Prince Henry of the Netherlands (1820–1879)
son of King William II of the Netherlands (1820–1879)
Prince William Frederick Henry of the Netherlands (Dutch: Willem Frederik Hendrik; 13 June 1820 – 13 January 1879) was the third son of King William II of the Netherlands and his wife, Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia. He was born at Soestdijk Palace.
Prince Henry became Governor of Luxembourg in 1850, in which capacity he served until his death in 1879. During his tenure, he worked with the government to launch the reactionary Coup of 1856, which consolidated power in the monarchy and the executive. However, most of the changes were reversed by the new constitution issued in 1868 after the 1867 Luxembourg Crisis, during which the crown tried to sell the grand duchy to France.
Career
Prince Henry was appointed an officer in the navy in his teens, and served many years, whence the sobriquet de Zeevaarder ("the Navigator"), after the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator. He visited the Dutch East Indies in 1837, remaining there for seven months.
Personal life
Prince Henry married twice. On 9 May 1853, in Weimar, he married Amalia Maria da Gloria Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Ghent, 20 May 1830 - Walferdange Castle, 1 May 1872). It is unlikely Henry had any intention to remarry after what by all accounts had been a harmonious marriage.
The public source identifies “Prince Henry of the Netherlands (1820–1879)” as son of King William II of the Netherlands (1820–1879). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Prince, Henry and Netherlands.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q705129. VIAF identifies the subject as 35528063. The Library of Congress control number is n85190638. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1820, 1879, 1850 and 1856.
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This entry incorporates text from “Prince Henry of the Netherlands (1820–1879)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.