Prince Frederick Masonic Store Dutch regalia

After the restoration of the stadtholdership in 1744, Freemasonry revived. In 1756, ten lodges joined together to form the 'Groote Loge der Zeven Vereenigde Nederlanden', which name was changed in 1817 to the name that still applies today: Orde van Vrijmetsaren onder het Grootoosten der Nederlanden'.Two princes of the House of Orange held the position of Grand Master of the Order of Freemasons in the 19th century: Prince Frederik (the younger brother of King William II, who was also a Freemason) for 65 years, from 1816 to 1881, and Prince Alexander (the younger son of King William III) from 1882 until his early death in 1884.

Frederik, Prince of the Netherlands, was born on 28 February 1797, the second son of Prince William Frederik, later King William I. Born and raised in Berlin, he was for some years an active officer in Prussian service, and in 1813 entered the Netherlands. He married Louisa Augusta Amelia, daughter of Frederick William III, King of Prussia. Frederick became commander of the army corps during the Belgian revolt in 1830 and in 1840 appointed Field Marshal of the army.

In 1816 he was accepted as a Freemason in a Berlin lodge of the German Grand Lodge "Zu den Drei Weltkugeln" and in the same year he was appointed as Grand Master National of the Grand East of the Netherlands and for the Chapter of the High Degrees. In 1819 he declared that he did not want to work in the High Degrees any more, because he detested the Christian character and thought that this would undermine the character of
Freemasonry as a sanctuary for all believers. In addition, this was partly in connection with the establishment of the Department of the Master Degree, which he had envisaged. In 1835, however, the prince was again elected Grand Master National for all Dutch obediences.

In 1856 he donated the The Order In 1856 he donated the building on the Fluwelen Burgwal in The Hague, which remained in use as an Order and Lodge building until 1993. In 1866, during the celebration of his 50th anniversary of Freemasonry, Frederick donated the famous library of Georg Kloss, which he had purchased, to the Order and took the initiative to found the Louisa Foundation.

In his time he was a highly respected and beloved member of the House of Orange. From the moment his father King William I was proclaimed sovereign of the Netherlands in 1813 until his death in 1881, he played an important role as advisor to Kings William I (his father), William II (his brother) and William III (his nephew). He was also very active in society. For instance, the Prince was for 65 years Grand Master of the Order of Freemasons of the Metropolitan Netherlands.

Prince Frederick Grand Master Order of FreemasonsPrince Frederick was born in Berlin in 1797, the son of hereditary Prince William Frederick (later King William I) and Princess Wilhelmina.
The reason he was not born in the Netherlands but in Berlin was that his family, led by his grandfather Stadtholder William V, had had to flee the country two years earlier because of the French invasion. At that time, the chance that the Oranges would ever return to the Netherlands as a stadholder family seemed very small. Prince Frederik therefore grew up mainly in Prussia and other German principalities and received a corresponding (partly military) Prussian upbringing. It was only after Napoleon's failed campaign in Russia that the tide began to turn in the European balance of power and there was some prospect of a return to the long-lost fatherland.
In 1813, Willem Frederik was proclaimed Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands after he landed on the coast of Scheveningen on 30 November of that year. Square 1813 in Willemspark and the monument to independence unveiled by Prince Frederik in 1869 in the middle of the square are reminders of this event.

Prince Frederik first set foot on Dutch soil in December 1813 and shortly afterwards began studying at Leiden University. From 1815, when William I had become King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Prince took up public functions: in 1815 he became a member of the Council of State, in 1816 Grand Master of the Order of Freemasons and in 1817 Grand Master of Artillery. The reason that Prince Frederik became Grand Master of the Freemasons was political: there was some fear that the Freemasons would want to block the policy of unification of the Northern and Southern Netherlands. This was especially true for the southern Lodges where there were many opponents of the United Kingdom and Bonapartists and who were still connected to the French Grand-East. Therefore, royal supervision was considered necessary. For Freemasonry, this had the advantage of a direct link to the royal family. With this aim in mind, a court lodge called L'Union Frédérique was founded in 1816, which in many respects can be seen as a forerunner of L'Union Frédéric, founded in 1914.

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The Louisa State in Baarn.

Although his entrance into Freemasonry had a political background, the prince took his task as Grand Master seriously.
Frederik soon felt at home in the brotherhood and soon began to involve himself in all kinds of organisational aspects of Freemasonry.
An important Masonic legacy of the prince concerns the still existing Divisions of the Master Degree, which was to form an alternative to the higher degrees.
For Prince Frederik personally, Freemasonry was a school of learning in many respects: in addition to the "usual" Masonic education, he learned how to manage an unruly organisation with very diverse people and visions. Above all, Freemasonry brought him into contact with many people (ordinary citizens) whom he would otherwise never have met.

A second important legacy of the prince concerns his gift of the Order building on the Fluwelen Burgwal. In 1847 he donated this building to the Order and until the beginning of the nineties of the 20th century the executive committee and the lodges in The Hague were housed here. Condition for this gift was that the three existing lodges in The Hague Loge L'Union RoyaleEendragt maakt Magt and L'Union Fréderique would merge into one Lodge. In 1847, he offered the Hague Masonic Lodges L'Union Royale (founded 1757), Eendragt maakt Magt(1795) and L' Union Frédéric (1816) the "use and exploitation" of the building. A temple was built in the garden. In 1856, Prince Frederik donated the lodge building to the Masonic Order on the occasion of its 100th anniversary.

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The former Masonic building at 22 Fluwelen Burgwal in The Hague.

In 1825 Prince Frederick married the Prussian Princess Louise, who was also his niece (at this time, marriages between nephews and nieces were especially common in royal and noble families, as this was seen as an excellent way to establish and confirm political alliances). From this marriage two daughters and two sons were born. The eldest daughter Louise married King Charles XV of Sweden and Norway and thus became Queen of these countries. The present kings of Belgium and Norway and the Queen of Denmark descend from her and thus from Prince Frederick in a direct line. The Prince's two sons both died in childhood. During the winter, the Prince's family lived in a city palace on Korte Voorhout, which stood where the Ministry of Finance now stands and was destroyed in the bombing of Bezuidenhout in 1945. In the summer they lived in Huize de Pauw, the present town hall of Wassenaar.
Furthermore, the Prince owned considerable pieces of land in and around The Hague and he owned land in present-day Germany and Poland.
Unlike his brother King Willem II, he managed his capital skilfully and he died in 1881 as a very wealthy man.

The prince died on 08 September 1881 after a Grand Mastery of more than 65 years.

Thierry Stravers is co-owner of Masonic Store.
He likes to combine his passion for style and elegance with his Masonic activities.
Thierry is the owner of Trenicaa marketing agency and is a board member of Loge Enlightenment No.313 O: Hoofddorp.