House of Orange-Nassau - The End of The Republic

The End of The Republic

William IV died in 1751, leaving his three-year-old son, Willem V of Orange, as the stadtholder. Since Willem V was still a minor, the regents reigned for him. He developed to be an indecisive person, a character defect which would follow Willem V for his whole life. His marriage to Wilhelmina of Prussia relieved this defect to some degree. In 1787, Willem V survived a coup by the Patriots (democratic revolutionaries) after the Kingdom of Prussia intervened. When the French invaded Holland in 1795, Willem V was forced to flee, and he was never to return to Holland.

After 1795, the House of Orange-Nassau faced a difficult period, surviving in exile at other European courts, especially those of Prussia and of England. In 1802 William V's son William VI unconditionally renounced the stadtholdership in return for a few territories from Napoleon Bonaparte (Treaty of Amiens), which was erected into the Principality of Nassau-Orange-Fulda. Willem V died in 1806.