Amalia von Solms (original) (raw)

Amalia van Solms (31 August 1602 - 8 September 1675), countess of Braunfels, was the wife of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange.

She was the daughter of Johan Albrecht I of Solms-Braunfels and Agnes van Sayn-Wittgenstein. She spent her childhood at the parental castle at Braunfels.

At the age of 18 she arrived in the Hague in the train of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, the "Winter King". When stadtholder Maurice of Nassau died, he made his half-brother Frederick Henry promise to wed. Frederick married Amalia on 4 April 1625.

Their marriage produced five children who lived to adulthood, and four who died young:

• Stadtholder William II (1626-1650)
• Louise Henriette of Orange-Nassau (1627 - 1667)
• Henriette Amalia of Orange-Nassau (1628)
• Elisabeth of Orange-Nassau (1630)
• Isabella Charlotte of Orange-Nassau (1632-1642)
• Albertine Agnes of Orange-Nassau (1634-1696)
• Henriette Catharina of Orange-Nassau (1637-1708)
• Hendrik Lodewijk of Orange-Nassau (1639)
• Maria of Orange-Nassau (1642-1688)

When Frederick Henry after the death of his half-brother Prince Maurice became stadtholder, his influence grew substantially, as did Amalia's.

Together Frederick Henry and Amalia succeeded to enlarge court-life in The Hague. They had a number of palaces built, including Huis ten Bosch. Amalia was the architect of a number of royal marriages, including that of her son William II to Mary, Princess Royal of England and Scotland (daughter of King Charles I of England) and of their daughters with a number of German princes. After the death of her son William II she became the main guardian of her grandson William III.

King Philip IV of Spain granted her the area around Turnhout in 1649.