Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange

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Mary of England
Princess Royal
Mary Princess of Orange.jpg
Mary Henrietta Stuart (1652 painting by Bartholomeus van der Helst)
Princess consort of Orange;
Countess consort of Nassau
Tenure 14 March 1647 6 November 1650
Born 4 November 1631
St. James's Palace, London
Died 24 December 1660 (aged 29)
Whitehall Palace, London
Burial 29 December 1660
Westminster Abbey, London
Spouse William II, Prince of Orange
(m. 1641; d. 1650)
Issue William III of England
House Stuart
Father Charles I of England
Mother Henrietta Maria of France
Mary, Princess Royal (Mary Henrietta; 4 November 1631 24 December 1660) was
Princess of Orange and Countess of Nassau by marriage to Prince William II, and co-
regent for her son during his minority as Sovereign Prince of Orange from 1651 to
1660.

She was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland, and Ireland and
his wife, Henrietta Maria of France. Her only child, William succeeded her husband
as Prince of Orange-Nassau and later reigned as King of England, Ireland and
Scotland. Mary was the first daughter of a British sovereign to hold the title
Princess Royal.

Contents [hide]
1 Life
1.1 Early life
1.2 Marriage
1.3 Co-regency
1.4 Death
2 Ancestry
3 References
4 External links
Life[edit]
Early life[edit]

Betrothed William and Mary

Mary Henrietta was born at St. James's Palace, London to Charles I of England and
Henrietta Maria, Queen of England and was named after her mother. Charles I
designated her Princess Royal in 1642, thus establishing the tradition that the
eldest daughter of the British sovereign might bear this title. The title came into
being when Queen Henrietta Maria, the daughter of King Henry IV of France wished to
imitate the way the eldest daughter of the French king was styled (Madame Royale).
Until that time, the eldest daughters of English and Scottish kings were variously
titled lady or princess (The younger daughters of British sovereigns were not
consistently titled princesses of Great Britain and styled Royal Highness until the
ascension of George I in 1714).

Marriage[edit]

Mary, Princess Royal, and William II, Prince of Orange.

Her father, Charles I, wished that Mary marry a son of Philip IV of Spain, while
her first cousin, Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine, was also a suitor for her
hand. Both proposals fell through and she was betrothed to William, the son and
heir of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of the United Provinces,
and of Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. The marriage took place on 2 May 1641 at the
Chapel Royal, Whitehall Palace, London.

The marriage was reputedly not consummated for several years because the bride was
nine years old. In 1642, Mary moved to the Dutch Republic with her mother, Queen
Henrietta Maria, and in 1644, as the daughter-in-law of the stadtholder, Frederick
Henry, she became more engaged in courtly and public events.

In March 1647, Mary's husband, William II, succeeded his father as stadholder.
However, in November 1650, just after his attempt to capture Amsterdam from his
political opponents, he died of smallpox.

Co-regency[edit]
The couple's only child, Willem (later William III), was born a few days later.
Mary, now the Dowager Princess of Orange, was obliged to share the guardianship of
her infant son with her mother-in-law, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, and uncle-in-law,
Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenburg. They had more power over the young
Prince's affairs than she, as evidenced by his being christened Willem, and not
Charles as she had desired.

She was unpopular with the Dutch because of her sympathies with her own family, the
Stuarts. She lived in the palace of the Stadthouder at the Binnenhof in the Hague,
the building complex that now houses the Senate of the Netherlands. Her boudoir is
still intact. At length, public opinion having been further angered by the
hospitality that she showed to her brothers, the exiled Charles II and the Duke of
York (later James II), she was forbidden to receive her relatives. Her moral
reputation was damaged by rumours that she was having an affair with (or had been
secretly married to) Henry Jermyn, a member of her brother James' household. The
rumours were probably untrue, but Charles II took them seriously, and tried to
prevent any further contact between Jermyn and Mary. From 1654 to 1657, Mary was
usually not in Holland. In 1657, she became regent on behalf of her son for the
principality of Orange, but the difficulties of her position led her to implore the
assistance of her first cousin Louis XIV of France.

Death[edit]
The restoration of Charles II in England and Scotland greatly enhanced the position
of the Princess of Orange and her son in Holland. In September 1660, she returned
to England. She died of smallpox on 24 December 1660, at Whitehall Palace, London
and was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Ancestry[edit]
[show]Ancestors of Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange
References[edit]
^ Jump up to a b Louda & Maclagan 1999, p. 27.
^ Jump up to a b Louda & Maclagan 1999, p. 50.
^ Jump up to a b c d Louda & Maclagan 1999, p. 140.
Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). Mary (1631-1660). Dictionary of National Biography. 36.
London Smith, Elder & Co.
Louda, Jir; Maclagan, Michael (1999) [1981], Lines of Succession Heraldry of the
Royal Families of Europe (2nd ed.), London Little, Brown, ISBN 978-0-316-84820-6
External links[edit]
Media related to Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange at Wikimedia Commons

The Correspondence of Mary Stuart, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange in EMLO

Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange

House of Stuart
Born 4 November 1631 Died 24 December 1660
British royalty
New title Princess Royal
16421660 Vacant
Title next held by
Anne
[show] v t e
Princesses Royal
[show] v t e
Princesses of Orange
Authority control
WorldCat Identities VIAF 55006628 LCCN n85196084 ISNI 0000 0000 5490 8365 GND
121551075 BPN 62647291
Categories 1631 births1660 deaths17th-century English people17th-century Scottish
people17th-century female rulersPrincesses RoyalEnglish princessesScottish
princessesPrincesses of OrangeCountesses of NassauHouse of StuartPeople from
WestminsterEnglish people of French descentDeaths from smallpoxInfectious disease
deaths in EnglandBritish expatriates in the Dutch RepublicWilliam III of England
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