De troon

- Season 1

(2010)

Soon after the 1793 French Revolution's regicide of Louis XVII, a patriot rising preceding the 1795 French invasion sees the Orange dynasty's stadholder Willem V flee to England. After his death, heir Willem Frederik hopes to be restored and raised a king by Napoleon. Instead he gets to rule tiny German Fulda and looses even that, settling on a country estate with wife Mimi, mother, Wilhelmina of Prussia and even more ambitious son Willem 'Guillot'. The heir never finishes the Prussian academy, confused about his sexuality. After Bonaparte's Russian defeat, dad gets ...

1816, Dutch royal crown prince Guillot weds in St.Petersburg the Romanov czar's sister Anna Pauwlona, who settles in relatively petty court-life and even his affair with Portuguese former cadet mate Pereira. Sge gives him offspring, notably future heir Willem 'Kleintie', and fires his ambition to once rule France. Father king Willem I, who listens to the people but not his government, makes Guillot war minister and lets him settle in Brussels, blind to the brooding Belgian revolution. Guillot meets all kind of revolutionaries, goes to Catholic confession, ...

1829, Anna's jewels are all stolen in Guillot's Brussels palace. A suspect himself after the blackmail affair, he faces the s-czar's six months ultimatum, get them back after gay lover Pereira takes the blame and commits suicide, but reneges on sending them back to Moscow. The king sabotages his benign governorship, provokes the Belgians and mandates second son Frederik as military commander. The result is a Belgian secession, with Guillot's old rival Leopold as new king. 1840, Guillot's son Willem 'Kleintie' presents his bride, Sophie of Wurtemberg. The widowed king ...

1840, Guillot, who just became grandfather of Willem 'Wiwil', arranges for the press to leak father's marriage to a Flemish navy daughter and hints at his mental condition. Shortly after, Willem I abdicates in favor of his hated son and moves to Berlin, where he dies three years later. In the revolutionary year 1848, Thorbecke's liberal government and the people impose on Willem II a new constitution, abandoning all royal political power, partially because wayward crown prince Willem 'Kleintie' is obviously unfit. Shortly after, Guillot dies falling in his friend the ...

1849, Guillot dies from his fall in Tilburg's catholic cathedral. So half-wit son Willem is in line for succession, but refuses until the government convinces him to keep the throne warm at least until his son Wiwil reaches majority. Wiwil is blamed for the accidental death of his brother Maurits, which spoils the relationship with dad, only to worsen when Wiwili finds his true love, Mathilde van Limburg-Stirum, who is rejected by pa.

1876, King Willem ('William') II makes a mockery of the Dutch crown inn- and outside his realm. His embittered sons both refuse either contact or his succession. Influential courtier Dumonceau convinces Willem to seek a second marriage, hoping for a suitably heir. His reputation and revolting qualities scare off all suitable candidates, until the sister of the intended princess of tiny German principality Waldeck-Pyrmont accepts the adventure. Her arrival in Holland exasperates the father-son-conflict, but she gives Willem both domestic happiness and a crown princess,...