Crown Prince Willem of Orange
(1840-1879)

This is the eldest of the three sons of King Willem III of the Netherlands and Sophie of Württemburg, all of whom predeceased their father. All three remained bachelors, though hardly for the want of trying.

Willem was known as 'Wiwill' within the family, but the Prince of Wales called him 'Citron.' To Queen Victoria's disgust, he had been seen drinking 'and goodness know what else.' He appeared in England in the guise of suitor for more than one of her younger daughters, but the Queen, who required sons-in-law of unblemished virtue, would not countenance the match. He became such a frequent and unwelcome visitor that the Queen once remarked 'that odious prince is coming again.' By this point, his private life had become the scandal of Europe.

From 1867 onwards, the Crown Prince lived a life of debauchery in Paris. He died there in his apartment in the rue Auber, near the Paris Opéra, on 11 June 1879, aged only 38, from a combination of typhus, liver disease and total exhaustion. On 26 June 1879 his body was entombed in the royal crypt at the New Church of Delft.