The Year of Queen Wilhelmina – Wilhelmina’s fourth miscarriage

With Wilhelmina’s marriage to Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on 7 February 1901, she and her mother both fervently prayed for healthy children to continue their line. Tragically, Wilhelmina would go on to suffer five miscarriages and only one healthy child was born to Wilhelmina and Henry.

At the end of 1911, Queen Wilhelmina was pregnant again, and she was due in August 1912. However, on 23 January 1912 – three years after the birth of Princess Juliana – Queen Wilhelmina suffered her fourth miscarriage.

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The New York Times reported: “An official communication today confirms the report that the hopes of the birth of an heir to the throne of the Netherlands1 has been shattered. The condition of Queen Wilhelmina, who has been indisposed for some days, is now stated by the physicians in attendance to be satisfactory.”2

Queen Wilhelmina later wrote to her mother-in-law, “It was a difficult time for us in every respect. But God has helped us and given us the strength to get through it.”3

A fifth and final miscarriage would follow in October 1912 – leaving Juliana as the sole heir to the throne.

 

 

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