Murder of King Willem II by his son, King Willem III?

[Marengo]

I have read on a Dutch website that baron Feyo van Heemstra revealed in a book he wrote ´Roman Hagois´ that King Willem II did not die in Tilburg but that it was known in the higher circles that he was shot by his eldest son.

The future Willem III was at Palace het Loo, where he partied with alcohol, friends and pretty women who were dancing naked on the stairs. But there Willems father, King Willem II appeared, much t everybody´s surprise. The crownprince and the guests were shocked and the drunk prince shot his father.

To conceal the whole thing the corpse was transported to Tilburg where a week later the King was proclaimed dead. The staff at court were told that upon telling this story to anybody they would be killed. The story however kept circulating in the higher circles and it apparently reached the baron.

According to the book Queen Wilhelmina was blackmailed in 1934 by two farmers who knew the story from their mother who was a kitchenhelp. They were paid of by the Queens confident, mr. Francois van ´t Sand.

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So far the article, I was wondering if anybody else ever heard about this book, I can not find much information about it and did the good Baron actually write this and does such a book exsist?

 

[lucien]

I have read on a Dutch website that baron Feyo van Heemstra revealed in a book he wrote ´Roman Hagois´ that King Willem II did not die in Tilburg but that it was known in the higher circles that he was shot by his eldest son.

The future Willem III was at Palace het Loo, where he partied with alcohol, friends and pretty women who were dancing naked on the stairs. But there Willems father, King Willem II appeared, much t everybody´s surprise. The crownprince and the guests were shocked and the drunk prince shot his father.

To conceal the whole thing the corpse was transported to Tilburg where a week later the King was proclaimed dead. The staff at court were told that upon telling this story to anybody they would be killed. The story however kept circulating in the higher circles and it apparently reached the baron.

According to the book Queen Wilhelmina was blackmailed in 1934 by two farmers who knew the story from their mother who was a kitchenhelp. They were paid of by the Queens confident, mr. Francois van ´t Sand.

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So far the article, I was wondering if anybody else ever heard about this book, I can not find much information about it and did the good Baron actually write this and does such a book exsist?

Oh dear,you sure know how to stirr up a sunday evening....I'd certainly never heard of this,untill I was reading it myself a moment ago.

The Prince was in the UK when his father died.It took a minister and what not before he finally decided to come home again.
We know he opposed his father since he signed Thorbecke's Constitution of 1848.The father/son relationship was strained to say the
least,but what this 88th year old baron comes up with,with all due respect,belongs in the realm of fiction.

Anna Pavlovna remained on good terms with her son,this would certainly have ceased then and there if the story was true,but it didn't,and there;s not even the slightest hint in Sophie's letters either,and she,well,literally,hated his guts and spilled the beans on anything related to Willem,but never this.Allthough,Anna,being a Romanov,was known with a bit of violence,her father was murdered,if not at the instigation,then still with the knowledge of her brother and Heir Alexander I

Came march 1st 1865,Anna died,and at the opening of her will it turned out Willem had been disinherited,according to Queen Sophie,the bulk of the inheritance went to Grand Duchess Sophie of Saxen Weimar,the Tsar and his children.Reason,Willem's behaviour over the years as King.

The baron also mentions that Sophie "left" Willem in 1842,but that happened much later,they decided to live separate lives in the 1850's,and I'm sure there will be more facts/fiction mix-ups,the baron was after an "intrigue",a juicy plot,not very "Haags" to use the RF as a mean,small wonder his family advised him against this.Ah,the poor thing,the baron was a blabbermouth "queen' all his life and couldn't stand to be out of attention,a pity his incontinence reached his mind...

 

[Marengo]

Did you finfd more information on the baron? I have never heard of this book and this stroy before. Is it recent or did he publish his book a while ago already?

Facts can be changed of course, to cover up a certain scandal, but the story seems rather far fetched indeed. And indeed, not very Hagois -to speak in the barons term- to blabber about the RF.

The van Heemstra´s usually were courtiers, was he one too?

 

[lucien]

Did you finfd more information on the baron? I have never heard of this book and this stroy before. Is it recent or did he publish his book a while ago already?

Facts can be changed of course, to cover up a certain scandal, but the story seems rather far fetched indeed. And indeed, not very Hagois -to speak in the barons term- to blabber about the RF.

The van Heemstra´s usually were courtiers, was he one too?

Haven't found anything worthwhile,and i don't think the book is even published yet,if it's published at all in the near future.The van Heemstra's provided for a long line of Courtiers,but this Feyo wasn't one of them.

(Btw but O/T,what the van Heemstra's also "provided" for,was the dear late Audrey Hepburn).

 

[Mandrake]

Homme Eernstma

Feyo van Heemstra's, aka Homme Eernstma, intention was to write the memoirs of his mother, hence the subtitle 'Autobiographie de la comtesse Johanna Arnolda Bernardina Schimmelpenninck 1889-1971'.
His father was the private secretary of Queen Mother Emma, and after her death he became the private secretary of Queen Wilhelmina. Fasseur noted he was not a very bright man.
On Columns J.L. Heldring you can read a review of the book from 1998.

The main thing that people tend to forget about the situation is this:
1 King Willem III was feared and hated by a lot of his personal staff.
2 Gossip was the no1. activity at the Dutch court.
3. People couldn't understand that King Willem II had died so suddenly and at such young age.
All this probably came together in a mixed up story of the son killing the father.
Another popular tale is that Willem II emigrated to Russia and fought as count eisleben (if i'm correct) in some battles. His casket was said to be empty.
That Feyo Heemstra uses anecdotes from his mother, who had heard the story from somebody else.. well call me suspicious but that doesn't sound very reliable.

 

[lucien]

Thanks for clearing that up Mandrake!I certainly didn't know the book is actually old news already,thank you for the link.

"Eisleben" first rang a bell or two,but think I'm mixed up with Todtleben as in the Todtleben oak tree in the garden of Soestdijk Palace,still,and revered by Queen Anna.

Story on the empty coffin does bare a strong simularity to the then Prince of Orange remark after attending the funeral of his brother-in-law Tsar Alexander I,he was quoted to have said;"Whoever it was in that coffin,it was not my brother-in-law",as the rumours had it he too disappeared and eventually became a monk.

Willem II was known to have a heart condition

 

[Mandrake]

Todtleben

"Eisleben" first rang a bell or two,but think I'm mixed up with Todtleben as in the Todtleben oak tree in the garden of Soestdijk Palace,still,and revered by Queen Anna.

I think you are right about Todtleben, a very interesting name of course
I found some info on the Todtleben matter, it seems some think it is Tsar Alexander I who is the count, while others believe it is King William II.
For both can be said that they 'died' suddenly, and people had great difficulty accepting the fact that beloved monarchs simply die.

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