Editing William III of England (section)

==Early life==

===Birth and family===
[[File:Portret van Willem II (1626-50), prins van Oranje, en zijn echtgenote Maria Stuart (1631-60) Rijksmuseum SK-A-871.jpeg|thumb|alt=Portrait of Mary in a yellow gown and William II in a black suit|upright|William's parents, William II of Orange and Mary, Princess Royal, 1647]]

William III was born in [[The Hague]] in the [[Dutch Republic]] on 4 November 1650.{{Efn|name=OSNS}}<ref>Claydon, p. 9</ref> Baptised William Henry ({{Langx|nl|Willem Hendrik}}), he was the only child of [[Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange|Mary, Princess Royal]], and ''[[stadtholder]]'' [[William II, Prince of Orange]]. Mary was the elder daughter of King [[Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland]] and sister of kings [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] and [[James II and VII]].

Eight days before William was born, his father died of [[smallpox]]; thus, William was the sovereign Prince of Orange from the moment of his birth.<ref>Claydon, p. 14</ref> Immediately, a conflict arose between his mother and his paternal grandmother, [[Amalia of Solms-Braunfels]], over the name to be given to the infant. Mary wanted to name him Charles after her brother, but her mother-in-law insisted on giving him the name William (''Willem'') to bolster his prospects of becoming ''stadtholder''.<ref>Troost, p. 26; van der Zee, pp. 6–7</ref> William II had intended to appoint his wife as their son's guardian in his will; however, the document remained unsigned at William II's death and was therefore void.<ref>Troost, p. 26</ref> On 13 August 1651, the ''[[Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland]]'' (Supreme Court) ruled that guardianship would be shared between his mother, his grandmother and [[Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg]], husband of his paternal aunt [[Countess Louise Henriette of Nassau|Louise Henriette]].{{efn|Frederick William was chosen because he could act as a neutral party mediating between the two women, but also because as a possible heir he was interested in protecting the Orange family fortune, which Amalia feared Mary would squander. Troost, pp. 26–27.}}

===Childhood and education===
William's mother showed little personal interest in her son, sometimes being absent for years, and had always deliberately kept herself apart from Dutch society.<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 5–6; Troost, p. 27</ref> William's education was first laid in the hands of several Dutch governesses, some of English descent, including Walburg Howard<ref name=t3437/> and the Scottish noblewoman Lady [[Anna Mackenzie]].<ref name="odnbanna">Rosalind K. Marshall, 'Mackenzie, Anna, countess of Balcarres and countess of Argyll (c. 1621–1707)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, Oct 2006 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4467, accessed 29 Nov 2014]</ref> From April 1656, the prince received daily instruction in the [[Reformed religion]] from the [[Calvinist]] preacher Cornelis Trigland, a follower of the [[Contra-Remonstrant]] theologian [[Gisbertus Voetius]].<ref name="t3437">Troost, pp. 34–37</ref>

The ideal education for William was described in ''Discours sur la nourriture de S. H. Monseigneur le Prince d'Orange'', a short treatise, perhaps by one of William's tutors, [[Constantijn Huygens]].<ref>Troost, 27. The author may also have been [[Johan van den Kerckhoven]]. ''Ibid.''</ref> In these lessons, the prince was taught that he was [[Predestination (Calvinism)|predestined]] to become an instrument of [[Divine Providence]], fulfilling the historical destiny of the [[House of Orange-Nassau]].<ref>Troost, pp. 36–37</ref> William was seen, despite his youth, as the leader of the "Orangist" party, heir to the stadholderships of several provinces and the office of Captain-General of the Union (see [[Politics and government of the Dutch Republic#Political parties|Politics and government of the Dutch Republic]]). He was viewed as the leader of the nation in its independence movement and its protector from foreign threats.<ref>{{cite book |title=John de Witt, grand pensionary of Holland, 1625–1672|first=Herbert H.|last =Rowen|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1978|pages=781–797}}</ref> This was in the tradition of the [[House of Orange-Nassau|princes of Orange]] before him: his great-grandfather [[William the Silent]], his grand-uncle [[Maurice, Prince of Orange|Maurice]], his grandfather [[Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange|Frederick Henry]], and his father [[William II, Prince of Orange|William II]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age|first=Simon|last =Schama|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|year=1987|isbn=0-394-51075-5|pages=65–67}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness and Fall, 1477–1806|first=Jonathan I.|last =Israel|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1995|isbn= 0-19-873072-1 |pages=429–30, 569, 604, 608, 660, 664, 720, 785–86}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Orange and Stuart 1641–1672|first=Pieter |last =Geyl|others = [[Arnold Pomerans]] (trans.)|publisher=Phoenix|edition=reprint|year=2002|page=65}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=History of the People of the Netherlands|first=Petrus Johannes|last = Blok|others = Oscar A. Bierstadt (trans.)|volume = 4 | publisher=AMS Press|edition=1st|year=1970|page=300}}</ref>

