Life
Her father Pieter Jansz Hooft was a nephew of the Amsterdam mayor Cornelis Pietersz. Hooft and related to the renowned P.C. Hooft of the Muiderslot - a wealthy citizen. Her mother, Geertruid Overlander (daughter of Lord Volkert Overlander), was forty-one and she and her husband had given up hope of having children when Catharina was born. On 14 August 1635 Catharina married Cornelis de Graeff, an older widower, whose first wife had been Catharina's cousin (her father's sister's child). The couple had themselves painted in princely fashion, in proper black with golden chains. Catharina bore two sons: Pieter and Jacob. When stadholder William II died in 1650, ten years later followed by his wife, Cornelis de Graeff was made one of the guardians of the 10-year old William, the "Child of the State", who played with Catharina's sons. By the Act of Seclusion William was not allowed to accede and power remained in the regents hands.
Opposite the De Graeffs' house lived the powerful anti-Orangist Bicker family, consisting of Catharina’s brother-in-law and sister-in-law and their four daughters, one of whom married Catharina’s nephew, raadspensionaris Jan de Witt.
Catharina was widowed in 1664 and when, in 1672, William stepped out of the shadows to become general and stadholder, she changed political tack and - with her sons - became a supporter of the House of Orange. William bought the de Graeff hunting lodge and its surrounding fields, now the Soestdijk Palace, for only 18,755 guilder. Catharina outlived her husband for thirty years. She was buried in Amsterdam on October 6, 1691.
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