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According to English Wikipedia, the red, white and blue flag of the Netherlands descends from the orange, white and blue prince’s flag of Willem van Oranje; according to Dutch Wikipedia, which dates the first mention of the prince’s flag to 1572, red, white and blue flags were already in use before the revolt, and the Beggars replaced the red with orange. Queen Wilhelmina fixed the colours by royal decree on 19 February 1937. The arms, the crowned lion of Nassau with a sword and seven arrows, date from 1815 and took their present form in 1907.
Flag
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Coat of Arms
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| Flag | Horizontal tricolour of red, white and blue |
|---|---|
| Colours fixed | Royal decree of 19 February 1937 |
| Forerunner | The prince’s flag, orange, white and blue (1572) |
| Arms | The lion of Nassau, crowned, with a sword and a sheaf of seven arrows, on blue strewn with gold billets |
| Arms adopted | 24 August 1815; present form by royal decree of 10 July 1907, laid down again on 23 April 1980 |
| Motto | Je Maintiendrai (‘I shall maintain’) |
| Provinces | 12 |
English Wikipedia says the red, white and blue flag grew out of the orange, white and blue prince’s flag of the revolt, and calls it the oldest tricolour flag in continuous use; Dutch Wikipedia says red, white and blue flags were used before the revolt, and that the Beggars put orange in place of the red. These are the stages of the flag, from the prince’s flag to the decree of 1937.
Click the thumbnails to go through the flags.
1597
Tierced per fess orange, white and blue.
Its forerunner appeared at the capture of Brielle on 1 April 1572: a banner of several stripes in the livery colours of Willem van Oranje, white and blue, with orange added; English Wikipedia says it is uncertain whether an orange, white and blue flag was flown at Brielle, although such a tricolour was certainly in use somewhat later in the 1570s. In June 1572 a journal first mentions the prince’s flag: “Gij zult op Papendrecht eene Princenvlagge zien waaien.” There was no fixed tricolour yet, and prince’s flags with three, six and even nine stripes existed. In 1596 the States of Holland decided that the banners of their garrisons should be “oranje, wit en blauw”, with the Generality lion on the white stripe, and in 1597 the prince’s flag was officially established by all the states in the States General. The navy sailed under it from 1588 to 1630.
1664
Tierced per fess gules, argent and azure.
Red, white and blue flags had been used in the Netherlands before the revolt, without official status; in 1409–1410 the treasurer of the counts of Holland bought a robe for Count Willem VI trimmed with red, white and blue velvet. Around 1630 the County of Holland replaced the orange of the prince’s flag with the red of the States flag, according to Dutch Wikipedia; English Wikipedia gives 1596 in its summary, while its text says red appeared as early as 1597 but more often after about 1630, gradually replacing orange between 1630 and 1660. The reason is uncertain: the Rotterdam writer L. Jonker Czn. attributed it to a change in the preparation of the dye; others point to the conflict between the States party and the Orangists, and Van Aitzema says the prince’s flag was changed in 1652 to please the English. After the death of Willem II van Oranje in 1650, the States party limited the use of the prince’s flag. In 1664 the States of Zeeland objected to the name “Hollandsche vlag”, and the official name became Statenvlag or Staatsche vlag. The navy used both flags from 1630 to 1662, and always the States flag after 1663.
1796
Red, white and blue, with a jack in the red stripe showing the Maiden of Freedom, a lion and a Roman fasces.
After the Batavian Revolution, a resolution of 14 February 1796 made the national flag “de gewoone en altoos in gebruik geweest zijnde Bataafsche of zogenaamde Hollandsche vlag, bestaande in drie evenwijdige en horizontaale banden”, red, white and blue, with a jack in the red stripe showing a Maiden of Freedom, a lion and a Roman fasces. The prince’s flag and orange pennants were no longer allowed, and the red and blue were made darker, to resemble the French tricolour. English Wikipedia describes this flag as the ensign of the Batavian navy. After a mutiny of sailors in 1806 who refused to sail under the new flag, the States flag was hoisted again, and a royal decree of 1 December 1807 restored it as the “Koninklijke Hollandsche vlag”.
1810
The vertical tricolour of the French Empire.
In 1810 the Kingdom of Holland was absorbed into the First French Empire and lost its sovereignty, and with it its own flag. The flag of the Empire, the vertical combination of red, white and blue that the French called the drapeau tricolore, was used until 1813, and the prince’s flag, like every other sign of attachment to the House of Orange, was firmly suppressed.
