The Dutch royalty & the kingfisher
Are you a colorful bird with mythical powers: steadfast and calm in bad weather? Do your feathers happen to be orange, white and blue? Congratulations! You’ve been chosen as a national symbol. The Dutch royalty & the kingfisher go back a long way. For William of Orange it was love at first sight. In his opinion the bird represented everything he stood for.
Nickname William of Orange
Nicknames can be a man’s best friend. William of Orange went into history as De Zwijger - the man who doesn’t - want to- speak. In English he is referred to as ‘The Silent’. In tense political situations he would remain calm and say very little. His opposers would depict him as unable to choose a side, make decisions and being astute There is an anecdote before the start of the Eighty Years of War which nicely shows how these traits: "The King (of France) talked on thus to Orange in the full conviction that he was aware of the secret agreement recently made with the Duke of Alba for the extirpation of heresy. But the Prince, subtle and adroit as he was, answered the good King in such a way as to leave him still under the impression that he, the Prince, knew all about the scheme proposed by Alba; and on this understanding the King revealed all the details of the plan which had been arranged between the King of Spain and himself for the rooting out and rigorous punishment of the heretics, from the lowest to the highest rank, and in this service the Spanish troops were to be mainly employed."
I am a rock
William the Silent wanted to be seen as the rock people could hold on to in times of trouble.
In 1568 the Netherlands was ruled by the King of Spain. William saw the effect of the King’s oppression and the raise of taxes on the Dutch people. In 1568 he started the Dutch revolt. It led to the Eighty Years of War - The war ended in 1648- In 1581, that was even during the revolt!, William got many of the provinces of the Netherlands to sign the Act of Abjuration. This Act was a declaration of independence of the United States of the Netherlands. During these years of war William lived by the motto: ‘Saevis tranquilus in undis’, calm in stormy waters. And this motto is linked to the Kingfisher.
The character the Dutch royalty & the kingfisher have in common
The great traits of the kingfisher first appear in a Greek myth. The bird would build its nest on top of the waves, proud, persistent and not afraid for wind or storm. Centuries of myths and legends followed untill Basilius the Great thought it nice to connect the motto ‘tranquillum esse media bruma’ - to be calm in the middle of a storm- to a picture of a kingfisher calmly sitting on its nest on stormy waters. Centuries later this motto was slightly adjusted by humanist Alciatus. In his Emblemata he speaks of ‘tranquilli in marmoris unda’ - calm in the marmor wave. The bird he speaks of, unfortunately, is a falcon. Nevertheless his work may have been brought to the attention of the Prince of Orange, aka William the Silent.
The other link between the Dutch royal family & the kingfisher
It was at that time that the link between the Dutch royal family & the kingfisher was first made. It was the peace loving, steadfast character of the bird that attracted William. Moreover the metallic blue bird with his orange breast and white stripes, was a perfect match with the colors of the House of Orange.
The Queen mother is calm
The kingfisher was a loyal companion on William the Silent’s journey to independence. Then he was forgotten. Queen Wilhelmina started using the motto again and had a kingfisher on her desk. And then,then William Alexander came. At the time of his coronation, 30 April 2013 he thanked his mother, Beatrix for her hard work and for being ‘calm in stormy waters’.
Royal Delft blue pottery and the kingfisher
The link between the Dutch royal family & the kingfisher is immortalised in the Royal Delft Blue plates King William Alexander had made for his 50th birthday. The royal earthenware collection depicts the bird peacefully moving around in a sea of blue. See if you can find the motto, it encircles the stamp on the backside of the pottery.
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The anecdote of William of Orange & the King of France is taken from https://fampeople.com/cat-william-the-silent_6
For this article I used the website of Royal Delft & my contacts there and Wikipedia
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