Albertine Agnes of Nassau

Albertine Agnes was born in The Hague and was the sixth of nine children born to her parents. Some of her siblings died in childhood. Albertine and four other siblings lived to adulthood. Her surviving siblings were: William II, Prince of Orange, Luise Henriette of Nassau, Henriette Catherine of Nassau and Mary of Nassau.

In 1652 she married her second-cousin, William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Dietz.

After the death of her husband in 1664, she became regent for her son in Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. In 1665, both England and the bishopric of Münster declared war on the Netherlands. Because most of the money for defence had been used for the fleet, the army had been neglected. When Groningen was under siege, Albertine Agnes hastened to the city to give moral support. Pressure by King Louis XIV of France, then an ally, forced the forces of her enemies retreated, but six years later the Netherlands were attacked from the south, by the French under Louis XIV and from the north by the bishop of Münster and archbishop of Cologne. She organised defence and kept morale high.

In 1676 Albertine Agnes bought a country seat in Oranjewoud and called it Oranjewoud Palace. It was here that she died in 1696. She also had Schloss Oranienstein built from 1672 as her new residence at Diez.

She and William Frederick had three children:

• Amalia of Nassau-Dietz (1655-1695), married to John William III, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach
• Henry Casimir II, Count of Nassau-Dietz (1657-1696), married to Henriëtte Amalia of Anhalt-Dessau
• Wilhelmina Sophia Hedwig (1664–1667)

• The Correspondence of Albertine Agnes van Oranje-Nassau in EMLO
• "Women in power 1640–1670" last accessed August 4, 2007