Invitation to the lecture
Organised by the Luxembourg Parliament, National Archives and Institute of History
Revolution marked the life of William, prince of Orange. Born in 1792 in the Dutch Republic, he should have become Stadholder William VII. But when in January 1793 French revolutionary armies invaded the Republic, everything changed. Living through the Age of Revolution for William meant he could have become king of England, of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, or of Belgium. William did become ‘Hero of Waterloo’, as he also, after the Belgian Revolution, was celebrated as ‘the avenger of the nation’. In 1840 he inherited the throne of the northern Netherlands. In 1848, yet another year of revolutions across Europe, William II approved a radical change to the constitution, heralding the beginning of modern democracy in the Netherlands. Who was this adventurous Orange prince? The lecture will try to give an answer.