1813
Tierced per fess gules, argent and azure.
When the Netherlands regained their independence in 1813, the Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands chose the red, white and blue. The reason is unclear: it is speculated that the new ruler wanted to avoid further feuds between the Orangists and the States party, and that he allowed an orange pennant above the flag as an acceptable alternative; Dutch Wikipedia notes that this was never established with certainty. In the 1930s the calls to make the prince’s flag the national flag grew, until Queen Wilhelmina settled the question by royal decree no. 93 of 19 February 1937, the shortest royal decree ever: “De kleuren van de vlag van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden zijn rood, wit en blauw.” According to English Wikipedia, the exact colours, bright vermilion, white and cobalt blue, were defined by the Ministry of the Navy on 16 August 1949; both the English and the Dutch Wikipedia cite the standard NEN 3055 of November 1958, which fixed the colours as coordinates.
The lion holding a sword and a sheaf of arrows appears on the seal of the States General in 1579 according to Dutch Wikipedia, and on a great seal ordered in 1578 according to English Wikipedia. It was the arms of the Republic, gave way to the Dutch Maiden under the Batavian Republic and came back; in 1815 its crown, sword and arrows passed to the lion of Nassau on its blue field. These are its stages.
Click the thumbnails to go through the coats of arms.
1584
Gules, a lion Or, langued and armed Azure, crowned Or, holding raised in its dexter paw a sword Argent hilted Or and in its sinister a sheaf of seven arrows Argent pointed Or, bound with a ribbon Or.
According to Dutch Wikipedia, the lion first appears in 1579 on the seal of the States General, and the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands used it from 1584 as its arms, as a sign of its desired independence and unity. The sword and the sheaf of arrows were taken over from the earlier Habsburg rulers; the number of arrows was reduced to the real seven, one for each province. According to Dutch Wikipedia, the lion stands for the sovereign, the sword for the armed forces and the arrows for the united provinces; English Wikipedia reads the sword as the determination to defend their liberty and the crown as their sovereignty. Dutch Wikipedia dates the crown to 1609, while English Wikipedia already describes the lion of 1584 as crowned. The arms remained in use for more than 200 years, until 1795. Dutch Wikipedia disagrees with itself on the colours: one passage says the colours of Holland were used at first and reversed around 1668, another that the lion was adopted in gold on red in 1584; English Wikipedia supports the first version, with the colours reversed around 1668. The blazon given here is that of about 1668; the drawing follows an 18th-century design.
1796
A sketch for a new seal of the Batavian Republic, May 1796.
In 1795 the stadtholder Willem V fled to England, and the Patriots proclaimed the Batavian Republic. At first the Generality lion stayed in use, but a year later it was formally replaced by an emblem of the Dutch Maiden. The image is a sketch for a new seal of the Batavian Republic, dated May 1796.
1802
The lion of the Generality, on the great seal of the Batavian Republic.
In 1802 the Maiden was replaced by the lion again. The image shows the great seal of the Batavian Republic of 1802.
1806
The lion of the Generality combined with the French imperial eagle.
When the Kingdom of Holland was founded in 1806 under Lodewijk Napoleon, brother of the emperor Napoleon, the lion was kept and became the main element of new arms, together with the French imperial eagle. In 1810 the Netherlands officially became part of Napoleon’s empire and no longer used arms of their own. The image shows the arms of 1808.
1814
The arms of the former Republic, the former escutcheon of Chalon-Orange-Geneva, and over it the ancestral arms of Nassau.
Willem Frederik, son of the last stadtholder, became sovereign prince of the United Netherlands at the end of 1813. To express this new situation he set aside the old family arms of Orange-Nassau and chose a new design in 1814, combining the lion of the Republic with the main parts of his family arms.
1815
Azure, billetty Or, a lion Or, crowned, holding a sword and a sheaf of seven arrows.
With the founding of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, Willem I wanted entirely new arms. The arms of the States General suited neither the larger state, which now included the Southern Netherlands and the former prince-bishopric of Liège, nor a sovereignty now held by the monarch rather than the States General. A combination of the lions of Brabant and of the Generality was considered, but no agreement was reached on the colours. The family arms of Nassau, augmented with a crown, the sword and the sheaf of arrows, became the arms of the realm by decision of 24 August 1815, and the lion of Nassau became the new Dutch lion. Throughout the 19th century the first published drawings were followed, with two lions in natural colours as supporters, crowned with large arched crowns. The image shows the 19th-century version, dated 1830 to 1848 on Wikimedia Commons and 1815 to 1907 in Dutch Wikipedia.
