Scheveningen Obelisk
The stone Scheveningen obelisk with gold ball on top is the ‘King’s Landing Monument’. It celebrates the day Willem Frederik, Prince of Orange returned from exile to claim his birth right to be the new leader of Holland after Napoleon’s defeat…
On 30th November 1813, a month after Napoleon’s army was defeated in the Battle of Leipzig (Germany), the prince sailed across the North Sea from England, to claim his birthright as leader of Holland. He had fled with his father, Willem V, Stadtholder of Holland, in 1795 when the Dutch Republic fell to Napoleon. Willem V died in 1806, while in exile, making Willem-Frederik the rightful heir. He landed on the beach in Scheveningen close to where the monument sits today.
After initial disagreements about his title and position with the provisional Dutch government that had been set up following the French army’s withdrawal, Prince Willem Frederik was coronated ‘Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands‘ in Amsterdam in March 1814.
One year later, in March 1815, the Congress of Vienna officially elevated him to King Willem I of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (at the time the kingdom included present day Belgium and Luxembourg).
The monument commemorating his landing on the beach in Scheveningen was commissioned by his son, King Willem II, who ascended to the throne in 1840.
But it wasn’t until 30th November 1865 that the obelisk monument in Scheveningen was unveiled. By this time, King Willem III had already been on the throne for 15 years.
Engraved in Dutch at the base of the obelisk are the words Het Dankbare Volk (i.e. The Grateful People). The Scheveningen obelisk monument was designed by architect Arend Roodenburg.
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