William
III was born in The Hague on November 4, 1650 to William II, Prince
of Orange, and Mary Stuart, daughter of Charles I. His father
William II died before his birth on October 27th of that same
year. William was brought up in the Protestant Faith and spoke
English, French, Dutch, German, Latin and Spanish.
In
1667, Louis XIV of France had attacked the Spanish Netherlands
in his attempt to claim his wife, Marie-Therese of Spain's, inheritance
to the Spanish throne. Holland, England and Sweden formed the
Triple Alliance in 1668, forcing Louis to sign the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
and end the War of Devolution against Spain.
William
III made his first visit to England in 1670 at the invitation
of Charles II. In that same year, Louis XIV signed the Secret
Treaty of Dover with Charles to restore Roman Catholicism to England.
Louis purchased the neutrality of England and Sweden to again
invade Holland, and by 1672 had occupied large areas of the Lowlands.
The Dutch stopped the French advance on Amsterdam by opening the
dikes and flooding the countryside. Under the command of Michiel
de Ruyter, the Dutch were defeating the English and French fleets
at Southwold Bay at about the same time.
In
1672, William took over Dutch leadership from Jan de Witt, grand
pensionary, and by the end of 1673 had driven the French from
Dutch soil. William made peace with England in 1674, and with
Spanish and Austrian support, made peace with France in 1678 with
the signing of the Treaty of Nijmegan.
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