[November 28] Wilhelmina, queen of the Netherlands

Parents: William III, king of the Netherlands, and Emma of Waldeck & Pyrmont
Date of Birth: 31 August 1880
House: Orange-Nassau
Spouse(s): Henry, son of Frederick Francis II, grand duke of Mekclenburg-Schwerin, and Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Predecessor: William III

Reign: 1890 – 1948
Brief: Born late in the life of King William III, Wilhelmina was kept close to her parents during her childhood. She became heir to the throne in 1884 when her brother died. When King William died in 1890, Queen Emma was proclaimed regent for her ten-year-old daughter. She took direct control of the government in 1898 and married three years later to a German prince. With her husband, Wilhelmina only produced a daughter, Juliana, in 1909. During World War I, the Netherlands remained neutral but Wilhelmina was constantly on her guard, inspecting her troops in case they were called upon. The queen stopped a communist take-over of her government in 1917 simply through her charisma. After the war, she provided asylum for the deposed German emperor Wilhelm II. When World War II broke out and Germany invaded the Netherlands, the royal family fled to the United Kingdom, though the queen wished to remain in the Netherlands to increase morale for the resistance. During the war, she sent secret radio messages to her people in the Netherlands, overthrew her own government-in-exile which was trying to negotiate a separate peace with the Nazis, and addressed the US Congress. For her services, she was inducted into the British Order of the Garter, with Churchhill calling her "the only real man" among the many governments-in-exile in London. The queen returned home but abdicated to her daughter in 1948 due to failing health and disappointment over the return of pre-war politics to the Netherlands. She died fourteen years later at her palace in Het Loo.

Date of Death: 28 November 1962
Successor: Juliana

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• St. Gregory III, pope of Rome (741)
• Owain, king of Gwynedd (1107)
• Naungdawgyi, king of Burma (1763)
• Mubarak al-Sabah, emir of Kuwait (1915)
• Constantine VI, patriarch of Constantinople (1930)

[March 14] Frederick Henry, stadtholder of Holland & Zeeland

Parents: William the Silent, stadtholder of Holland, and Louise de Coligny

Date of Birth: 29 January 1584

House: Orange

Spouse: Amalia, daughter of John Albert I, duke of Solms-Braunfels, and Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein

Reign: 1625 – 1647

Predecessor: Maurice

Summary: The history of the Dutch Republic goes back to Frederick Henry's father, William the Silent, who led the rebellion of the Dutch from their Spanish overlord, Philip II. Enter Frederick Henry, the youngest child of William. His mother was the daughter of a Protestant Huguenot leader in France. He was born posthumously, his father having died over six months earlier in an assassination. His elder half-brother, Maurice, trained him in the military arts and he also forced Frederick Henry to marry against his will in 1625. Frederick Henry had an illegitimate son, Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein, in addition to his many surviving legitimate children. Maurice died in 1625, the same year of Frederick Henry's marriage, and Frederick Henry became the hereditary prince of Orange and was granted the stadtholderships of Holland & Zeeland, Utrecht & Overijssel, and Guelders. He was also made captain- and admiral-general of the United Provinces.

The entirety of Frederick William's term in office was during the Eighty Years' War with Spain. While Maurice had been a military genius, Frederick William was that and a statesman. As stadtholder, his power was unsurpassed and it is during his term that the position gained truly regal status within European circles. In modern Dutch history, his term was considered the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic, due to its military and naval triumphs and worldwide commercial expansion. It was during this time that the Netherlands reached its post-Renaissance height in art and literature. Frederick Henry's success was aided by a long alliance with France which ended only because Frederick Henry sought a separate peace with Spain. Frederick Henry died before the treaty was signed and it was not until early 1648 that the Treaty of Munster ended the Eighty Years' War. He was succeeded by his only legitimate surviving son, William II.

Date of Death: 14 March 1647

Successor: William II

Other Monarchs Who Died Today:

• Jin Huidi, emperor of China (313)
• Jingtai, emperor of China (1457)