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Netherlands: Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange (1584-1647), engraving by Simeon Ruytinck (-1621), Peace Palace Library, The Hague, 1614

Frederik Hendrik / Frederick Henry (1584-1647) was the ruling Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Guelders, Overijssel, Utrecht and Zeeland. The youngest son of the famed William the Silent, he was the half-brother of the previous Prince of Orange and his predecessor, Maurice, who passed away in 1625. Frederik was born six months before his father's assassination in 1584, and was trained in arms and educated by Maurice.

Frederik proved to be almost as fine a general as his half-brother, as well as a more capable politician and statesman, ruling over the Dutch United Provinces for twenty-two years and waging a successful war against the Spanish Empire. The power of the stadtholderate reached its highest point under him, with the 'Period of Frederik Hendrik' being styled by Dutch writers as a golden age for the young republic.

Frederik managed to secure a concluding peace that legitimised the United Provinces before his death in 1647, finally realising what the Dutch had been seeking for eighty years with the Treaty of Munster, which was formally ratified and signed a year after his death.