Editing William III of England (section)

==Early offices==
===Exclusion from stadtholdership===
{{Main|First Stadtholderless Period}}

[[File:Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Portrait of Johan de Witt dressed all in black, looking left|Johan de Witt took over William's education in 1666.]]
[[File:Gaspar Fagel.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Fagel is plump and stands at a desk with papers lying on it.|[[Gaspar Fagel]] replaced De Witt as grand pensionary, and was more friendly to William's interests.]]

After the death of William's father, most provinces had left the office of stadtholder vacant.{{Efn|In the province of [[Friesland]] that office was filled by William's uncle-by-marriage [[William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Dietz]].}} At the demand of [[Oliver Cromwell]], the [[Treaty of Westminster (1654)|Treaty of Westminster]], which ended the [[First Anglo-Dutch War]], had a secret annexe that required the [[Act of Seclusion]], which forbade the province of Holland from appointing a member of the House of Orange as stadtholder.<ref>Troost, pp. 29–30</ref> After the [[English Restoration]], the Act of Seclusion, which had not remained a secret for long, was declared void as the [[English Commonwealth]] (with which the treaty had been concluded) no longer existed.<ref name="troost41">Troost, p. 41</ref> In 1660, William's mother Mary and grandmother Amalia tried to persuade several provincial States to designate William as their future stadtholder, but they all initially refused.<ref name=troost41/>

In 1667, as William III approached the age of 18, the Orangist party again attempted to bring him to power by securing for him the offices of stadtholder and [[Captain-General]]. To prevent the restoration of the influence of the House of Orange, De Witt, the leader of the [[States Party]], allowed the [[pensionary]] of [[Haarlem]], [[Gaspar Fagel]], to induce the States of Holland to issue the [[Perpetual Edict (1667)|Perpetual Edict]].<ref name="troost52">Troost, pp. 52–53</ref> The Edict, supported by the important [[Amsterdam]] politicians [[Andries de Graeff]] and [[Gillis Valckenier]],<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fsVqDwAAQBAJ&q=Andries+de+graeff+Eeuwig+edictDe opgang van Mens en Wetenschap, by Hubert Luns, p. 90 (2018)]; [https://www.triomfdervrede.nl/index.php-option=com_content&view=article&id=5&Itemid=6&lang=en.html Jephta Dullaart: Triumph of Peace]; [https://werkstukkenkunstgeschiedeniscom.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/2e-opdracht-essay-andries-de-graeff-gereviseerd.pdf Andries de Graeff, voorbeeld van culturele elite? Tweede opdrach, by Pieter Vis]</ref> declared that the Captain-General or Admiral-General of the Netherlands could not serve as stadtholder in any province.<ref name=troost52/> Even so, William's supporters sought ways to enhance his prestige and, on 19 September 1668, the [[States of Zeeland]] appointed him as ''First Noble''.<ref name="vdk16">Van der Kiste, pp. 16–17</ref> To receive this honour, William had to escape the attention of his state tutors and travel secretly to [[Middelburg, Zeeland|Middelburg]].<ref name=vdk16/> A month later, Amalia allowed William to manage his own household and declared him to be of majority age.<ref>Troost, p. 57</ref>

The province of Holland, the centre of anti-Orangism, abolished the office of stadtholder, and four other provinces followed suit in March 1670, establishing the so-called "Harmony".<ref name=troost52/> De Witt demanded an oath from each Holland [[regenten|regent]] (city council member) to uphold the Edict; all but one complied.<ref name=troost52/> William saw all this as a defeat, but the arrangement was a compromise: De Witt would have preferred to ignore the prince completely, but now his eventual rise to the office of supreme army commander was implicit.<ref>Troost, pp. 53–54</ref> De Witt further conceded that William would be admitted as a member of the ''[[Raad van State]]'', the Council of State, then the [[Generality (Netherlands)|generality]] organ administering the defence budget.<ref name="troost59">Troost, p. 59</ref> William was introduced to the council on 31 May 1670 with full voting rights, despite De Witt's attempts to limit his role to that of an advisor.<ref>Troost, p. 60</ref>

===Conflict with republicans===
In November 1670, William obtained permission to travel to England to urge Charles to pay back at least a part of the 2,797,859&nbsp;[[Dutch guilder|guilder]] debt the [[House of Stuart]] owed the House of Orange.<ref name="troost62">Troost, pp. 62–64</ref> Charles was unable to pay, but William agreed to reduce the amount owed to 1,800,000 guilders.<ref name=troost62/> Charles found his nephew to be a dedicated Calvinist and patriotic Dutchman and reconsidered his desire to show him the [[Secret Treaty of Dover]] with France, directed at destroying the Dutch Republic and installing William as "sovereign" of a Dutch [[rump state]].<ref name=troost62/> In addition to differing political outlooks, William found that his lifestyle differed from his uncles Charles and James, who were more concerned with drinking, gambling, and cavorting with mistresses.<ref>Van der Kiste, pp. 18–20</ref>

The following year, the Republic's security deteriorated quickly as an Anglo-French attack became imminent.<ref>Troost, p. 64</ref> In view of the threat, the States of [[Gelderland]] wanted William to be appointed Captain-General of the [[Dutch States Army]] as soon as possible, despite his youth and inexperience.<ref>Troost, p. 65</ref> On 15 December 1671, the States of [[Utrecht (province)|Utrecht]] made this their official policy.<ref>Troost, p. 66</ref> On 19 January 1672, the States of [[Holland]] made a counterproposal: to appoint William for just a single campaign.<ref name="troost67">Troost, p. 67</ref> The prince refused this and on 25 February a compromise was reached: an appointment by the [[States General of the Netherlands|States General]] for one summer, followed by a permanent appointment on his 22nd birthday.<ref name=troost67/>

Meanwhile, William had written a secret letter to Charles in January 1672 asking his uncle to exploit the situation by exerting pressure on the States to appoint William stadtholder.<ref name="troost65">Troost, pp. 65–66</ref> In return, William would ally the Republic with England and serve Charles's interests as much as his "honour and the loyalty due to this state" allowed.<ref name=troost65/> Charles took no action on the proposal, and continued his war plans with his French ally.