Princess Marianne of the Netherlands

[thijs]

I would like to start a new topic about the life of princess Marianne of the Netherlands. She was the only surviving daughter of King William l and Queen Wilhelmina (born as a daughter and sister to the king of Prussia).  Please feel free to join your information and pictures or portraits of this remarkable woman: princess Marianne of the Netherlands.

[thijs]

Princess Marianne as a girl of 10 years old

[thijs]

Princess Marianne and her mother queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

[Lucien]

A passionate woman by any means,had the nerve to divorce her prussian prince in a day and age this was considered a totally impossible thing to do.Not just a divorce,but one from a member of the Prussian House,Marianne couldn't care less and didn't wish to put up any longer with her idiot adultrous husband,allthough she hardly saw her children again,not until later,much later,after the divorce.

Her passion pointed towards her gardener,Johannes van Rossum,with whom she had a son,born in Sicily,out of the way/view of "the people".Their's was a very happy relation,but ofcourse considered frivolous to say the least.Queen Sophie thought her"to be a spoiled lady and a creature of low morals".(Jealous maybe,she had the guts Sophie lacked?)Furthermore,as Princess Marianne visited The Netherlands again after decades,Queen Sophie refused to receive her at the palace.

Tragically,Marianne's and Johannes's son died after a short illness at the age of 10.They lived at Reinhartshausen Castle,germany.

[aron]

She was thought to be one of the most prettiest princesses of that time.
Among her suitors were Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil.

[Rebecca]

I read somewhere (very long ago, so I can't remember where) that Gustaf, prince of Vasa, son of the deposed Swedish king Gustaf IV Adolf, wanted to marry princess Marianne. I think there may have been an official or unofficial engagement (maybe somebody else can clarify this?), but the Swedish king Carl XIV Johan (the first king of the Bernadotte dynasty) became outraged because of this, and there was some diplomatic exchange, and the engagement, if there was one, was broken.

[thijs]

She was thought to be one of the most prettiest princesses of that time.
Among her suitors were Pedro I, Emperor of Brazil.

Really, I did not know that? I am for sure that King William l would never have approved a marriage from his daughter to a catholic royal. In one of his letters to his son, the later William ll (the brother of princess Marianne) he writes about the visit of his second son prince Frederick (who later married to princess Luise of Prussia) to the King of Bavaria in Munich. He writes that he is certainly hoping that prince Frederick is NOT returnig home with one of the beautiful daughters of the Bavarian King as a bride.

[thijs]

[thijs]

Her son Johannes van Rossem, born out of wedlock from her love affair with Maarten van Rossem. She raised this son herself and she refused to let him adopt to an anonymus family, as was usual in those days.



Johannes van Rossem died as a boy and was burried in the church that Marianne had built for his tomb at Erbach in Germany.The church is at the opposite of Schloss Reinhartshausen at the Rhine. Here she lived for many years. The princess herself is not burried in this church but at the cemitary next to it. When her grave was opened in the sixties to burry one of her granddaughters in the same grave, they discovered two coffins. One of princess Marianne and the other one of Johannes vanRossem, her longtime lover.

[Lucien]

Really, I did not know that? I am for sure that King William l would never have approved a marriage from his daughter to a catholic royal. In one of his letters to his son, the later William ll (the brother of princess Marianne) he writes about the visit of his second son prince Frederick (who later married to princess Luise of Prussia) to the King of Bavaria in Munich. He writes that he is certainly hoping that prince Frederick is NOT returnig home with one of the beautiful daughters of the Bavarian King as a bride.

Ironic,isn't it Thijs,that after his abdication in 1840 he married a former Lady in waiting to his late wife,the catholic Countess Henriëtte d'Oultremont.They lived in Berlin mainly,as Count and Countess of Orange-Nassau,and after Willem's death Henriëtte moved to a castle near Aken/Aachen,just across the border.

[thijs]

This is Maarten van Rossem, the lover of princess Marianne. He was painted at the time they made a tour to the holy land. She was pregnant at that time with Johannes van Rossem.

[thijs]

This is one of my favorite portraits of princess Marianne. I do not know if it is still in the possession of the Dutch royal family. Would be interesting to know.

[thijs]

Ironic,isn't it Thijs,that after his abdication in 1840 he married a former Lady in waiting to his late wife,the catholic Countess Henriëtte d'Oultremont.They lived in Berlin mainly,as Count and Countess of Orange-Nassau,and after Willem's death Henriëtte moved to a castle near Aken/Aachen,just across the border.

Hey Lucien, it is ironic indeed and even more ironic to know that this countess did not support the princess in her way of life. Princess Marianne took it up against her brothers William ll and Frederick who did not want their father to marry the countess. The princess cared much for her father and supported his marriage with countess Henriette.

[thijs]

Her children from her marriage to Albert of Prussia. They are prince Albert jr. and princess Alexandrine (who married a Mecklenburg Schwerin duke) and princess Charlotte (who married duke Georg ll of Sachsen Meiningen). Princess Charlotte was a favorite of Kaiserin Friedrich, the daughter of queen Victoria. She liked princess Charlotte very much and wanted one of her British relatives to marry her.

Prince Albert jr.



Princes Alexandrine (later duchess of Mecklenburg Schwerin)



Princess Charlotte (duchess of Sachsen Meiningen)

[Lucien]

Hey Lucien, it is ironic indeed and even more ironic to know that this countess did not support the princess in her way of life. Princess Marianne took it up against her brothers William ll and Frederick who did not want their father to marry the countess. The princess cared much for her father and supported his marriage with countess Henriette.

Small wonder Thijs,Marianne had always been her fathers "oogappeltje",(daddies favorite,in english).An astonishing Lady,our Marianne, a sort of Irene of her time,well,in a way,the rebel with a cause.