Who was Prins Willem van Oranje?
William was Dutch. His full name was Prins Willem Hendrik van Oranje, he was born in the palace at the Binnenhof (Inner Court) in The Hague in 1650. The Binnenhof has been at the centre of Dutch political life for centuries. William was a prince of the Dutch royal house (the House of Oranje-Nassau) and he was brought up in the Dutch Republic.
He also had British royal blood. His mother was Mary Henrietta Stuart, the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland. She died of smallpox when William was ten years old. His father, Willem II, Prince of Orange, died of smallpox a week before he was born.
In the 17th century, relationships between the Dutch and the English were very poor, mainly because of competition between them for global trade, and the two countries were often at war with each other. By 1670, William had become the kapitein-generaal (military commander) of the Dutch Republic. After the disastrous setbacks which the Dutch Republic experienced in 1672, William became stadhouder (governor) of most of its provinces. In 1688, William set off from the Dutch Republic with a huge invasion fleet, four times as big as the Spanish Armada, and landed at Torbay in S.W. England. William disembarked with his army and marched on London. At Salisbury Plain, his army confronted the army of King James II, the king of England, but there was no battle. In fact, many of the officers in the English army (including Sir Winston Churchill's ancestor John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough) deserted from the English army and joined William's army. The reigning king, King James II, fled to France. Three months later, William took the throne with his English wife, Mary, as "joint monarchs" of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. William also continued to carry out his duties as military leader and stadhouder in the Dutch Republic.
William was a Calvinist (i.e. a Protestant). When Sir Winston Churchill first mentions this well-known fact in his book The History of the English Speaking Peoples, he adds that "as a sovereign and commander, he was entirely without religious prejudices".
The Battle of the Boyne is his best-known battle (and it is especially well-known in Ireland and many parts of Scotland). However, it was only one of the many battles that William, as joint monarch of the British Isles and governor of the Dutch Republic, fought in many different parts of Europe against King Louis XIV of France and his allies.
His Protestantism and his victory at the Boyne are well-known. It is not so well-known that William had full backing for the Battle of the Boyne) from the Popes of the period (e.g. Innocent XI), and also from the rulers of such strongly Catholic nations and empires as Italy and Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. The reason was that the Popes and the rulers of Italy and Spain supported William against the king of France, who was trying to dominate Europe and they opposed King James, who was an ally of France. (For more details, see the extracts from Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples in the Bibliography section of this website). NOTE: I have written above, "William had full backing for all of these activities from the Popes of the period". I wish to make it absolutely clear that I am absolutely not saying that William "had the blessing" of the Popes of the period for all these activities or that they had "blessed his activities". The backing of the Popes of the period for William's activities was political rather than religious.
When writing the summary on this page, I took account of new insights in recent work by British and Dutch historians such as Claydon, Jardine, Israel, Troost and Onnekink, some of whom have remarked that historians have not been much interested in this period of European history until recently. Moreover, Tony Claydon, writing about "William's place in history" in the conclusion of his book William III (Profiles in Power) says that, because he had both Dutch and English royal blood, and a Dutch upbringing, William has not been given the acclaim that he deserves and the invasion of 1688 has been transformed into a victory for Britain's "own love of liberty and moderation" and his wars have been "retold as an apprenticeship for John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough" (Sir Winston Churchill's ancestor). Claydon argues that this is unfair on William, that William deserves acclaim in his own right, and, indeed, that William's Dutch upbringing helped him to achieve many of his greatest successes in statesmanship and politics because he was able to bring a fresh and original insight into problems that had bedevilled Great Britain and Ireland for centuries.
He also had British royal blood. His mother was Mary Henrietta Stuart, the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland. She died of smallpox when William was ten years old. His father, Willem II, Prince of Orange, died of smallpox a week before he was born.
In the 17th century, relationships between the Dutch and the English were very poor, mainly because of competition between them for global trade, and the two countries were often at war with each other. By 1670, William had become the kapitein-generaal (military commander) of the Dutch Republic. After the disastrous setbacks which the Dutch Republic experienced in 1672, William became stadhouder (governor) of most of its provinces. In 1688, William set off from the Dutch Republic with a huge invasion fleet, four times as big as the Spanish Armada, and landed at Torbay in S.W. England. William disembarked with his army and marched on London. At Salisbury Plain, his army confronted the army of King James II, the king of England, but there was no battle. In fact, many of the officers in the English army (including Sir Winston Churchill's ancestor John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough) deserted from the English army and joined William's army. The reigning king, King James II, fled to France. Three months later, William took the throne with his English wife, Mary, as "joint monarchs" of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. William also continued to carry out his duties as military leader and stadhouder in the Dutch Republic.
William was a Calvinist (i.e. a Protestant). When Sir Winston Churchill first mentions this well-known fact in his book The History of the English Speaking Peoples, he adds that "as a sovereign and commander, he was entirely without religious prejudices".
The Battle of the Boyne is his best-known battle (and it is especially well-known in Ireland and many parts of Scotland). However, it was only one of the many battles that William, as joint monarch of the British Isles and governor of the Dutch Republic, fought in many different parts of Europe against King Louis XIV of France and his allies.
His Protestantism and his victory at the Boyne are well-known. It is not so well-known that William had full backing for the Battle of the Boyne) from the Popes of the period (e.g. Innocent XI), and also from the rulers of such strongly Catholic nations and empires as Italy and Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. The reason was that the Popes and the rulers of Italy and Spain supported William against the king of France, who was trying to dominate Europe and they opposed King James, who was an ally of France. (For more details, see the extracts from Churchill's History of the English Speaking Peoples in the Bibliography section of this website). NOTE: I have written above, "William had full backing for all of these activities from the Popes of the period". I wish to make it absolutely clear that I am absolutely not saying that William "had the blessing" of the Popes of the period for all these activities or that they had "blessed his activities". The backing of the Popes of the period for William's activities was political rather than religious.
When writing the summary on this page, I took account of new insights in recent work by British and Dutch historians such as Claydon, Jardine, Israel, Troost and Onnekink, some of whom have remarked that historians have not been much interested in this period of European history until recently. Moreover, Tony Claydon, writing about "William's place in history" in the conclusion of his book William III (Profiles in Power) says that, because he had both Dutch and English royal blood, and a Dutch upbringing, William has not been given the acclaim that he deserves and the invasion of 1688 has been transformed into a victory for Britain's "own love of liberty and moderation" and his wars have been "retold as an apprenticeship for John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough" (Sir Winston Churchill's ancestor). Claydon argues that this is unfair on William, that William deserves acclaim in his own right, and, indeed, that William's Dutch upbringing helped him to achieve many of his greatest successes in statesmanship and politics because he was able to bring a fresh and original insight into problems that had bedevilled Great Britain and Ireland for centuries.