Prinsenvlag
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The Prince's Flag ( nl, Prinsenvlag) is a
Dutch flag The national flag of the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlandse vlag) is a horizontal tricolour of red, white, and blue. The current design originates as a variant of the late 16th century orange-white-blue ''Prinsenvlag'' ("Prince's Flag"), evolvi ...
, first used in the Dutch Revolt during the late 16th century. The Prince's Flag is based on the flag of Prince William of Orange-Nassau, hence the name. The colours are orange, white and blue. On the basis of the French names of these colours, ''orange-blanc-bleu'', the flag is also referred to by the Dutch rhymes ''oranje-blanje-bleu'' and ''ranje-blanje-bleu''. This flag is controversial in the Netherlands due to its usage in the past by the pro-Nazi NSB. The flag is now mostly used in the Netherlands by far right activists and in historical re-enactment in equivalence to the usage of the Confederate battle flag in the United States.


History

The colours orange, white and blue (Dutch: ''Oranje, Wit, Blauw'' or ''Oranje, Blanje, Bleu'', from French ''Orange, Blanche, Bleu'') are associated with William Prince of Orange (1533–1584). William is reported to have used these colours as early as 1577, as part of his procession entering
Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded i ...
. Jacob Duym also reports that in the siege of Leiden in 1574, the Dutch officers wore orange-white-blue brassards. From this, Rey (1837) concludes that the combination of orange-white-blue was certainly used by the Prince of Orange in the 1570s. The first reference to a naval flag in these colours dates to 1587, when the
Admiralty of Zeeland The Admiralty of Zeeland was one of the five admiralties of the navy of the Dutch Republic. One of its famous admirals was Joost Banckert. The Admiralty of Zeeland was disestablished in 1795, alongside the other admiralties. Board of the Zeeland ...
ordered these flags to fly on their warships.Jean Rey, ''Histoire du drapeau, des couleurs et des insignes de la Monarchie française'' vol. 2, 1837
p. 515f
The naval flag was used by the '' Watergeuzen'' (''Gueux de mer'', "Sea Beggars"), the pro-Dutch
privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
s during the Dutch Revolt. According to de Waard (1900), the Dutch navy between 1588 and 1630 always displayed the Prince's Flag, and after 1663 always the red-white-blue ''
Statenvlag The ''Statenvlag'' ("States Flag") is the name of the flag of the States-General of the Dutch Republic, the red-white-blue tricolour flag replacing the older orange-white-blue Prince's Flag in the mid 17th century. The modern national flag of ...
''. The latter was introduced gradually during the 1630s to 1650s, and named "States' Flag" in 1664. During the 17th century the Prince's Flag was hoisted on the Castle of Good Hope and saluted by incoming ships. The orange-white-blue flag formed the basis for the
South African flag The flag of South Africa was designed in March 1994 and adopted on 27 April 1994, at the beginning of South Africa's 1994 general election, to replace the flag that had been used since 1928. The flag has horizontal bands of red (on the top) ...
of 1928. It is also the basis for the flags of
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
and
Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York Cit ...
. After the republican Patriots, aided by the French, seized control over the Netherlands in 1795, the Prince's Flag was forbidden and the red-white-blue flag became the only official flag in order to dissociate from the House of Orange, to the content of the French, analogous as they were to their own tricolour, chosen just a few months earlier. In the following period of the
Kingdom of Holland The Kingdom of Holland ( nl, Holland (contemporary), (modern); french: Royaume de Hollande) was created by Napoleon Bonaparte, overthrowing the Batavian Republic in March 1806 in order to better control the Netherlands. Since becoming Empero ...
, there was also no place for Orange and the Bonapartist King Louis I chose red. In 1813, when the French were expelled and the Netherlands regained its independence, the Prince of Orange returned to the country from England. The Prince's Flag saw a short revival; to demonstrate the attachment of the people to the House of Orange, both this flag and the red-white-blue flag fluttered on the roofs. In the same year, for the first time, the red-white-blue flag was flown with an orange pennant, which has remained the custom in the Netherlands. Whether the Prince's Flag or the red-white-blue flag should be the national flag was left undecided, although the Prince of Orange, later King William I, preferred the latter. In the 1930s, the supporters of the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands (NSB) chose the orange-white-blue and the Prince's Flag as their symbol. Queen Wilhelmina in 1937 signed a Royal Decree that the colors red, white and blue are set as the official colors of the
Dutch flag The national flag of the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlandse vlag) is a horizontal tricolour of red, white, and blue. The current design originates as a variant of the late 16th century orange-white-blue ''Prinsenvlag'' ("Prince's Flag"), evolvi ...
.


