Her sister, Princess Helena, was the wife of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, the youngest son of Queen Victoria.

Her maternal grandfather was Wilhelm I, Duke of Nassau, a grandson of Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau, through which she inherited a place in the line of succession to the Dutch Crown until 1887.

[1] Princess Emma married the much older King William III at Arolsen Castle on 7 January 1879, two years after the death of his first wife, Sophie of Württemberg.

Six months after the wedding, Crown Prince William died in France of a combination of typhus, and liver complaints (excessive indulgence in drink).

After the death of his youngest son, the king retired from public life due to his health conditions, and Emma undertook the task of nursing him.

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the crown of which according to the House-Treaty should not be inherited by a woman, passed to Adolf, Duke of Nassau, who happened to be Queen Emma's maternal uncle.

[1] She met personally with every government minister at least once every two weeks to keep herself informed of all political issues, and strictly adhered to the rules of the constitutional monarchy.

She used the trust she gained by respecting the constitutional forms and her influence on political issues she cared about, which resulted in compromises where she often managed to get her way.

[1] Emma continued to live with her daughter until Wilhelmina's marriage to Henry of Mecklenburg in 1901, after which she moved to her own residence Lange Voorhout in The Hague.

[1] As queen mother Emma continued to attend to public royal representational duties, supporting her daughter and son-in-law, and was a well known figure in her black widow lace.