My friend Gerda from Holland sent me
this very interesting First Day Cover featuring the famous William
of Orange.
William I, Prince of Orange (24 April
1533 – 10 July 1584), also widely known as William
the Silent or William the Taciturn (translated from Dutch:Willem de Zwijger), or more commonly known as William of Orange, was the main
leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off
the Eighty Years' War and resulted in the formal independence of
the United Provinces in 1648. He
was born in the House of Nassau as Count
of Nassau-Dillenburg. He became Prince
of Orange in 1544 and is thereby the
founder of the branch House of
Orange-Nassau and the ancestor
of the monarchy of the Netherlands.
A wealthy nobleman,
William originally served the Habsburgs as a member of the court of Margaret of Parma, governor of the Spanish Netherlands. Unhappy with the
centralisation of political power away from the local estates and with the
Spanish persecution of Dutch Protestants,
William joined the Dutch uprising and turned against his former masters. The
most influential and politically capable of the rebels, he led the Dutch to
several successes in the fight against the Spanish. Declared
an outlaw by
the Spanish king in 1580, he was assassinated by Balthasar
Gérard (also written as
"Gerardts") in Delft in 1584.
In the 19th century the Netherlands became a constitutional
monarchy, currently with King Willem-Alexander as
head of state: he has cognatic descent
from William of Orange. All stadtholders after William of Orange where drawn
from his descendants or the descendants of his brother.
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