William III served as King of the Netherlands from 1849 to 1890. Though he was popular amongst a great deal of the citizens of the Netherlands, he became notorious for his poor treatment of political associates. He ordered for multiple colleagues to be arrested and even executed. In 1887, he started suffering from a kidney-ailment and after slowly deteriorating for about three years, he passed away at the age of 73.

On this day, November 23 of 1890, the death of King William III leaves the thrown of the Netherlands empty, without a rightful heir in place. In order to adapt to the situation, a new law was adopted and William III’s 10-year-old daughter Wilhelmina became queen while her mother Emma was named regent.

Wilhelmina reigned as queen up until 1948, when she abdicated to her daughter Juliana. During her years as queen she’d witnessed two World Wars and at the age of 68, she’d felt it was time to step down. She wrote an autobiography covering her time on the thrown, titled Lonely but Not Alone, and on November 28, 1962, she died at the age of 82.