The House of Orange [antikvár]

introduction What happened in 1530,1533 and 1544? Few Dutch people would know the answer to that question. And yet these dates are crucial to the history of the Netherlands. A series of coincidences in these years meant that the House of Orange-Nassau became inextricably bound up with the Netherlands. In 1530 'Nassau' was linked to 'Orange' when Philibert of Chalón, Prince of Orange, died childless and his independent principality in the Rhone Valley in southern France passed to his ii-year-old nephew, René of Nassau. Three years later William of Nassau, René's first cousin, was born in Dillenburg Castle. Eleven years after that, the 25-year-old René died without legitimate issue. He left almost all his property to his fortunate young cousin William. This Prince William of Orange was a sovereign prince, the equal of other rulers and consequently the most powerful nobleman in the Netheriands. Through his resistance to the Spanish-Habsburg ruler and thanks to his sons, who successfully carried on this fight, he forged a link between the Netherlands and Orange that has endured, with a few interruptions, to the present day. Their common fate is the subject of this book. We follow the Oranges as, with varying degrees of success, they acquired power and standing. Their fortunes fluctuated, and the real power that the Oranges wielded - first as stadholders, later as kings (or queens) - increased at first, but later, after 1848, essentially diminished. But this was perhaps their good fortune. On the political sidelines in the 19th century, they were able to stay on the throne while elsewhere in Europe monarchies were falling. In the following century, during the reigns of the three queens Wilhelmina, Juliana and Beatrix, the monarchy became firmly embedded in Dutch society. It was above all in times of war and adversity that the call for Orange was loudest: 'Spain or Orange' was the cry in the Eighty Years' War; 'Orange for Ever' resounded two centuries later. These days, 'We love Orange' rings out in sports stadiums. And a queen who is an outspoken champion of good cooperation in a united Europe is seen as a national symbol, as a bastion against a Brussels to which the Dutch government is handing more and more powers. Evidently the monarchy is now so much part of the Netherlands that this discrepancy between what Orange stands for and what Orange is associated with can simply exist. The Rijksmuseum owns a great many objects that reflect the fortune of the Oranges, and many of them are illustrated in this Rijksmuseum Dossier. A significant number of them come from the art collection amassed by Stadholder William V. King Louis Napoleon created a museum for them in the Royal Palace on Dam Square and opened it to the public. This was in 1808, during a brief interregnum when Orange was put in the museum both literally and figuratively. In 1813 the House of Orange returned to power and has remained on the throne ever since.