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Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 to 1948

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The only surviving child of King William III of the Netherlands and Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Wilhelmina ascended the throne at the age of 10 after her father's death in 1890, under her mother's regency. After taking charge of government, Wilhelmina became generally popular for maintaining Dutch neutrality during the First World War and solving many of her country's industrial problems. By that time, her business ventures had made her the world's first female billionaire as measured by U.S. dollars.

Following the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, Wilhelmina fled to Britain and took charge of the Dutch government-in-exile. She frequently spoke to the nation over radio and came to be regarded as a symbol of the Dutch resistance. By 1948, she had returned to the liberated Netherlands and was the only survivor of the 17 European monarchs who were reigning at the time of her inauguration. Increasingly beset by poor health, Wilhelmina abdicated in favour of her daughter Juliana in September 1948 and retired to Het Loo Palace, where she died in 1962.

Largely due to her status as a symbol of the Resistance, she remains reasonably popular in the Netherlands, even among the Dutch Republican movement.

Youth

Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria of Orange-Nassau was born on 31 August 1880, in Noordeinde Palace, The Hague, Netherlands. She was the only child of King William III and Queen Emma. Her childhood was characterised by a close relationship with her parents, especially with her father, who was 63 years old when she was born. In her memoir, Lonely But Not Alone, Wilhelmina wrote that she recalled her father riding horses.

Under the Semi-Salic system of inheritance that was in place in the Netherlands until 1887, Wilhelmina was third in line to the throne from birth. Her father had had three sons with his first wife, Sophie of Württemberg, but two of them had died before Wilhelmina's birth. The only other surviving male relatives from the House of Orange were Wilhelmina's great-uncle Frederick, who died in 1881 when Wilhelmina was one year old, and her half-brother Alexander, who died before she turned four. By 1887, the 70-year-old King finally abandoned the 'hope of a son' with his young wife and made the pragmatic decision to settle the throne upon his only surviving child.

King William III died on 23 November 1890 and 10-year-old Wilhelmina became Queen of the Netherlands, though her mother was named regent. In 1895, Wilhelmina visited Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, who penned an evaluation in her diary: "The young Queen ... still has her hair hanging loose. She is very slight & graceful, has fine features, & seems to be very intelligent & a charming child. She speaks English extremely well & has very pretty manners."

Wilhelmina turned 18 on 31 August 1898, and was thus entitled to exercise the royal prerogative in her own right. Six days later, on 6 September, she was sworn-in at the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. She was well aware what was expected by the elected representatives, but was a strong-willed, forceful woman who spoke and acted her mind. She "hated" politicians and instead stated a love for the people. Reflecting popular opinion in the Netherlands at the time, Wilhelmina expressed a level of disdain towards the British for their annexations of the Transvaal Republic and the Orange Free State in the Boer War. The Boers were descended from Dutch colonists who migrated to the region while it was a Dutch colony, and the Dutch people, Wilhelmina included, felt a close level of affinity towards them. In one conversation with her former governess, the Briton Elisabeth Saxton Winter, Wilhelmina referred to the Boer commandos as "excellent shots". During the war, Wilhelmina ordered the Dutch cruiser HNLMS Gelderland to Portuguese East Africa to evacuate Paul Kruger, the president of the South African Republic.

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