WILLIAM II. (FREDERICK GEORGE LEWIS), King of the Netherlands, son of William I., was b. at the Hague, Dec. 6, 1792. In 1795 his father sought an asylum in England, and a few years latter went to settle at Berlin. The young prince studied at Berlin and Oxford; and in 1811, joining the army in Portugal, he served 'on the staff of lord Wel lington, to whom he became ajt. and speedily obtained the rank of col. His bravery was conspicuous at Fuentes de Onoro and Ciudad Rodrigo. At Badajoz, the storming column having been repulsed, the young prince met and rallied the retiring troops, leading them anew to the attack, and was the first to spring into the breach. He took an active part at Salamanca, Vittoria, and the Wales of the Pyrenees. On the return of the Orange family to the Netherlands, William I. made him commander of the army. The last campaign of Napoleon brought the prince again into active service, and he gained fresh laurels at Quatre Bras and Waterloo. where he was wounded. The prince of Orange married, Feb. 26, 1816, Anna Paulowna, youngest sister of the emperor Alexander I. of Russia. When the Belgian revolution began, in 1830, he was\ called again into public life; and, as governor of the loyal districts, tried by concessions to allay the storm, but the provisional government at Brussels was not to be satisfied, and having overstepped the limits of his commission, the prince was recalled. IL
July he took command of the army, and pushed to the center of Belgium; when, at Louvain, his victorious course was interrupted by French intervention, and the Dutch army retired to the north. having more liberal views than were then common, the prince took little share in state affairs, and spent his life chiefly at lburg,..as com mander of the army of observation. On the abdication of William I. (see itETH•II LANDS), the prince of Orange assumed the reigns of government (1840) as William II.
i The political movements of 1848 were felt in the Netherlands, as in other countries; and the ministerial plans of reform not having satisfied the party of progress, the king an nounced his willingness to sanction whatever changes in the constitution were thought necessary, and the stormwas averted. The new constitution was proclaimed Nov.IN 3, 1848. William died on Mar. 17, 1849, regretted by all ranks. IIe was marshal in the British army, and held a multitude of European orders.—See He Leven um Willem IL, door J. J. Abbink; also the same by Besscha.