King Willem I (1772-1843)
When Napoleon fell, the Prince of Orange was in London. In November 1813, at the request of a number of leading Dutchmen, he returned home, to an enthusiastic popular welcome.
He accepted the offer to become the country’s sovereign prince, and later took the title of King Willem I.
The Kingdom of the Netherlands
In 1815 the Congress of Vienna merged the former Austrian Netherlands with the former Dutch Republic to create the Kingdom of the Netherlands, awarding Willem I the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg as compensation for the loss of his German possessions. The personal union of the Dutch crown and the Grand Duchy lasted until the death of Willem III in 1890.
During the wars the Republic’s overseas territories were occupied by the British. With the exception of Ceylon (the present-day Sri Lanka) and South Africa, they were returned after 1813.
Willem I ruled the kingdom in the spirit of enlightened absolutism, though he was subject to constitutional safeguards.
The secession of Belgium
The unification of the northern and southern Netherlands (now Belgium) was not a success. In the summer of 1830 revolution broke out in Brussels. The northern Netherlands waged a ‘Ten-Day Campaign’, in which the future King Willem II (1792-1849) distinguished himself. Nevertheless, the revolution was successful, culminating in the formation of an independent Kingdom of Belgium. Willem I did not recognise the new kingdom until 1839. He abdicated a year later.