by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018
Louise de Coligny, Princess of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia
On April 12, 1583, Willem I, Prince of Orange (the Silent) married his fourth wife French Huguenot Louise de Coligny, daughter of Gaspard II de Coligny and Charlotte de Laval. Born at Châtillon-sur-Loing, France on September 23, 1555, Louise was the eldest of three siblings.
Louise had two younger brothers:
- François, de Coligny, Comte de Coligny and Seigneur de Châtillon-sur-Loing (1557–1591), married Marguerite d’Ailly, had four children
- Charles de Coligny (1564-1632), married Humberte de Chastena, had three children
Louise’s father was a French nobleman and admiral but is best remembered as a leader of the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants). At the age of 15, Louise married Charles de Teligny who was 20 years older. Both Charles and Louise’s father were killed during the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572 when thousands of Huguenots were murdered. After her husband and father were killed, Louise fled to Switzerland. She returned to France in 1576 after the Edict of Beaulieu, which gave Huguenots the right of public worship, and lived on the estates of her deceased husband. Louise appeared once at the French court to reclaim the titles and property of her father.
Willem and Louise had one son:
- Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau (1584 – 1647), married Countess Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, had nine children including Willem II, Prince of Orange who was the father of Willem III, Prince of Orange who was later King William III of England; the current Dutch royal family are Frederik Hendrik’s descendants through two of his daughters
On July 10, 1584, a little more than six months after the birth of her son, Louise was widowed for the second time when Willem I, Prince of Orange was assassinated.
Louise then raised both her son and Willem’s six daughters from his third marriage to Charlotte de Bourbon-Monpensier. She remained an advocate of Protestantism all her life. Due to her excellent connections with Protestant families and her continuing friendship with King Henri IV of France, Louise played a significant role in the political life of France and the Netherlands. She lived in Delft until one year before her death when she went to the court of Marie de’ Medici, Queen Dowager of France, at the Château de Fontainebleau. Louise, aged 65, died on November 9, 1620, at the Château de Fontainebleau and was buried with her husband Willem I, Prince of Orange in the Old Crypt of the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft.
The Old Crypt with the coffin of Willem I on the bottom, the body-like coffin of Willem I’s fourth wife Louise de Coligny on the bottom right, the coffin of Maurits on the top left and the coffin of Frederik Hendrik on the top right; Credit – Wikipedia
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