by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2018
Anna van Egmont, Princess of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia
Anna van Egmont was the first wife of Willem I (the Silent), Prince of Orange. Born in March 1533 in Grave, Duchy of Brabant, now in the Dutch province North Brabant, she was the only child of Maximilian of Egmont, Count of Buren and Leerdam, Stadtholder of Friesland (1509-1548) and Françoise de Lannoy (1513-1562) of the de Lannoy family, one of the oldest and most prominent families in the Netherlands. Anna’s father served as a diplomat in the imperial court of the Holy Roman Empire in Brussels where Anna bwas raised in the household of Mary of Austria who was the Governor of the Netherlands and the sister of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Upon her father’s death in 1548, Anna inherited his titles in her own right.
On July 8, 1551, 18-year-old Anna married another 18-year-old, Willem I, Prince of Orange. By all accounts, their marriage was a happy one. Anna and Willem lived alternately in her castle in Buren and his castle in Breda.
The couple had three children:
- Maria (1553 – 1555), died in early childhood
- Filips Willem, Prince of Orange (1554 – 1618), married Eleonora of Bourbon-Condé, no children
- Maria (1556 – 1616), married Count Philip of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein, no children
Statue of Anna and her husband Willem and their two surviving children in the town center of Buren; Credit – Wikipedia
Anna’s early death in Breda, Duchy of Brabant, now in the Netherlands, at the age of 25, on March 24, 1558, brought much grief to Willem. She was buried in the Grote Kerk in Breda, the traditional burial site of the House of Orange.
Grave of Anna van Egmont, Princess of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia
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