1907
Azure, billetty Or, a lion Or crowned with a crown of three leaves and two pearl points of the same, holding a sword and a sheaf of seven arrows.
Queen Wilhelmina’s royal decree of 10 July 1907 ended the uncertainty and simplified the arms. Before, the lion in the shield and the supporters wore the royal crown with five arches; now only the lion in the shield wears an open crown of three leaves. The supporters, which had looked at the viewer, now face each other in the standard heraldic position, and the crest was changed. Only the monarch can change the arms officially, by royal decree.
State arms of the Netherlands (rijkswapen).
In azuur, bezaaid met blokjes van goud, een leeuw van goud, gekroond met een kroon van drie bladeren en twee parelpunten van hetzelfde, getongd en genageld van keel, in de rechtervoorklauw opgeheven houdende in schuinlinkse stand een zwaard van zilver met gevest van goud en in de linkervoorklauw een bundel van zeven pijlen van zilver met punten van goud, de pijlen tezamen gebonden met een lint mede van goud.
In English: azure, billetty Or, a lion Or crowned with a crown of three leaves and two pearl points of the same, langued and armed Gules, holding raised in its dexter forepaw a sword Argent hilted Or, bendwise sinister, and in its sinister forepaw a sheaf of seven arrows Argent pointed Or, bound together with a ribbon also Or. The supporters are two lions Or, langued and armed Gules, and the motto Je Maintiendrai is written in Latin letters of gold on a ribbon of azure. The description was laid down by Queen Wilhelmina in a royal decree of 10 July 1907 and laid down again by Queen Juliana on 23 April 1980.
The royal arms, with a mantle and a pavilion topped by the royal crown, are used only as the symbol of the King himself. The state arms, shown here, leave out the mantle and the pavilion; the government and the institutions linked to it use this version, which, according to Dutch Wikipedia, also appears on the passport. The small arms are only the shield with the royal crown, used where space is limited, for example on letters or coins.
The motto, French for ‘I shall maintain’, was borne by all the reigning members of the House of Nassau who were also Princes of Orange after 1530; its origin is tied to the inheritance of the sovereign principality of Orange. Willem van Oranje changed the inherited motto of the Chalons, ‘Je Maintiendrai Chalon’, into ‘Je Maintiendrai Nassau’; later he or his successors dropped the name, and the motto is still used in that form.
Since 2008 the ministries and many government services have used a logo designed by Studio Dumbar, a simplified version of the state arms in white and blue.
Each of the twelve provinces of the Netherlands has its own page in the atlas.
The first flag of the revolt, the prince’s flag, first mentioned in 1572, was orange, white and blue. From around 1630 red gradually replaced orange, and around the 1650s the red, white and blue States flag unofficially became the flag of the Republic. Queen Wilhelmina confirmed red, white and blue by royal decree on 19 February 1937.
The orange, white and blue flag that appeared during the revolt in 1572, in the colours of Willem van Oranje, and was officially established by the States General in 1597. It is not the national flag today.
By royal decree of Queen Wilhelmina of 19 February 1937, which states that the colours of the flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands are red, white and blue. There are no rules on the dimensions of the flag: the flag bill of 1937, which set the proportions at 2:3, was never passed, but that ratio is still generally followed.
A sword and a sheaf of seven arrows. According to Dutch Wikipedia, the lion stands for the sovereign, the sword for the armed forces and the arrows for the united provinces; English Wikipedia says the arrows symbolise the seven provinces of the Republic and the sword the determination to defend their liberty.
It is French for ‘I shall maintain’. The motto was borne by all the reigning members of the House of Nassau who were also Princes of Orange after 1530; Willem van Oranje changed the inherited ‘Je Maintiendrai Chalon’ into ‘Je Maintiendrai Nassau’, and the name was later dropped.
The royal arms, used only for the King; the state arms, without the mantle and pavilion, used by the government and, according to Dutch Wikipedia, on the passport; and the small arms, only the shield with the royal crown.
Illustrations: Wikimedia Commons. Arms of 1802 (OSeveno, after Sodacan), 1806 (Adelbrecht), 1814 (author unknown) and 1907 (Sodacan) and state arms (CC BY-SA 3.0); flag of 1796 by Tom Lemmens (CC0); other illustrations in the public domain.
Last reviewed by the Emblema Mundi editorial team on 22 October 2026.
