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Charlotte of Bourbon, Princess of Orange (1546/1547 - Antwerp, 5 May 1582), was the fourth daughter of Louis III de Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier and Jacqueline de Longwy, Countess of Bar-sur-Seine (died 28 August 1561). She was the third wife of William the Silent, Prince of Orange, the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish.

Her paternal grandparents were Louis of Bourbon, Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon and Louise de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier. Her maternal grandparents were John IV de Longwy, Baron of Pagny, and Jeanne of Angouleme, illegitimate half-sister of King Francis I of France.

At two weeks old her mother, influential in the court of Catherine de' Medici, placed her in the royal convent of Jouarre, near Meaux, to be raised as a nun. The young Charlotte shocked both her family and the royal court by escaping the convent in 1572, announcing her conversion to Calvinism and fleeing to the Palatinate, well beyond her parents' reach [1].

On 24 June 1575 Charlotte married the Protestant William, Prince of Orange, and had six daughters, including Louise Juliana of Nassau, from whom descended the House of Hanover.

Charlotte allegedly died from exhaustion while trying to nurse her husband after an assassination attempt in 1582.[citation needed]Following her death, William married on 24 April 1583, his fourth and last wife, Louise de Coligny, by whom he had a son Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange.

[edit]References

^ Charmarie Blaisdell, ‘Religion, Gender, and Class: Nuns and Authority in Early Modern France’, in Michael Wolfe (ed.), Changing Identities in Early Modern France (London, 1997), pp.147-168, p155

Her paternal grandparents were Louis of Bourbon, Prince of La Roche-sur-Yon and Louise de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier. Her maternal grandparents were John IV de Longwy, Baron of Pagny, and Jeanne of Angouleme, illegitimate half-sister of King Francis I of France.

At two weeks old her mother, influential in the court of Catherine de'Medici, placed her in the royal convent of Jouarre, near Meaux, to be raised as a nun. The young Charlotte shocked both her family and the royal court by escaping the convent in 1572, announcing her conversion to Calvinism and fleeing to the Palatinate, well beyond her parents' reach.

On 24 June 1575 Charlotte married the Protestant William, Prince of Orange, and had six daughters, including Louise Juliana of Nassau, from whom descended the House of Hanover.

Charlotte allegedly died from exhaustion while trying to nurse her husband after an assassination attempt in 1582.Following her death, William married on 24 April 1583, his fourth and last wife, Louise de Coligny, by whom he had a son Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange.