Queen Emma of the Netherlands

Biography

The originally German Princess Emma van Waldeck-Pyrmont was the Queen of the Netherlands from 1879 to 1890, and Regent from 1890 to 1898. Emma married at age twenty to King Willem III of the Netherlands, who was roughly forty years older.

Willem III had become a widower after a bad marriage, and remarried mainly for dynastic reasons. His two surviving sons, Willem ‘Wiwill’ and Alexander had made no preparations to begin a family, and neither was an ideal successor. Within one year of the marriage, both Wiwill as well as Hendrik, the childless brother of Willem III, died. Alexander died unmarried in 1884.

Thus very soon after her birth in 1880, Wilhelmina, the only child of Emma and Willem, became the sole heir to the throne. Because Emma was likely to become a widow at a young age, it was arranged that upon the death of Willem III, Emma would be appointed Regent, and guardian of Wilhelmina. With this prospect looming, Emma immediately and successfully dedicated herself to improving the fragile image of the monarchy. In the process, the young Princess Wilhelmina was used as a symbol of purity.

A few days before the death of Willem III, Emma became Regent. Aware of her precarious position as a foreign-born monarch, she acted in full accordance with the limitations of the constitutional monarchy. She handled the rare confrontations very tactfully, for example regarding electoral law.

In September of 1898, on Wilhelmina's eighteenth birthday, Emma resigned as Regent. Emma had raised her daughter as a head of state, and Wilhelmina quickly grew into her role as Queen. After the wedding of Wilhelmina in 1901, Emma withdrew even more, dedicating herself mainly to charity work.