Okay, let’s be honest.  For people who don’t speak either English or German, learning Dutch is confusing. For starters, many Dutch words are hard to pronounce and because, like German, you combine nouns in Dutch, you end up with words that frankly make you give out an angstschreeuw (cry of fear). Then there are the vowels…, Slavic languages have too many consonants, Dutch has too many vowels and they are pronounced differently than in other languages (Gouda cheeses is pronounced GOWDA not GUDA in Dutch).  Word order follows German syntax which throws off French and English speakers.  Finally, the language is an amalgamation of several older languages so there are irregular verb constructs and WAY TOO MANY dialects and accents. Hell, some of the words mean different things in different sentences or even different cities.  Then to top it all off, written and spoken Dutch don’t often match up – Dutch isn’t a phonetic language. Finally, don’t get me started on idioms, it’s a frustrating language to learn.

So, consider the fate of poor Louis Bonapart whose brother, Napoleon, appointed him King of the Netherlands.  He wanted to make the people love him and what better way than to adopt their language – if you can.  This unfortunately led to his first official proclamation in 1808 that he was the ‘Rabbit of Holland.‘

After two years of Napoleon’s self-coronation[1], he appointed his brother Louis Napoleon Bonaparte as the king of the Netherlands. This was a strategic decision made in an attempt to restrict the chance of the Netherlands becoming independent.  His brother was to act as a puppet ruler. Even though the role was ceremonial, Louis took this role quite seriously, going so far as to adopt the Dutch form of his name, Lodewijk I, and attempting to learn the Dutch language.

As I said, wanting to learn Dutch and actually mastering the language are too very different things.  What Louis intended to announce was that he was king of the Netherlands (not just Holland[2]) “Iek ben Konig van Nederland.”  What he said was “Iek ben Konijn van Olland” – I am the rabbit of Holland.  Now the Dutch had a great joke and raveled in the mockery and the Dutch love a good joke.. 

Despite the joke, Louis was actually well-liked by his subjects (who doesn’t like rabbits?)  He ruled with compassion and sincerity, and the Dutch remember him as “Louis the Good.”  Sadly, Louis’ reign was to be short-lived. On July 1st 1810, Napoleon forced by his brother to abdicate, and on July 9th Holland was officially annexed into the kingdom of France.

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[1] Traditionally, French kings and emperors had their crowns placed on their heads by the Pope.  Napolean made the Pope preside over his coronation but then took the and placed it on his own head thereby announcing he was of equal status with Pope Pius VII.

[2] The Netherlands have 12 provinces of which only two can really be called Holland.  Holland is a region within the Netherlands that consists of the two provinces of North and South Holland. Formerly these were a single province, and earlier the County of Holland, which included parts of present-day Utrecht.

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