Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1858-1934)

Dutch Monarch. She was the Queen consort of King William III of the Netherlands. Born Princess Adelheid Emma Wilhelmina Theresia in Arolsen Castle, she was the fourth daughter of Prince George Victor of Waldeck and Pyrmont and his first wife, Princess Helena of Nassau. She married King William III of the Netherlands on 7 January 1879 in Arolsen. William's first wife, Queen Sophie, had died two years earlier. King William was 61, and had already been turned down by Emma's older sister Paulina and Princess Thyra of Denmark. Emma seems to have had a stabilizing effect on the king's notably capricious temper, and the marriage was quite happy. The last 10 years of the King's reign were undoubtedly his best, perhaps thanks to the queen's influence. Emma gave birth to the couple's only child, Princess Wilhelmina, in 1880. Upon William's death in 1890, Emma served as regent to the young Queen Wilhelmina, who was her father's only surviving child. Emma died at Lange Voorhout Palace in the Hague at the age of 75 of complications from bronchitis.

Bio by: Kristen Conrad