William I of the Netherlands

Born into the last stadtholder's family in 1772, William fled when French revolutionaries overran the Dutch Republic in 1795. He commanded troops in Flanders, ruled a brief German principality until Napoleon crushed it, then waited in exile for Europe to turn. When it did in 1814, he returned and declared himself Sovereign Prince; a year later he elevated the title to king and took Luxembourg as his grand duchy. He wrote a constitution that gave him sweeping power, founded universities, pushed industry and commerce. But his campaign to impose Dutch language and Reformed religion on the Catholi…