“I will not be wearing orange on King’s Day!” exclaimed one of my Irish friends. “Did you know that William of Orange was the king responsible for the colonisation of Ireland by the British and he deepened the divide between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland?
“I will not wear orange in his name.”
“Did you also know that he is the reason that we mainly cultivate orange carrots? It is due to Dutch patriotism that purple, white and yellow carrots are virtually non-existent today,” I replied. “Wow. I did not know that,” said my friend in utter amazement.
“Even more reason to wear purple or yellow on that day, or any colour but orange.”
As I started to look into William of Orange’s impact on Irish history for myself, confusion erupted. When talking about William of Orange, there are several different versions, each being influential figures in consolidating the Protestant movement and for Dutch independence.
Here’s how to know which William you are referring to:
• William I (1533-1584)
• William II (1626-1650)
• William III (1650-1702).
William of Orange/William III
The William of Orange of whom my Irish friend spoke was born in The Hague in 1650, otherwise known as William III of England (1650-1702). He is famous for being the Dutch nobleman who invaded and ruled over England, Scotland and Ireland as a Protestant king. His ascension to the British throne was easy since England’s Catholic king, James II, had gone into hiding on the arrival of William’s army.
As a Stuart, William was accepted as ruler of England and had the backing of the Scottish court, consequently signifying the union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland. Amongst the Irish, however, he is greatly loathed for leading a bloody purge of Irish Catholics following the defeat of James II’s Jacobite Army at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
The country was divided between noblemen and cities who believed in one version of Christianity, and horrifically persecuted anyone of another faith. England’s battle between Protestants and Catholics demonstrated the norms in Europe during the period. However his predecessors, William I and William II, had the vision of embracing religious tolerance, which, to an extent, the Netherlands carries with them today.
William II
In order to understand how William III was able to ascend to the English throne with ease and support from Protestant nobles, we must meet his father, William II. William II of Orange was born in 1626 and died in 1650, just eight days before the birth of his son, William III. Although youthful in death, William II lived through the Treaty of Münster in 1648 which saw an ending to the Eighty Years War between the Spanish crown and the Dutch Calvinist rebels.
He was son of the Stadhouder Prince of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelders and Overijssel, and inherited these titles, along with Prince of Orange and Count of Nassau when his father died in 1647.
At age 14, William II was married to 9-year-old Mary Stuart, the daughter of King Charles I of England. Although her father was a devout Catholic, she had been raised a Protestant and the marriage strengthened ties between England and the Netherlands.
The House of Orange was at a central point in Dutch government for a century. It saw the Golden Age, the height of naval expeditions, art, science, water engineering and trading. The Netherlands was influential across Europe, not for religious beliefs, but for trade, arts, science.
William I (William the Silent)
The final William in today’s story might just be the William that the Orange of King’s Day is all about.
William I of Orange was undoubtably the original William of Orange. Ironically he was born neither a Dutchman nor “of Orange.” He was born in 1533 at Dillenburg Castle in Germany and was raised Protestant. Due to the childless death of his maternal uncle, he was offered the lands and corresponding titles of a feudal state situated in modern day France, north of Avignon and east of the Rhône, called Oranje, on the condition that he serve as a Catholic and a devout subject of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.
He accepted and converted his faith, and married Anna of Egmond, who was a respected, land-owning Dutch noblewoman from an influential family. It was believed that Anna and William found genuine affection through their arranged marriage and William, although loyal to the Spanish crown, grew a deep connection to the Dutch people.
Charles V ruled from afar and trusted his subjects, allowing for autonomous governing of parts of his empire. However, after his abdication, the reign of his son, Philip II of Spain, was much stricter. When Protestant rebels seized control of the Provinces, Philip’s approach was to restore order through terror.
Despite being a Catholic, William sympathised with the grievances of the Dutch people and fostered growing resentment towards the tyrannical rule of Philip II. He got his nickname, “Willem de Zwijger” (William the Silent) by keeping his true beliefs of religious tolerance to himself, and loyally served the Spanish crown until the moment was right to lead and enable Protestant revolts across the Low Countries.
William of Orange was a significant author behind the Act of Abjuration which rejected Philip II as rightful ruler of the Northern provinces since he was no longer serving his people justly, as a king should. It was the first legal step towards the formation of a Dutch Republic despite being ignored by Philip. As punishment for his involvement, a bounty was put on William’s head. Over the next four years, he avoided multiple assassination attempts until he was shot three times by a Catholic, Balthasar Gérard, at his home in Delft in 1584.
Willem de Zwijger is commonly known as the Vader des Vaderland (Father of the Fatherland), although it was not until after his death in 1588 that grounds for a Dutch Republic was formed as the first breakaway from Habsburg rule. Dutch independence wouldn’t hold any real significance or recognition until 1648, and not until 1815 would the first King of the Kingdom of the Netherlands be crowned. However, the successors of William I of Orange continued his ideology of religious tolerance, forming the grounds for the Netherlands to become the first kingdom in Europe that supported freedom of religious worship, which went hand-in-hand with freedom of speech.
Now in 2025, although with an increasing agonostic and atheist population amongst younger generations, Dutch people are proud of their history of free religious worship and free speech, and the impact of the three Williams of Orange on independence, liberation and national identity.
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Read more about King’s Day here in Dispatches’ archives.
Zoë Prifti
Zoë Prifti is a London-born, Eindhoven-based entrepreneur with a background in design. Zoë is new to writing. In her private practice, she works with fish leather and other organic matter under the broader theme of the circular economy.
