Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands

The Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands was a short-lived sovereign principality and the precursor of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, in which it was reunited with the Southern Netherlands in 1815. The principality was proclaimed in 1813 when the victors of the Napoleonic Wars established a political reorganisation of Europe, which would eventually be defined by the Congress of Vienna. Proclamation After the liberation of the Netherlands from France by Prussian and Russian troops in 1813, a provisional government took over the country. It was headed by a triumvirate of Dutch noblemen, Frans Adam van der Duyn van Maasdam, Leopold of Limburg Stirum and Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp. This Triumvirate of 1813 formally took control over the liberated country on 20 November and declared the Principality of the United Netherlands a day thereafter. It was a foregone conclusion that any new government would have to be headed by William Frederick, the son of the last Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, William V. Although many members of the provisional government had helped drive out William V eighteen years earlier, most of its leading members agreed that it would be better for the Dutch to invite William Frederick themselves rather than have him imposed by the Allies. After receiving an invitation from the Triumvirate, William Frederick returned from his exile in England. He disembarked from HMS Warrior and landed at Scheveningen beach on 30 November 1813. While the Triumvirate offered to make him king, William Frederick turned it down, instead proclaiming himself "Sovereign Prince" of the United Netherlands on 2 December. He also insisted on "a wise constitution" for the liberated country.