Mary Of Orange

▪ regent of The Netherlands

byname of  Mary Henrietta Stuart,  Dutch  Maria Van Oranje, or Maria Henriette Stuart 

born Nov. 4, 1631

died Dec. 24, 1660, [Jan. 3, 1661, new style], London

      eldest daughter of the English king Charles I and wife of the Dutch stadholder William II of Orange. The marriage to Prince William took place in London on May 2, 1641, and in 1642 she crossed over to Holland.

      In 1647 her husband succeeded his father as stadholder, but three years later, just after his attempt to capture Amsterdam, he died; a son, afterward the English king William III was born a few days later (Nov. 14, 1650). Mary was unpopular with the Dutch owing to her sympathies with her kinsfolk, the Stuarts; and at length, public opinion having been further angered by the hospitality that she showed to her brothers, the future Charles II and James II, she was forbidden to receive her relatives. From 1654 to 1657 the Princess passed most of her time away from Holland. In 1657 she was appointed regent on behalf of her son for the principality of Orange, but the difficulties of her position led her to implore the assistance of Louis XIV, and the French king answered by seizing Orange himself. The position of both Mary and her son in Holland was greatly bettered through the restoration of Charles II in Great Britain. In September 1660 Mary journeyed to England. She was taken ill of smallpox and died in London.

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