[[File:Jan davids de heem-fleurs avec portrait guillaume III d'Orange.jpg|upright|left|thumb|The young prince portrayed by [[Jan Davidsz de Heem]] and [[Jan Vermeer van Utrecht]] within a flower garland filled with symbols of the [[House of Orange-Nassau]], {{Circa|1660}}]]

From early 1659, William spent seven years at the [[University of Leiden]] for a formal education, under the guidance of ethics professor Hendrik Bornius (though never officially enrolling as a student).<ref>Troost, pp. 37–40</ref> While residing in the ''Prinsenhof'' at [[Delft]], William had a small personal retinue including [[Hans Willem Bentinck]], and a new governor, [[Frederick Nassau de Zuylenstein]], who (as an illegitimate son of stadtholder [[Frederick Henry of Orange]]) was his paternal uncle.

[[Grand Pensionary]] [[Johan de Witt]] and his uncle [[Cornelis de Graeff]] pushed the [[States of Holland]] to take charge of William's education and ensure that he would acquire the skills to serve in a future—though undetermined—state function; the States acted on 25 September 1660.<ref name="troost43">Troost, p. 43</ref> Around this time, the young prince played with De Graeff's sons [[Pieter de Graeff|Pieter]] and [[Jacob de Graeff]] in the park of the country house in Soestdijk. In 1674 Wilhelm bought the estate from Jacob de Graeff, which was later converted into [[Soestdijk Palace]].<ref>[https://www.theracoppens.nl/artikelen/165-vrouwen-van-soestdijk.html Catharina Hooft at ''Vrouwen van Soestdijk'']</ref> This first involvement of the authorities did not last long. On 23 December 1660, when William was ten years old, his mother died of smallpox at [[Whitehall Palace]], London, while visiting her brother, the recently restored King Charles II.<ref name=troost43/> In her will, Mary requested that Charles look after William's interests, and Charles now demanded that the States of Holland end their interference.<ref>Troost, pp. 43–44</ref> To appease Charles, they complied on 30 September 1661.<ref>Troost, p. 44</ref> That year, Zuylenstein began to work for Charles and induced William to write letters to his uncle asking him to help William become stadtholder someday.<ref name="troost49">Troost, p. 49</ref> After his mother's death, William's education and guardianship became a point of contention between [[Orangism (Netherlands)|his dynasty's supporters]] and the advocates of a more republican Netherlands.<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 12–17</ref>

The Dutch authorities did their best at first to ignore these intrigues, but in the [[Second Anglo-Dutch War]], one of Charles's peace conditions was the improvement of the position of his nephew.<ref name=troost49/> As a countermeasure in 1666, when William was sixteen, the States officially made him a ward of the government, or a "Child of State".<ref name=troost49/> All pro-English courtiers, including Zuylenstein, were removed from William's company.<ref name=troost49/> William begged De Witt to allow Zuylenstein to stay, but he refused.<ref name="vdk14">Van der Kiste, pp. 14–15</ref> De Witt, the leading politician of the Republic, took William's education into his own hands, instructing him weekly in state matters and joining him for regular games of [[real tennis]].<ref name=vdk14/>