Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont
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Her Serene Highness Princess Adelheid Emma Wilhelmina Theresia of Waldeck and Pyrmont (August 2, 1858 - March 20, 1934) was queen consort of William III of the Netherlands of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg. An immensely popular member of the Dutch royal family, she also was Queen Regent (1890 - 1898) and Queen Mother (1890 - 1934).
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She was born in Arolsen, Germany, on 2 August 1858, a daughter of Georg Viktor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, and his wife, Princess Helena Wilhelmina Henrietta of Nassau. Her sister, Helena Frederica, would become the wife of Queen Victoria's son Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany.
She married William III in 1879, two years after his first wife, Princess Sophie of Württemberg, had died. (The aging, licentious king, once described as "the greatest debauchee of the age," had previously been rejected by her sister, Princess Pauline of Waldeck and Pyrmont, and Princess Thyra of Denmark.) With William, Emma had her only child, the future Queen Wilhelmina, in 1880. The king also had three sons, Maurice, William, and Alexander, all of whom died before him.
When William died in 1890, Emma became queen regent for her underaged daughter, Wilhelmina, the late king's only surviving child. She would remain queen regent until Wilhelmina's eighteenth birthday in 1898. The grand duchy of Luxembourg, which could not be inherited by a woman at that time, passed to Adolf, Duke of Nassau.
She died in 1934, of complications from bronchitis, and was buried in Delft.de:Emma von Waldeck-Pyrmont nl:Emma van Waldeck-Pyrmont