The letter turned out to be a livelier and bigger beast than I thought; I started last Wednesday and still ain’t finished. I don’t want to neglect my promis, so here’s an alternative blog.
The Forgotten Crown Prince
For some reason I started with the last Willem, Willem III (I already knew about the ladies), and for some reason I dove in deeper than I had anticipated. That’s how I found Prince Alexander.
This picture on the left was the first glimpse I caught of the prince. For some reason, I was immediately sold. Don’t ask me, I honestly have no clue why. That was the start of the obsession and me repeatedly returning to his wiki, eventhough there’s really not much to read there. Then I found out that I wasn’t the only one who thought this particular prince was interesting eventhough he didn’t do anything. There’s a Dutch series named “Wij Alexander” which fantasizes up an intriguing drama which doesn’t really consist Alexander, or at least not notably and yet it does. And there’s a book, a real biography about Alexander eventhough he didn’t do anything, literally. Well, he did do things, he breathed for instance, but nothing notable. Then why Alexander and not his older brother Wiewil (another Willem in disguise)? He did things, eventhough not important for king and country.
You see, Wiewil was not as dramatic and tragic as Alexander, eventhough he drank, hugged and partied himself to death. Almost quite literally. Also, when Wiewil died, Alexander became the last male (d’oh!) crown prince for a long time. And since Alexander made only little effort to start his own family, some intentions were there but not succesful, the Orange Dynasty was in danger of coming to an end. So, that’s interesting and tying in with the whole sodding wooden handgraved box that might or might not be the proof of unrightful throne holding by the Oranges today. People love to whip up a wind for that one. It was first mentioned in the biography and “Wij Alexander” used it to build the whole plot of the series around it. Even these days the infamous box keeps cropping up. Apparently, the box held papers, and was withheld on Royal demand for forty years by a faithful servant. After the forty years had gone by, since Alexander’s death in 1884, the box was returned to the Royal family, and the cheap Queen Wilhelmina, Alexander’s half-sister, wanted the papers so bad, she was willing to give f1.000,- for the content of the little box. Shortly after papers were burned and rumours say it was the content of that box.
For me that was not the reason I became obsessed with Alexander. I had not even heard of that stupid box. Nor do I wish to push the Royal family off the throne. So why Alexander? Perharps because of his tragic life? Perharps because I can identify with his self-choosen reclusive life? No, that can’t be it, I had only seen a picture of him. It must have been something in his eyes (which were hardly visible) or on his face.
Anyway, some information about Alexander: He was born 25 August 1851. He had many health problems and was very sensitive. He died 21 June 1884, age 32.
Short info, cause 1) enough info elsewhere and 2) got sidetracked by rightfullness of throne holder and the senseless and naïve discussion about it.
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