Anna van Egmont

Anna van Egmont
Princess consort of Orange
Tenure	6 July 1551 – 24 March 1558
Countess of Buren Countess of Leerdam Countess of Lingen Lady of Egmond
Tenure	24 December 1548 – 24 March 1558
Predecessor	Maximiliaan van Egmond
Successor	William the Silent
Born	March 1533 Grave, Duchy of Brabant
Died	24 March 1558 (aged 25) Breda, Duchy of Brabant
Spouse	William I, Prince of Orange
Issue	Countess Maria Philip William, Prince of Orange Maria, Countess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
House	Egmond
Father	Maximiliaan van Egmond
Mother	Françoise de Lannoy

Anna van Egmont (March 1533 – 24 March 1558) was a Dutch heiress who became the first wife of William the Silent, Prince of Orange.

Life

Anna was born in Grave(?), Netherlands in March 1533. She was the only child of Maximiliaan van Egmond (1509-1548) and Françoise de Lannoy (1513-1562).

Therefore, she was suo jure Countess of Buren and Lady of Egmond. She was also Countess of Lingen and of Leerdam, and Lady of IJsselstein, of Borssele, of Grave, of Cranendonck, of Jaarsveld, of Kortgene, of Sint Maartensdijk, and of Odijk.

Her mother and father were of high nobility. Maximiliaan's main activities were that of Charles V's army commander, first in an argument with Gelre, later in a campaign in the German areas against the League of Schmalkalden. He also played a role as a director, both as captain general and stadholder of Friesland, Groningen and Overijssel, and in his extensive possessions around Buren and in Zeeland. He was often at the Brussels court of Charles V and especially of Mary of Hungary, his sister and governor of the Netherlands. Anna and her mother usually stayed at the family castle in Buren. Given his high position, father Maximiliaan was on good terms with Charles V (1500-1558), then emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, king of Spain and landlord of the Habsburg Netherlands and his sister, Mary of Hungary (1505-1558), governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. Anna grew up in a noble entourage, the center of which was the court of the governor in Brussels. The spoken language was French, the language that Anna learned in addition to Dutch and in which she would later correspond with William of Orange, better known later as William the silent. Whether and how she was prepared for the administration of the vast estates and wonderful rights belonging to the County of Buren is unknown. Her father died quite unexpectedly at the court in Brussels in 1548, reportedly dressed in full armor and surrounded by his confidants, but in the absence of his wife and daughter. On his deathbed, Maximiliaan arranged the marriage of William of Nassau, Prince of Orange, one of the most prominent young noblemen of the time and of the same age as his daughter. Anna succeeded Maximiliaan as Countess van Buren. She was only fifteen years old and one of the most desirable partners in the marriage market. Charles V and Mary of Hungary supported the commitment.

On July 8, 1551 she married William the Silent in Buren, and thereby he earned the titles Lord of Egmond and Count of Buren.

The couple settled in the family castle in Breda, but Anna was often alone there with the three children she had there.

Anna van Egmont had three children with William the Silent:

Anna van Egmont with her husband William the Silent and their children Maria and Philip William

• Countess Maria of Nassau (22 November 1553 – after 23 July 1555), named after Mary of Hungary (1505-1558), governor of the Habsburg Netherlands, died in infancy.

• Philip William, Prince of Orange (19 December 1554 – 20 February 1618), named after the lord and Willems father, married Eleonora of Bourbon-Condé, but did not have children.

• Countess Maria of Nassau (7 February 1556 – 10 October 1616), who was named after her deceased sister, married Count Philip of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein, did not have children.

Willem was often at the court, but also at the front in Hainaut and Artois, as commander of the army in the wars with France.

Forty seven letters have been handed down from Willem to Anna. Her letters to him have been lost. The letters mainly breathe an atmosphere of domesticity and also affection. Several times Willem expresses his appreciation for the way in which Anna handles his affairs during his absence. Willem wrote most letters to Anna when he was in an army camp.

Anna rarely followed her husband on a journey. Only when he was summoned in 1555 to receive Philip II as new sovereign, did Willem ask Anna if she would also come to Brussels.

We only have indirect data about the life of Anna van Egmond. However, as countess van Buren and especially as princess of Orange, she must have played a leading role alongside her husband in the world of the high nobility of the Dutch regions. Of the four women William of Orange has had, she is the least known. There are various reasons for this. She lived when William was still in the service of the landlord and the conflict had not escalated yet, she was only 25 years old, and her children would later play a role of minor importance, not least because Philip Willem was taken to Spain as a hostage and was given up.

At the beginning of 1558 Anna was supposed to go to Dillenburg with Willem, but because of her illness the trip was canceled. She died of the disease in March of that year.

She was regretted by Willem, who also fell ill shortly after her death. He received condolences from many dignitaries, including Philip II, who sent a messenger to comfort him. At that time there was no question of removal between the Orange and the lord. Anna van Egmond was interred in a chapel of the Grote Kerk in Breda.

Her son Philip Willem inherited the county of Buren. He later left it to his half-brother Maurits, making it part of the heritage of the Oranje-Nassaus.

Portrait of a young noblewoman , 41.3 x 31.2cm, signed and dated 1554, private collection

The portraits of Anna Van Egmont

The only painting depicting Anne Van Egmont in the royal collections of Holland could in fact be a copy of a lost painting.

A portrait of a young woman, painted by Pieter Pourbus, exhibited for the first time in 2017 in Bruges, then at the Gouda museum in 2018, could be the portrait of Anna van Egmont.

Shortly after the exhibition opened at the Gouda Museum, the art historian Marc Couwenberg published a detailed article which draws attention to many similarities between this portrait and the portrait of Anna van Egmont belonging to the royal collection of The Hague.

Marc Couwenbergh describes this painting in another article as the "Mona Lisa" by Pourbus.

Further information on Portrait of a Noble Young Lady: Portrait of a Noble Young Lady (Pourbus)