v35_0897 - THE NEDERLANDS - KINGDOM OF HOLLAND - GUILLAUME Ier Ducat d'or au chevalier 1831 Utrecht

NETHERLANDS - KINGDOM OF HOLLAND - WILLIAM I

(1815-1840)

Prince of Orange, Guillaume Frédéric of Orange-Nassau was stadtholder of the United Provinces from 1813 to 1815. After refusing the throne for the first time in December 1813, he ended up accepting it with a constitution that guaranteed extended powers to the new stadtholder (sovereign prince). He did not proclaim himself King of the Netherlands until March 1815.. He was also Grand Duke of Luxembourg from 1815 to 1840.. His kingdom is created at the Congress of Vienna. He will try to unite the people of the former United Provinces and that of the Austrian Netherlands by a policy favoring economic development.. Some works are decided: channeling of the Sambre, digging of the Ghent-Terneuzen canal and creation of the University of Liège. But his policy in favor of the use of Dutch and above all his hostility towards the Catholic Church provoked the discontent of future Belgians.. After the Belgian revolution of September 1830, he applied for the Belgian throne, but his candidacy was unanimously rejected.. In 1831 Belgium gained its independence.. However, the Netherlands and the eastern half of Luxembourg (which became the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in 1839) remained united under the reign of William I.. William I abdicated in October 1840 in favor of his son.