Goejanverwellesluis

It was here that Wilhelmina of Prussia was arrested on 28 June 1787.

In that year, tensions between patriots and royalists had risen to such an extent that the Republic of the United Netherlands was on the brink of civil war. Stadtholder William V was in Nijmegen but did nothing. However, his energetic wife Wilhelmina of Prussia took matters into her own hands and secretly left for The Hague to put things in order. The patriots discovered this and detained the princess in the vicinity of this Goejanverwelle lock. A few hours later, they released her, without apology.

Back in Nijmegen, Wilhelmina of Prussia wrote to her brother Frederick, King of Prussia, and persuaded him to demand an apology for the unfair treatment of his sister and brother-in-law. He came to the rescue and sent a Prussian army of 25,000 men to the Netherlands. There was no opposition. Like hares, the patriots fled from the army. some sought refuge in Paris.

The power of William V had been restored until the invasion of the French in 1795.

Source: http://www.nationaalarchief.nl/

Dromos