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Philips was the 4th child and the 4th son of the Dutch diplomat, poet and composer Constantijn Huygens Sr. and Suzanna van Baerle. He was born on the 12th of October in 1633 and his delivery was an extremely difficult one - luckily the little boy was a healthy baby. Philips had 3 older brothers (3 of my posts before this one are about them). The oldest introverted and gossip-loving artist/diplomat Constantijn qnw Christiaan - the physicist and mathematician with a terrible health - were exceptionally intelligent people (Christiaan was seen as the best and most intelligent scientist in the whole Europe for decades). The 3rd brother Lodewijk was intelligent too - although compared to Christiaan and Constantijn he wasn't seen as "anything too extraordinary" by his family. And Lodewijk shared the same fate with Phillips. Philips was a slow kid and an average learner in all academic fields. He probably had the hardest time to learn something (compared to his brothers) and thus it became even more difficult for him to grow up according to the Huygens family "perfection standards". However, Huygens children all worked as a team so they tried to help Philips with his studies. He always had the strongest connection with Christiaan who taught him how to play a few instruments and how to sing. Philips' musical talent was around average but Christiaan tried to support him and enjoyed his music. Plus Christiaan always had a soft spot for Philips. Since Philips was the youngest of the brothers he became something like their messenger. Little Philips (or Phlip/Flip - the nickname his siblings gave him) grew up to be a good-natured calm young man who wasn't a scientist or an exceptional scholar but he was enthusiastic about Christiaan's work and telescopes. According to Huygens family unwritten rule he was supposed to be a diplomat (like all of his brothers). So he kinda became one -but a horrible thing happened. When he was on his Grand Tour he unexpectedly passed away. This was a huge blow for the whole family. The early death of their mother made all children dependent on each other even more and a loss of their 24-year-old brother was a HUGE blow.

Description
Philips was the 4th child and the 4th son of the Dutch diplomat, poet and composer Constantijn Huygens Sr. and Suzanna van Baerle. He was born on the 12th of October in 1633 and his delivery was an extremely difficult one - luckily the little boy was a healthy baby. Philips had 3 older brothers (3 of my posts before this one are about them). The oldest introverted and gossip-loving artist/diplomat Constantijn qnw Christiaan - the physicist and mathematician with a terrible health - were exceptionally intelligent people (Christiaan was seen as the best and most intelligent scientist in the whole Europe for decades). The 3rd brother Lodewijk was intelligent too - although compared to Christiaan and Constantijn he wasn't seen as "anything too extraordinary" by his family. And Lodewijk shared the same fate with Phillips. Philips was a slow kid and an average learner in all academic fields. He probably had the hardest time to learn something (compared to his brothers) and thus it became even more difficult for him to grow up according to the Huygens family "perfection standards". However, Huygens children all worked as a team so they tried to help Philips with his studies. He always had the strongest connection with Christiaan who taught him how to play a few instruments and how to sing. Philips' musical talent was around average but Christiaan tried to support him and enjoyed his music. Plus Christiaan always had a soft spot for Philips. Since Philips was the youngest of the brothers he became something like their messenger. Little Philips (or Phlip/Flip - the nickname his siblings gave him) grew up to be a good-natured calm young man who wasn't a scientist or an exceptional scholar but he was enthusiastic about Christiaan's work and telescopes. According to Huygens family unwritten rule he was supposed to be a diplomat (like all of his brothers). So he kinda became one -but a horrible thing happened. When he was on his Grand Tour he unexpectedly passed away. This was a huge blow for the whole family. The early death of their mother made all children dependent on each other even more and a loss of their 24-year-old brother was a HUGE blow.