Part the Fifth: The Regent
Rupert IV, Elector Palatine and Prince-Consort of Orange
As the Holy Roman Empire slowly recovered and even began to move on, so to did the normal state of affairs slowly resume. Unfortunately for Rupert, however, this only brought further problems, chief among them that he needed an heir. Before becoming Elector, Rupert had had several illegitimate relationships, most notably with Susan Kuffstein, the daughter of his jailer during his years as an Imperial prisoner, but had never married and thus lacked any legitimate children to take the throne after him. Even worse, five of his brothers were dead, one had converted to Catholicism, one was living a rakish life in France and had likely converted to Catholicism, two of his sisters had become Abbesses, with one having converted to Catholicism to do so, and one was dead. This left only two sisters, Henriette Marie and Sophie, or rather any sons they had, as suitable heirs but neither of them were married either. This left Rupert in desperate need of a wife and ideally husbands for his sisters as well.
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His pursuit of a wife was considerably complicated by his age, 29 at the end of the war, which meant that all of the eligible candidates had already married. If Rupert was prepared to broaden his search, however, there were several candidates to be considered. Chief among these was Mary Henrietta, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange. Of course, she had been already married to William II, Prince of Orange, but he had died from smallpox in 1650, leaving Mary Henrietta a 19 year old widow and to first give birth to and then raise their son. A potential marriage would thus be somewhat complicated, not to mention unorthodox, but also had potential advantages for both parties. For Rupert, it would be a prestigious match, probably the most prestigious he could hope for, it would strengthen his ties to the Royalist cause, which by now was led by Mary’s brother Charles II after their father’s execution, and Mary, crucially for dynastic interests, was still of child birthing age.
For Mary, the marriage would be a boost for her popularity in the Netherlands, which had never been strong, as Rupert was not only still popular there from his time with Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, but was also related to the ruling Nassau family through his grandmother, Countess Louise Juliana of Nassau, the daughter of William the Silent, and brother of both Prince Maurice and Frederick Henry. Furthermore, Mary had been somewhat overshadowed as regent and guardian for her son by her mother-in-law, Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, and brother-in-law, Frederick William I, Elector of Brandenberg and Duke of Prussia, and a new husband, especially one as popular as Rupert, would no doubt help address the balance in her favour. Admittedly, Rupert and Mary were first cousins once removed through their Stuart relatives but this was distant enough to be immaterial in the circumstances.
Thus, once the marriage negotiations were completed and the dowry somewhat reluctantly provided from the Dutch coffers by Frederick William I in his role as one of William III’s regents, Rupert travelled up the Rhine in a splendid barge to Amsterdam and then southwards to The Hague where, after a few days of socialising with the Dutch court, married Mary Henrietta in the Great (St. James’) Church, an honour accorded to Mary Henrietta as a Princess of Orange, in June 1652. The fact that the wedding took place in the Netherlands, and not the Electoral Palatinate was rather unusual but Mary had feared that her enemies in the royal court would usurp her from her influence over her son, which was already weakened. Even more unusual, however, was Mary Henrietta and Rupert’s subsequent splitting of their time between The Hague and Heidelberg, with Rupert leaving Princess Sophia in his place whilst he was in The Hague.
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Rupert would be a co-regent of the Netherlands and the self styled Prince-Consort of Orange for only 8 years but those 8 years would be profitable for him. When he wasn’t engaged in one of many disputes with Frederick William I and Amalia, Rupert would continue his interests in the arts and science, especially naval science. This might come as a surprise given his prior experience was a cavalry commander but he had taken an interest in naval warfare during his service in Venice. He would set up small foundries in both the grounds of his wife’s residence in The Hague and at his own palace in Heidelberg and would thereafter dabble in metallurgy for the much of his life. The result of his efforts during his time as regent, however, would be the Rupertinoe cannon, an advanced artillery gun ostensibly for use in naval warfare but also potentially for use in land combat. Unfortunately, however, the Rupertinoe was 3 times the price of a regular gun and thus never got beyond being Rupert’s pet project and the occasional deployment in Palatinate forces.
His role as regent was similarly mixed, he certainly bolstered Mary Henrietta’s popularity and position as regent and guardian, but Rupert himself was not especially interested in being regent to William III, though he is recorded as doing an admirable job as a guardian, not least teaching the young Prince of Orange to ride. The birth of his own son, Frederick Charles, in 1654 might have complicated matters but William III and Frederick, who was only 4 years younger, would grow up as friends. Rupert would go on to have two more children with Mary Henrietta, a daughter called Elisabeth and a second son called Rupert. The birth of his three children, in 1654, 1657 and 1658 respectively would increasingly lead to Rupert becoming more detached from the regency. In part because Frederick William I increasingly came to see Rupert as his rival and went to great lengths to reduce Rupert’s influence in the regency, though in truth he need not have bothered as Rupert had little desire to try and coup his fellow Elector. The same could not be said for Princess Mary, however, who would spend the rest of her life in confrontation with Frederick William I, ultimately without success, over her son before her death in 1660 from pneumonia bought on by complications from the birth of her last child, who would follow his mother to the grave only a year later.
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Princess Mary’s death, at the age of 29 years, was very untimely, not least because her brother had been restored to the English throne only a few months previously, an event which had ended the Anglo-Dutch War between the Commonwealth and the Dutch Republic, a war which had even seen Rupert commanded a squadron of Dutch ships, and greatly boosted Mary’s popularity in the Netherlands. In short, she had died just when things were looking up for her in the Netherlands. For Rupert, the combined blows of the death of his wife and young son was a great personal tragedy, one that would haunt him for several years, and following his wife’s funeral, at the Saint James’ Church where they had been married, he returned with his surviving children to Heidelberg.
