After Sophie's death in 1877 he married Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont in 1879 and they had one daughter Wilhelmina, who succeeded William to the Dutch throne.

William was born on 19 February 1817 in the Palace of the Nation in Brussels,[1] which was part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands at the time.

He was the eldest son of the future king William II of the Netherlands and Anna Pavlovna of Russia.

As adults the two princes shared a passion for outdoor pursuits like shooting, riding and falconry as well as horse racing.

He never became close to his youngest brother Henry, who was painfully shy, easily embarrassed and anxious to avoid incurring William's wrath.

In 1827, at the age of ten, William was made an honorary colonel in the Royal Netherlands Army by his grandfather.

In 1834, during a visit to his maternal uncle Tsar Nicholas I, he was made honorary commander of the Grenadiers Regiment of Kiev nr.

[4] He married his first cousin, Sophie, daughter of King William I of Württemberg and Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, in Stuttgart on 18 June 1839.

He prohibited intellectual exercise at home, for which action Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, who corresponded with Princess Sophie, called him an uneducated farmer.

[citation needed] His extramarital enthusiasms, however, led the New York Times to call him "the greatest debauchee of the age".

She could be very dramatic, often complaining about her suffering and her wish to die and expressing negative opinions about pretty much everyone who crossed her path in The Netherlands, especially her inlaws.

His first act was the inauguration of the parliamentary cabinet of Thorbecke, the liberal designer of the 1848 constitution, whom William loathed.

[citation needed] When the Roman Catholic hierarchy of bishops was restored in 1853, he found growing conservative support and a reason to dismiss Thorbecke.

[citation needed] During his reign, the king became more and more unpopular with his bourgeois-liberal subjects, his whims provoking their resistance and mockery, but remained quite popular with the common man.

[6] The king could be erratic, he ordered the dismissal and even the arrest and execution of those that he found in lack of respect, including a Mayor of The Hague.

In the same year, King William announced his intention to marry Émilie Ambre, a French opera singer, whom he ennobled as countess d'Ambroise – without government consent.

[citation needed] He finally decided to marry Pauline's younger sister Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont.

[citation needed] Emma had a relieving influence on William's capricious personality and the marriage was extremely happy.

However, in 1888, he personally presented a gold medal of honor to the lifeboat hero Dorus Rijkers, for saving the lives of 20 people.