Usage

The Prince's flag was raised from the old Matthias church tower in Warmond in 2013 as part of the celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The flag is also used as a symbol of the Greater Netherlands and Dutch pan-nationalist movements. It is frequently used by extreme right-wing groups such as the
Dutch People's Union The Dutch People's Union ( nl, Nederlandse Volks-Unie, , NVU) is a Dutch Neo-Nazism, Neo-Nazi political party. The party supports a merger between the Netherlands and Flanders. History The party was founded as a political party on 27 May 1971 ...
(NVU) and '' Voorpost'', as well as the (now defunct) Nationalist People's Movement (NVB). In 2011, two members of parliament for the Party for Freedom (PVV) had the Prince's flag hanging in their offices in the parliament's building. When this was received with scrutiny, the flags were removed. Former Dutch MP
Wim Kortenoeven Robert Frank Willem "Wim" Kortenoeven (born 29 May 1955) is a Dutch author, journalist and former politician. Kortenoeven engages in political developments in the Middle East, focusing on the Arab-Israeli conflict. He also writes about Jewish h ...
said he was perturbed by the negative connotations the flag carries as he believes the flag was "hijacked" by the NSB. At a PVV protest on 21 September 2013 in
The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
, several attendants were carrying Prince's flags. When Geert Wilders was speaking in House of Representatives the same week, Alexander Pechtold referred to the flags as 'NSB-flags', to which Wilders called Pechtold a "sad, measly, hypocritical little man." In protest of Pechtold's remark, at least five PVV members of the House of Representatives, Martin Bosma,
Reinette Klever Reinette Joanne Klever (born 21 July 1967) is a Dutch politician and former asset manager. She was a member of the House of Representatives for the Party for Freedom between 20 September 2012 and 23 March 2017. She was a member of the Senate ...
,
Machiel de Graaf Machiel de Graaf (; born 26 June 1969) is a Dutch politician and physical therapist. As a member of the Party for Freedom (PVV) he was a member of the Senate as well as Senate group leader from 7 June 2011 to 20 September 2012. He has been a ...
, Harm Beertema and Barry Madlener wore a Prince's flag lapel pin.


Legacy

The Prince's Flag served as the basis for the flag of the Union of South Africa. This flag was adopted in 1928 and was inspired by the former Dutch flag. In the white part of the flag are the flags of (left to right) the United Kingdom, the
Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...
and Transvaal, representing the Union's British colonial and republican predecessor states. In 1994, the flag was replaced by the post-apartheid flag of South Africa. In 2004, the Afrikaner town of Orania adopted a new flag based on the colours of the Prince's Flag. The flag is divided vertically (symbolizing a fresh beginning) with the white stripe replaced by a picture of a boy rolling up his sleeves (symbolizing going to work). As a consequence of its beginnings as the Dutch colony of
New Netherland New Netherland ( nl, Nieuw Nederland; la, Novum Belgium or ) was a 17th-century colonial province of the Dutch Republic that was located on the east coast of what is now the United States. The claimed territories extended from the Delmarva ...
, several places in
New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the 27th-largest U.S. sta ...
and
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...
use variants of the Prinsenvlag as their official flags. These places include New York City, Jersey City,
the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...
, Albany, and Nassau County. File:Flag_of_South_Africa_(1982–1994).svg, Flag of South Africa (1928–1994) File:Orania_flag.svg, Flag of Orania File:Flag_of_New_York_City.svg, Flag of New York City File:Flag_of_Albany,_New_York.svg, Flag of Albany, New York File:Flag_of_The_Bronx.svg, Flag of
the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...
File:Flag of Jersey City, New Jersey.gif, Flag of Jersey City, New Jersey File:Brielse Geus.svg, Naval jack Brielse Geus File:Prinsenvlag7.svg, Variant on the Prince's flag File:Hu flag 1.png, Flag of
Hofstra University Hofstra University is a private university in Hempstead, New York. It is Long Island's largest private university. Hofstra originated in 1935 as an extension of New York University (NYU) under the name Nassau College – Hofstra Memorial of New ...


See also

*
Statenvlag The ''Statenvlag'' ("States Flag") is the name of the flag of the States-General of the Dutch Republic, the red-white-blue tricolour flag replacing the older orange-white-blue Prince's Flag in the mid 17th century. The modern national flag of ...


References


External links

{{Dutch flags Dutch Republic Historical flags Flags of the Netherlands Flag controversies