Orange Lion
What a coincidence, my orange lion today and tomorrow is a holiday in the Netherlands: Queen's Day, which means a lot of people will be dressing up in orange hats, clothes, hair, make-up and anything else orange they can find.
Orange is the colour originally associated with our Royal Family, ever since the son of German born Hendrik III of Nassau-Breda and French born Claudia of Châlon-Orange inherited the Principality of Orange from his uncle Philibert of Châlon in 1530. After his death, his cousin William of Nassau-Dillenburg inherited all his lands. This William I (William the Silent) became the founder of the House of Orange-Nassaus.
Nowadays, the Orange House is still the unofficial name for our Royal Family and the colour orange is used for everything that has to do with our patriotism. So, whenever you see a lot of orange together, chances are there is a sports match going on with Dutch competitors. Or in the case of tomorrow: to celebrate the Queen's Birthday.
HAPPY QUEEN'S DAY!!!
For more O words, please check out ABC Wednesday
Fascinating. Isn't his the reason that carrots are orange too instead of purple they used to be, due to the house of Orange?
ReplyDeleteInteresting post...I didn't know all this about orange...
ReplyDeleteHappy Queens Day - interesting - I had no idea...
ReplyDeleteCongratulations with the day - you have a royal family that has done its part to make the Netherlands and the Dutch people famous.
ReplyDeletePS Thank you for the kind comment! You are right - if it didn't work I wouldn't be writing this :-)
happy queen's day!!
ReplyDeleteand that is a cute orange lion :)
I do know the importance of House of Orange in the European history, but did not realize its importance even till today to Netherlands. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHi! How funny to meet another Dutch woman! It's no coincidence that I also posted something Koninginnedag. I did it yesterday for "That's My World". Next week I will post something about the three ruling queens in Europe.
ReplyDeleteNou leuk je ontmoet te hebben! Bedankt voor het stukje extra informatie over de geschiedenis van het huis van Oranje. Ik had er vorig jaar bij de letter "O" ook al iets over geschreven, maar niet zo uitgebreid. Bedankt!
funny guy:)
ReplyDeletenice O:)
Fascinating history, Mara! I didn't realize that orange is the official color of the Netherlands, but it certainly makes sense. Was William I also the King of England, or was that a later William?
ReplyDeletethis made me smile... ta.
ReplyDeletemine’s here
@Babooshka: ehm, I didn't know that, but after searching for it I indeed found a relation between carrots and Dutch, however, I don't think it was a Royal connection!
ReplyDelete@Carol: it's a hideous colour, apart from nature and of course in patriotism.
@Tumblewords: that's the great thing about the blogworld: you learn of different cultures across the world.
@RunE: There have been votes to abolish our monarchy, but when will the Dutch ever get to open major meetings like UN-meetings, unless by our queen or king!
@magiceye: I shot him during a match between the Netherlands and Macedonia a few weeks ago.
@Grace and Bradley: as I said to RunE as well, they make our small country just this little bit bigger!
@Reader Wil: Er was toch geen andere keuze mogelijk dan Oranje!
@LiBeReJo: Thank you.
@Rose: William I of England was actually William the so manyith of the Netherlands. He was the one the English got to get rid of his father-in-law and he became (in)famous by the Battle of the Boyne, still celebrated by Protestant (Northern) Irish: the so-called Orangemen.
Our first proper king (early 19th century) also carried the name of William I.
@Gaz: I'm happy I made you smile!
Ah yes - and a William of Orange married into our Royal family, I believe!
ReplyDeleteI don't think he looked like that though. LOL!
Very interesting - I did not know
ReplyDeletethe color orange was associated with the Netherlands.
Happy Queens Day!
I did not know all you are telling.Thank you! Have a fun abc.
ReplyDeleteHappy Queens Day. I love the photo of that cute little character!
ReplyDeleteYour football fans always look as though they are having fun in their orange.
ReplyDeleteHi!
ReplyDeleteGreat "O" post!! Thanks for sharing all this info about your royal family! Hope the Queen has a wonderful birthday! Thanks for stopping by my place. Have a great evening!
Sherrie
Ooh, what an informative post! I did not know any of this. I tend to think of purples and reds as royal colors.. orange is an interesting one.
ReplyDelete