Marriage
She married the elderly king, William III, in Arolsen on 7 January 1879, two years after the death of his first wife, Princess Sophie of Württemberg. The ageing, licentious king, once described as "the greatest debauchee of the age", had previously been rejected by Emma's sister Pauline and by Princess Thyra of Denmark.
With William, Emma had her only child, the future Queen Wilhelmina, on 31 August 1880. The king also had three sons from his first marriage, William, Maurice, and Alexander, all of whom died before him and without leaving legitimate offspring.
Read more about this topic: Emma Of Waldeck And Pyrmont
Famous quotes containing the word marriage:
“Women hope men will change after marriage but they don’t; men hope women won’t change but they do.”
—Bettina Arndt (20th century)
“We lov’d, and we lov’d, as long as we could,
Till our love was lov’d out in us both;
But our marriage is dead, when the pleasure is fled:
‘Twas pleasure first made it an oath.”
—John Dryden (1631–1700)