House of Orange-Nassau - The Second Stadtholderless Era

The Second Stadtholderless Era

The regents found that they had suffered under the powerful leadership of King William III and declared the stadtholdership vacant for the second time. Since William III died childless in 1702 the principality became a matter of dispute between Prince John William Friso of Nassau-Dietz of the Frisian Nassaus and King Frederick I of Prussia, who both claimed the title Prince of Orange. Both descended from Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange. The King of Prussia was his grandson through his mother, Countess Luise Henriette of Nassau. Frederick Henry in his will had appointed this line as successor in the case the main House of Orange-Nassau would die out. John William Friso was a great-grandson of Frederick Henry and was appointed heir in William III's will. The principality was captured by the forces of King Louis XIV of France under François Adhémar de Monteil, Count of Grignan, in the Franco-Dutch War in 1672, and again in August 1682. With the Treaty of Utrecht that ended the wars of Louis XIV, the territory was finally ceded to France by Frederick I in 1713. The treaty also decided that both claimants and their descendents were allowed to bear the title. John William Friso drowned in 1711 in the Hollands Diep near Moerdijk, and he left his posthumously-born son Willem IV of Nassau. William IV was proclaimed the stadtholder of Guelders, Overijssel, Drenthe, and Utrecht in 1722. When the French invaded Holland in 1747, William IV was restored as the stadtholder of the entire Dutch Republic, hereditary in both the male and the female lines.