Princess Pauline of Orange-Nassau - Life

Life

Pauline was born in Berlin while her parents were living in exile during the time the Low Countries were occupied by France. She was the third child and first-born daughter of the later King William I of the Netherlands by his wife Wilhelmine of Prussia. Her two older brothers were the future King William II and Prince Frederick of the Netherlands. Her parents also had a stillborn child in 1795. Her younger sister, Marianne, was born four years after her death.

In 1803 Pauline and her family moved to the Nassau family possessions in Germany. Here, she met her paternal grandparents for the first time. They quickly became fond with her, and Pauline's grandfather William V nicknamed her Polly. Particularly, her grandfather was very happy to see her, because any of the recent Nassau-Orange rulers couldn't see a granddaughter in their lifetimes. In occasion of a ball made to celebrate the birthday of her father, the old obese ex-Prince danced with little Pauline in the grand ballroom of the castle. Since 1804 the family lived with William V in Berlin, where he had bought a palace on the Unter den Linden (No. 36). The palace is known as the Niederländische Palais.

At the age of five, she and her older brothers began to spend more time with their grandparents in Oranienstein. Since her birth, Pauline had poor health, probably due to the difficult circumstances at the time of her mother's pregnancy. According to doctors, she suffered from some kind of nervous fever.

In August 1806, her parents had another stillborn son. In October, Pauline with her mother and brothers, escape from the French troops from Berlin to Königsberg. Due to the bad weather, the health status of Paulina worsened very quickly. Her mother could then hardly separated from her deathbed and feared for her sanity. According to some sources she died in the home of a mayor who them temporarily housed, but according to anothers, she died in on the final Freienwalde, one of the royal Prussian possessions in west of Berlin, near the Oder. The estate was recently occupied by Princess Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, her maternal grandmother. Berlin was occupied by the French on 27 October and Küstrin on 1 November. The Prussian army under the command of Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher finally capitulated on 7 November. Her father, who became a war prisoner after the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt on 14 October, was released in this occasion.

On 15 December 1806 Pauline's condition became alarming and she died a week later, on 22 December. She was buried in the Freienwalde estate. A monument was only realized in 1813 by sculptor Johann Gottfried Schadow. The neglected grave of Pauline was rediscovered by the new owner of Freienwalde, Walther Rathenau in 1909. He discovered on the estate a weathered gravestone. On the monument was Pauline's name. The news was immediately reported to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, who had exhume the remains. Without much pomp, in March 1911 Pauline's remains were brought to the Netherlands by the Dutch ambassador in Berlin, Baron Gevers and the Chamberlain van den Bosch. The bronze casket was during the trip in the luggage. Finally, on 7 April 1911 Pauline's remains were interred in the Royal Crypt in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft. The text of her gravestone reads: "Grabmal of Friderike Louise Pauline Charlotte Wilhelmine Prinzessin von Nassau und Oranien - Born zu Berlin den 1 Maerz 1800 - dies zu Freienwalde 22d Dezember 1806".