Editing House of Orange-Nassau (section)

=== Exile and resurgence ===
{{Further|First Stadtholderless period}}
[[File:Nason, Pieter (attributed to) - Four generations Princes of Orange - William I, Maurice and Frederick Henry, William II and William III - 1662-1666.jpg|thumb|300px|Painting by Willem van Honthorst (1662), diachronically depicting four generations of Princes of Orange: [[William the Silent|William I]], [[Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange|Maurice]] and [[Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange|Frederick Henry]], [[William II, Prince of Orange|William II]], and [[William III of England|William III]].]]
Frederick Henry died in 1647 and his son succeeded him. As the [[Peace of Münster|Treaty of Munster]] was about to be signed, thereby ending the Eighty Years' War, William tried to maintain the powers he had in wartime as military commander. These would necessarily be diminished in peacetime as the army would be reduced, along with his income.  This met with great opposition from the regents. When [[Andries Bicker]] and [[Cornelis de Graeff]], the great regents of the city of [[Amsterdam]] refused some mayors he appointed, he besieged Amsterdam. The siege provoked the wrath of the regents. William died of smallpox on November 6, 1650, leaving only a posthumous son, [[William III of England|William III]] (*November 14, 1650). Since the Prince of Orange upon the death of William II, William III, was an infant, the regents used this opportunity to leave the stadtholdership vacant. This inaugurated the era in Dutch history that is known as the [[First Stadtholderless Period]].<ref name="Rowen2">{{cite book |title=John de Witt, grand pensionary of Holland, 1625–1672|url=https://archive.org/details/johndewittgrandp0000rowe|url-access=registration|first=Herbert H.|last=Rowen|publisher=Princeton University Press|year=1978|isbn=9780691052472}}</ref>  A quarrel about the education of the young prince arose between his mother and his grandmother Amalia (who outlived her husband by 28 years). Amalia wanted an education which was pointed at the resurgence of the House of Orange to power, but Mary wanted a pure English education. The Estates of Holland, under [[Jan de Witt]] and Cornelis de Graeff, meddled in the education and made William a "child of state" to be educated by the state. The doctrine used in this education was keeping William from the throne. William became indeed very docile to the wishes of the regents and the Estates.<ref name=Geyl/><ref name=Rowen2/>

The Dutch Republic was attacked by France and England in 1672. The military function of stadtholder was no longer superfluous, and with the support of the [[Orangism (Netherlands Republic)|Orangist]]s, William was restored, and he became the stadtholder. William successfully repelled the invasion and seized royal power. He became more powerful than his predecessors from the Eighty Years' War.<ref name=Geyl/><ref name=Rowen2/> In 1677, William married his cousin [[Mary II of England|Mary Stuart]], the daughter of the future king [[James II of England]]. In 1688, William embarked on a mission to depose his Catholic father-in-law from the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland. He and his wife were crowned the King and Queen of England on April 11, 1689. With the accession to the thrones of the three kingdoms, he became one of the most powerful sovereigns in Europe, and the only one to defeat [[Louis XIV of France]].<ref name=Geyl/> William III died childless after a riding accident on March 8, 1702, leaving the main male line of the House of Orange extinct, and leaving Scotland, England and Ireland to his sister-in-law [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]].