Je Maintiendrai!

That text been right above the space where I wrote most of my blogs. It’s also the Oranges standard saying for quite a few ages now. It means “I maintain”.


Monday: I started writing this last Friday, but the team was so out of their heads (probably the heat) it was very distracting. Here comes another try.

Prince William III of Orange, or King William III

This saying is not only maintained, but also executed and ironic. The Oranges managed to maintain their bonds with the Netherlands and kept us out of foreign hands. They didn’t maintain the Republic; they made a kingdom of us. They hardly maintained themselves; the current “Oranges” came on the throne illegally. Queen Wilhelmina, our first ruling queen, took the throne illegally. I hear you gasping and wondering: “How so!?” Well, she was a woman. At the time only male decendants of the Oranges could inherit the throne. However, all of her brothers were dead by the time the old King died and only Wilhelmina survived her father.

It wasn’t the first time either the family took certain rights as their own. Back in the 17th/18th century the male Oranges weren’t very fruitful in their reproduction. It was the time were the title “Prince of Orange” was passed from father to son. When it was Prince William III’s turn the Orange dynasty came to and end in that line; Prince William (or King to the English) had no children. Eventually a cousin grabbed the title and we moved on.

Still the Oranges are still neatly and closely tied to the Netherlands. They made a promise: “Je Maintiendrai”. They did just that, with a bit of fumbling. Who cares, at least they keep their promises. Ssssort of…that’s a story for another post.