William III of the Netherlands

William was born in 1817, son of King William II and Anna Pavlovna of Russia. He became Prince of Orange when his grandfather abdicated in 1840, then succeeded his father as king in 1849. His first marriage to cousin Sophie of Württemberg in 1839 produced three sons — William, Maurice, and Alexander — but all died before him. After Sophie's death in 1877, he married Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont in 1879. Their daughter Wilhelmina inherited the Dutch throne when William died in 1890. Luxembourg, bound by male-line succession rules, passed instead to a distant patrilineal cousin, Adolphe. William…