The Prince and the City
Central to the exhibition is the confrontation between the most powerful person and the most powerful city in the country; a story of royal and political spectacle leading up to a turbulent time. With dinners, banquets, ceremonial carriage tours through the city and a spectacular ball in the Citizens' Hall, Amsterdam's city council pulls out all the stops for the brand-new princely couple. Amsterdam needed the powerful stadtholder.
Wars and commercial competition are hampering the city’s economic growth, poverty is on the rise, and there are grumblings of dissatisfaction with the city council. For his part, the young William V wishes to establish a foothold in this mighty city, and so the two political powerhouses have sought each other out. For the people of Amsterdam, the stadtholder’s reception offers a welcome distraction in uncertain times. For a brief moment, all seems right with the world.
In the midst of a flag parade, illuminated facades, and festivities, the mayors of Amsterdam and Stadholder William V cordially greeted each other, unaware that the unrest of the late eighteenth century would culminate in a conflict between Patriots and Orangists, leading to a constitutional upheaval.
