William III of England

About William III of England

William III of England, also known as William of Orange, was a pivotal European statesman whose primary historical significance stems from his central role in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. As a Protestant Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, he was invited to assume the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland jointly with his wife, Mary II, deposing his Catholic father-in-law, James II. This act fundamentally reshaped British governance, establishing parliamentary supremacy and securing the Protestant line of succession, cementing his place as the 210th most influential figure in history according to the Pantheon project's HPI.

Despite this monumental political and constitutional impact, William III's contemporary digital footprint suggests a significant attention gap. He garnered approximately 1.3 million annualized Wikipedia views in 2025. To provide context, this level of attention is less than half that received by the historically less significant George H. W. Bush (#788 importance), who achieved 4.4M views, and far less than that of Franklin D. Roosevelt (#338 importance) at 6.0M views. This indicates that the internet's focus remains heavily skewed toward more recent political figures over foundational figures of constitutional history.

Furthermore, his current momentum suggests a slight, though perhaps tenuous, resurgence of interest, with a 3% positive momentum swing between the first and third quarters of 2025, even as his year-over-year views declined by 12.7%.