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Relations between the dynasty Orange-Nassau and the House of Romanov

Relations between the dynasty Orange-Nassau and the House of Romanov

The Dutch Royal dynasty is related to many noble families of Europe but its connection to the House of Romanov and other representatives of the Russian aristocracy is highly appreciated in the Netherlands.

We can see the first, although not blood, family relations between the dynasties of Orange and Romanov in the beginning of the XVIII century. It is particularly mentioned in the official royal genealogy that Willem IV’s own aunt, Sophia, was the first wife of Karl Leopold of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who married in 1716 the daughter of the Russian tsar Ivan V, Ekaterina Ioannovna (1692-1733). They had a daughter, Anna Leopoldovna, who became later mother of the Russian tsar Ivan VI.

The direct blood ties between the two dynasties arose in the beginning of the XIX century that is firstly due to the appropriation of Royal regalia to the House of Orange. Already one year after the formation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in 1816, in Saint-Petersburg the Dutch Crown Prince, future King of the Netherlands Willem II married the sister of the Russian Emperor Alexander I, daughter of Paul I, Grand Duchess Anna Paulovna (1795-1865). Anna Paulovna gave birth to three sons and one daughter. One of them - Willem - became later King of the Netherlands. And when the second son, Alexander, was born his mother received a present on this occasion from her father-in-law - Willem I - the house, where Peter the Great lived during his stay in Zaandam. A square with the monument of Anna Paulovna and one of the streets in The Hague were named after her. A town in North Holland has also been called in her name on 1 August 1870. Before it was Zeipe. That is the only town in the Netherlands which was renamed in memory of a Royal dynasty member. Anna Paulovna is the greatgrandgrandmother of the current Queen Beatrix.

The other sister of Alexander I, Elena Paulovna, was as well the direct family of Beatrix. By mere coincidence, she happened to be the greatgrandmother of Beatrix's grandfather Heinrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. It is note-worthy that 100 years before one of the representatives of the Mecklenburg dynasty was the father of Anna Leopoldovna (see above).

But the luckiest to be family with the Orange were the Paul I's grandsons, i.e. nephews and nieces of Anna Paulovna. All of them became anyhow family with the Orange dynasty. Anna Paulovna let her daughter marry Karl of Weimar, the son of Maria Paulovna. The first wife of her son, the future King Willem III was Sophia of Wurtemberg, the daughter of Ekaterina Paulovna. And the daughter of Mikhail Paulovich, Elizabeth married Adolf of Nassau, the future Grand Duke of Luxemburg.

The name of the Russian Emperor Nikolai I (1796 - 1855) could be also added to this list. His spouse Alexandra Fedorovna, maiden name Charlotte, was a neice of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, the wife of King Willem I, the father of Willem II.

In 1901 the Dutch Queen Wilhelmina (1880-1962) has married Heinrich Vladimir Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1876-1934) - the brother of the Grand Duchess Maria Paulovna, who was mother of the Grand Duke, then after 1924 Russian Emperor in exile Kirill I. Thus, the present Head of the Russian Empire House Sovereign Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna is in close relation to the present Queen of the Netherlands Beatrix.

Relations between the Orange and the Pushkin

The relations between the dynasty of Orange and Pushkin are also interesting.

It is known that D'Antes, who deadly injured the poet during a duel, was the adopted son of the Dutch Envoy in Saint-Petersburg Baron Van Heeckeren, who, in his turn, was in family relations with the Orange. After the Pushkin's death on 29 January 1837 Van Heeckeren had to quit the posting of Envoy and had to leave Saint-Petersburg. Later D'Antes married the sister of Natalya Goncharova, Pushkin's wife, who was the reason of the duel.

It is less notorious that later, in 1868, Pushkin's daughter Natalya married the greatgrandgrand-son of Willem IV of Orange, Nikolaus, getting thus into family relations with his brother Adolf, who later became Grand Duke of Luxemburg, and his wife Elizabeth Mikhailovna, grand-daughter of Paul I.