Sophie Of the Netherlands

Princess Sophie of the Netherlands (Wilhelmine Marie Sophie Louise; 8 April 1824 – 23 March 1897) was the only daughter of King William II of the Netherlands and of his wife Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia. She was heir presumptive to her niece, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, for seven years, from the death of her brother until her own death.

Marriage and children

Princess Sophie married her first cousin, Charles Alexander, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, at Kneuterdijk Palace in The Hague on 8 October 1842. Their mothers were sisters, daughters of Tsar Paul I of Russia.

They had four children:

• Karl August Wilhelm Nicolaus Alexander Michael Bernhard Heinrich Frederick Stefan, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (b. Weimar, 31 July 1844 - d. Cap Martin, France, 20 November 1894), who married Princess Pauline of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
• Marie Anna Alexandrine Sophie Auguste Helene (b. Weimar, 20 January 1849 - d. Trebschen, 6 May 1922), who married Prince Heinrich VII Reuss.
• Maria Anna Sophia Elisabeth Bernhardine Ida Auguste Helene (b. Weimar, 29 March 1851 - d. Weimar, 26 April 1859)
• Elisabeth Sibylle Maria Dorothea Anna Amalie Luise (b. Weimar, 28 February 1854 - d. Wiligrad, 10 July 1908), who married Duke Johann Albrecht of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Catherine Radziwill, a contemporary of Sophie's, commented that,

"...[Sophie] was very different from her husband, and, though extremely ugly, was a most imposing Princess. She was clever, too, and upheld the reputation of the Weimar family. She was a Princess of the Netherlands by birth...and kept and maintained at her court the traditions in which she had been reared. Notwithstanding her want of beauty, moreover, she presented a splendid figure, being always magnificently dressed and covered with wonderful jewels, among which shone a parure of rubies and diamonds that were supposed to be the finest of their kind in Europe".

Titles, styles honours and arms

• 8 April 1824 - 8 October 1842 Her Royal Highness Princess Sophie of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau
• 8 October 1842 - 8 July 1853 Her Royal Highness The Hereditary Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
• 8 July 1853 – 23 March 1897 Her Royal Highness The Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Ancestry