and other Dutch masters were owned by King Willem II and sold by Queen Anna to her brother Tsar Nicholas I? Are they all shown in the Hermitage?

Not exactly sold Marengo,as Willem II has enormous debts/in debted millions to his brother-in-law the Tsar,Anna Pavlovna could do little else then just hand them over to straighten out the debts,over twenty of the most precious paintings by the master went to the Hermitage this way.
The State Hermitage Museum: Collection Highlights

The Dutch Crown,ordered by King Willem II:
[DNF] Fotoarchief Denieuwsfoto

Courtesy PPE/Nieboer.

 

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So most Dutch masters of the Hermitage came from Anna's 'donation'? I was wondering if they also still had some Dutch masters left from what they confiscated from the Nazi's?
A pity they left the country, and all that is left of Willem II's spendthrift nature here is another crown with fake stones and a ghastly palace in Tilburg .

 

[lucien]

So most Dutch masters of the Hermitage came from Anna's 'donation'? I was wondering if they also still had some Dutch masters left from what they confiscated from the Nazi's?
A pity they left the country, and all that is left of Willem II's spendthrift nature here is another crown with fake stones and a ghastly palace in Tilburg .

Tilburg,Anna Pavlovna loathed the p(a)lace,she remained at Soestdijk,but was at the Kings side when he died,unexpectedly,in Tilburg.

And there's the Gothic Hall,now in use by the Council of State,across from Noordeinde Palace ofcourse,where most of the paintings now in the Hermitage where adorning the walls.Also the venue where their daughter Sofie married.
Neo Gotische Gallerij

Courtesy Chris Schram's wonderfull site.

 

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Apparently the King also created the neo-gothic gallery, next to the Gothic hall. As nobody dared to tell the King that architecture wasn't one of his talents, the structure was so bad that it broke down 20 years later.