Queen Emma (Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont)

Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1858-1934), second wife and consort of King Willem III of the Netherlands. Fourth daughter of Georg Viktor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and Princess Helena of Nassau. Married the elderly Dutch king, forty-one years her senior and father of two adult sons older than her from his previous marriage, in 1879. Had her only child, Queen Wilhelmina, in 1880. Served as regent for her ailing husband and, after his death, her minor daughter, who succeeded Willem III, thanks to the deaths of her two half-brothers. Occupied a less prominent position after Wilhelmina’s investiture as Queen in 1898, but continued to perform her royal duties, retiring from public life in 1927, when her only grandchild, Queen Juliana, came of age.

Figure 1.1. Willem Martens, Portrait of Queen Emma of the Netherlands, 1899, Royal Collections, The Hague, source: Nouveau.

1880s

Court train worn to Princess Helen of Waldeck and Pyrmont’s wedding, 1882

Figure 1.2. Corbay-Wenzel (French), Queen Emma’s court train, 1882, velvet, satin, lace, silver thread, pearls, Royal Collections, The Hague,  MU-3974, source: Modemuze. The bodice, also by Corbay-Wenzel, is a later addition.

1920s

Figure 1.3. House of Premet (French), Evening gown and coat, c. 1923-29, Het Loo Palace, Apeldoorn (on loan from SHVHON, The Hague), MU/3986 and MU/4160, source: Modemuze.

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