Editing House of Orange-Nassau (section)

===William III and the risk of extinction===
{{Further|Luxembourg Crisis|Republicanism in the Netherlands#1848–1890: Waning popularity|Republicanism in the Netherlands#Succession secured, republic prevented}}
William II died in 1849. He was succeeded by his son, [[William III of the Netherlands|William III]]. A rather [[Conservatism|conservative]], even reactionary man, William III was sharply opposed to the new 1848 constitution. He continually tried to form governments that were dependent on his support, even though it was prohibitively difficult for a government to stay in office against the will of Parliament. In 1868, he tried to sell [[Luxembourg]] to [[France]], which was the source of a quarrel between [[Prussia]] and [[France]].<ref name=Blok/>{{rp|vol5,483}}

William III had a rather unhappy marriage with [[Sophie of Württemberg]], and his heirs died young. This raised the possibility of the extinction of the House of Orange-Nassau. After the death of Queen Sophie in 1877, William remarried to 20-year-old [[Emma of the Netherlands|Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont]] in 1879; he was 41 years older than her. On 31 August 1880, Queen Emma gave birth to their daughter and the royal heiress, [[Wilhelmina of the Netherlands|Wilhelmina]].<ref name=Blok/>{{rp|vol5,497–498}} There were considerably more concerns over the royal dynasty's future, when Wilhelmina's marriage with [[Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin]] (since 1901) repeatedly resulted in [[miscarriage]]s. Had the House of Orange died out, the throne would likely have passed to [[Prince Heinrich XXXII Reuss of Köstritz]], leading the Netherlands into an undesirably strong influence from the [[German Empire]] that would threaten Dutch independence.<ref>"Were A Monarch To Fall Dead", ''[[The Washington Post]]'', 7 May 1905.</ref> Not just Socialists, but now also [[Anti-Revolutionary Party|Anti-Revolutionary]] politicians including Prime Minister [[Abraham Kuyper]] and Liberals such as [[Samuel van Houten]] advocated the restoration of the Republic in Parliament in case the marriage remained childless.<ref name="beatrixisme">{{Cite news |url=http://www.groene.nl/artikel/het-beatrixisme-zolang-beatrix-de-pvda-aan-haar-zijde-weet-te-houden-is-er-voor-oranje-weinig-kou-in-de-lucht |title=Het beatrixisme: zolang Beatrix de PvdA aan haar zijde weet te houden, is er voor Oranje weinig kou in de lucht |author=J.g. Kikkert |work=De Groene Amsterdammer |date=30 April 1997 |access-date=23 May 2015}}</ref> The birth of [[Juliana of the Netherlands|Princess Juliana]] in 1909 put the question to rest.<ref name="beatrixisme"/>