He was nicknamed Koning Gorilla, which is quite unfair to gorillas. He was known to have tempers, and turned violent towards people employed in his court. One thing he did was asking one of his employers to light his cigar with a matchstick, and then wait so long that the employer had to extinguish the match, otherwise he would burn his finger, and then the king withheld his salary for two weeks as a punishment for not lighting his cigar. He was also a staunch conservative, and he was very angry that a year before he became king the constitution of The Netherlands became much more liberal, limiting the power of the king. He mellowed down after his second marriage apparently.