From 1810 until 1813, both the Southern and Northern Netherlands were incorporated into the First French Imperium. After Napoleon’s defeat in the Russian campaign (1813), the British took the initiative to install the House of Orange on the Dutch throne.
Willem Frederik departed from England and set foot on Dutch soil on November 30, 1813. He made his festive entry in Amsterdam on December 2 and officially took the title of “Sovereign.” Later on, he became king.
During the celebration, the inhabitants of Amsterdam showed a lot of enthusiasm and warm feelings, as asserted in all newspapers and pamphlets from this period. Exceptional was the eyewitness report of a (pro-Orange) journalist:
“Although this proclamation of the new monarch was passionately acclaimed by the crowd, the riffraff of Amsterdam, in spite of its hereditary devotion to the House of Orange, listlessly muttered. It reproduced the ancient anthem but changed the words “Our prince – albeit small, will be stadholder” into “Our prince, albeit small, need not be sovereign at all”
Read the pamphlet
Levensschets van zijne Majesteit Koning Willem Frederik... [biography of his majesty...]('s Gravenhage 1844), p. 58-61
IISH call no N 104/8.
A different account is presented in the pamphlet
Mijne Verantwoording aan het Volk van Nederland…[my account to the people of the Netherlands] by B.A. Fallee (Amsterdam 1813), p. 62-65
IISH call no AB E 4300d.