10 - William V: the era of Anna and Brunswick

Summary

There was no repetition of 1672 or 1702 upon the death of William IV. No effort was made to take advantage of the novel situation – the hereditary stadholderate in the hands of an infant – in order to overturn the institution and return to stadholderless government. William V's mother, Princess Anna, was accepted as regent in the child's name and on his behalf. Bentinck and the councilor pensionary of Holland, Steyn, acted quickly and vigorously to assure that she was given her place as Princess Gouvernante. For the reviving States party, allowing her to take over as Gouvernante was preferable to inflaming anew the conflict with the burghers in the towns. The regents recognized that they no longer had the power to abolish the stadholderate.

One of the Princess's privy councilors, C. H von der Lühe, defined the situation sharply for her in a mémoire dated 2 December, which he may have drawn up at the instructions of the dying William IV. None of the functions of the stadholdership must be allowed to lapse or be taken over by the States, he urged, even for a period, lest a new Act of Seclusion result; these tasks must be assumed by the Prince's guardians. It was important, too, that his education remain in their hands and not be assumed by the States; there must be no repetition of the “Child of State” episode of William III's youth.