8 Facts About Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria was born on August 31, 1880 at the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. She was the only child of King Willem III and his second wife, Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont. While her reign was the decline of the Netherlands as a major colonial power, she is remembered today as an inspiration to the Dutch resistance at the height of World War II. Here are interesting facts about Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands.

She was not expected to inherit the throne 

Wilhelmina was third in the line of succession at the time of her birth, and at the age of four, became the heir presumptive following the death of her half brother, Alexander, and her great uncle, Prince Frederick of the Netherlands.

She was only 10 when she became queen

After King Willem III’s death on November 23, 1890, Wilhelmina, who was just ten years old at that time, became Queen of the Netherlands, her mother serving as the regent until she was 18 years old.

She gave birth to an only daughter, much to the relief of her subjects

She was engaged to Duke Heinrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on October 16, 1900. They tied the knot at The Hague’s Grote of Sint-Jacobskerk on February 7, 1901. After suffering from two miscarriages and one stillbirth in the first eight years of her married life, Wilhelmina gave birth to her only child, Juliana, on April 30, 1909. Unfortunately, the queen had two more miscarriages after her lone successful pregnancy. Juliana's birth was a relief for the Dutch people who feared that Wilhelmina's failure to produce an heir would bring the Netherlands into "the possession of a German prince [referring to Prince Heinrich XXXII Reuss of Köstritz ], whose birth, training, and affiliations would naturally have led him to bring Holland [sic] within the sphere of the German Empire, at the expense of her independence, both national and economic."

She was fabulously wealthy

She inherited a considerable amount of fortune from her father and her half brother Alexander. Wilhelmina, who had strong business acumen, utilized this bequest to make investments, which led her to become the world’s first woman billionaire (in USD), as well the world’s richest woman.

She was a staid but fierce woman

She was a brave soul who was not threatened by powerful monarchs, one of whom being Wilhelm II, King of Prussia and the last German emperor, who she visited before the onset of World War I. Wilhelm tried to impress the young queen from a small country, saying, "My guards are seven feet tall and yours are only shoulder-high to them." Unfazed, Wilhelmina replied, "Quite true, Your Majesty, your guards are seven feet tall. But when we open our dikes, the water is ten feet deep!"

She was described as the "only man in the Dutch government"

She was the first woman (not counting the Queens of United Kingdom) since the 15th century to be inducted into the most prestigious order of chivalry in the whole of England and United Kingdom, the Order of the Garter, with Winston Churchill describing her as “the only man in the Dutch government”.

She was the image of resistance against the Nazis at the height of World War II

 Wilhelmina’s photograph became an image of resistance against the Germans during the Second World War; the Dutch queen considered Adolf Hitler as “the arch-enemy of mankind”.

She had the longest reign in the Netherlands

She is the longest reigning Dutch monarch in history (57 years and 286 days). Due to her worsening condition brought by old age and illness, she abdicated in favor of her daughter Juliana on September 4, 1948. Wilhelmina, who had been known as Her Royal Highness Princess Wilhelmina of the Netherlands since her abdication, died at the Het Loo Palace on November 28, 1962. She was 82 years old.