fwo_455990 - ROYAUME DES PAYS-BAS - GUILLAUME Ier 5 Cents 1822 Utrecht

KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS - WILLIAM I

(1815-1840)

William I (24/08/1772-12/12/1843) was the son of William V of Nassau, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of the Netherlands (1751-1795). He fought against Napoleon I in the Allied forces and the 1815 Treaty of Vienna gave him the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the former Austrian Netherlands. Conservative, he imposed Dutch from 1819 for official acts. An insurrectional movement broke out in 1830 in Brussels and William I was about to drown it in blood when the independence of Belgium was proclaimed on October 4, 1830. William was forced to abdicate in 1840 and leave the throne to his son, William II (1792-1849). He died in exile in Berlin in 1843.