Frederick V, Elector Palatine

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Frederick is also called the "Winter King" of Bohemia because his peers derisively thought he would only last through the Winter before he would be overthrown. In fact, his reign lasted just over a year, but the moniker stuck. He is shown wearing the rarely-seen Crown of Saint Wenceslas, and other Bohemian Regalia. Inexplicably, he is shown wearing the ceremonial collar of the exclusive Order of the Golden Fleece for which he, as a non-Catholic, was not eligible and he does not appear in the register of its members. On the table is the Cap representing his separate office as Elector of the Palatinate. Painted by Gerrit von Honthorst in 1634, two years after Frederick's death.

Frederick V (German: Friedrich V.) (August 16, 1596 – November 29, 1632) was Elector Palatine (1610–23), and, as Frederick I (Czech: Fridrich Falcký), King of Bohemia (1619–20, for his short reign here often nicknamed the Winter King, Czech Zimní král). He was the son and heir of Frederick IV and of Louise Juliana von Orange-Nassau, the daughter of William I of Orange and Charlotte de Bourbon-Monpensier.

Frederick V, Elector Palatine

Born at Jagdschloss (Hunting Lodge) Deinschwang near Amberg in the Upper Palatinate, Frederick V succeeded his father as Elector of the Rhenish Palatinate in the Holy Roman Empire in 1610. In 1619 the Protestant estates of Bohemia rebelled against the Roman Catholic Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and offered the crown of Bohemia to Frederick, selecting him since he was an influential member of the Protestant Union, an organization founded by his father for the protection of Protestants in the Empire.

Frederick duly accepted the crown, an act that is frequently cited as the final impetus for the outbreak of the Thirty Year's War, but his allies in the Protestant Union failed to support him militarily. His brief reign as King of Bohemia ended with his defeat at the Battle of White Mountain on November 8, 1620—a year and four days after his coronation. This earned him the derisive nickname of 'the Winter King'. After this battle, the Imperial forces invaded Frederick's Palatinate lands and he had flee to Holland in 1622. An Imperial edict formally deprived him of the Palatinate in 1623. He lived the rest of his life in exile with his wife and family, mostly at the Hague, before passing away in Mainz in 1632.