Wilhelmus van Nassouwe, usually known just as the Wilhelmus ( Dutch: het Wilhelmus ; English translation: the William ), is the national anthem of the Netherlands and is the oldest national anthem in the world making it over 438 years old.

The Wilhelmus is played only once at a ceremony or whatever other event and, if possible, it is to be the last piece of music to be played.

During international sport events, such as the World Cup, UEFA European Football Championship, and the Summer Olympic Games the Wilhelmus is also played.

The melody is very similar, but not identical to that of the Wilhelmus.

The second major variation is the song " Wenn alle untreu werden " ( German: " If everyone becomes unfaithful ") better known as " Das Treuelied ", which was written by the poet Max von Schenkendorf ( 1783 – 1817 ) and used exactly the same melody as the Wilhelmus.

Whilst Ons Heemecht is the national anthem, the royal anthem, or more accurately the Grand Ducal anthem, is De Wilhelmus.

Wilhelmus Nicholaas Theodore Marie " Bill " Vander Zalm ( born May 29, 1934 ) is a politician and entrepreneur in British Columbia, Canada.

The oldest national anthem is the " Wilhelmus ", the Dutch national anthem, written between 1568 and 1572 during the Dutch Revolt, which became the official Dutch national anthem in 1932.

As a poet, St. Aldegonde is mainly known through his metrical translation of the Psalms ( 1580 / 1591 ); and, the Dutch national anthem Wilhelmus van Nassouwe is also ascribed to him.

< div align =" center "> Wilhelmus Schickart HerrenbProfessor of Hebrew and AstronomyBorn 22 April 1592Painted 1632 AD </ div > Wilhelm Schickard is holding a hand planetarium ( or orrery ) of his own invention.

Tollens wrote nationalistic romances and lyrics celebrating the great deeds of Dutch history and today is best known for his poem " Wien Neêrlands Bloed " (" To Those in Whom Dutch Blood Flows "), which was the Dutch national anthem until it was superseded in 1932 by Marnix ' " Wilhelmus ".

Wilhelmus " Willy " Antonius van de Kerkhof () ( born 16 September 1951 ) is a former Dutch footballer.

Adrianus Petrus Wilhelmus " Ad " Melkert (; February 12, 1956 ) is a Dutch politician of the Labour Party ( PvdA ).

The hymn Het Wilhelmus – which is the national anthem today – was already well known in the time of the Dutch Republic.

Wilhelmus Marinus Anthonius Jansen ( born 28 October 1946 in Rotterdam, Netherlands ) is a Dutch former association football player and manager.

Wilhelmus " Wim " Maria Jonk ( born 12 October 1966 in Volendam ) is a retired Dutch footballer.

The Wilhelmus also has some odd rhymes in it.

Other manuscripts also name the author as " Robert or William langland ", or " Wilhelmus W ." ( which could be shorthand for " William of Wychwood ").

Other manuscripts also name the author as ' Robert or William langland ', or ' Wilhelmus W .' ( most likely shorthand for ' William of Wychwood ').

Moreover, a new song might also be acceptable to the Catholic inhabitants of the Southern Netherlands with which the Dutch were united in 1815 to form the United Kingdom of the Netherlands ; the Wilhelmus might be interpreted as expressing Calvinist sentiments.

It used the following text as an introduction to the Wilhelmus:

Philips of Marnix, Lord of Saint-Aldegonde, Lord of West-Souburg ( Dutch: Filips van Marnix, heer van Sint-Aldegonde, heer van West-Souburg, French: Philippe de Marnix, seigneur de Sainte-Aldegonde ; Brussels, 7 March / 20 July 1540 – Leiden, 15 December 1598 ) was a Flemish and Dutch writer and statesman, and the probable author of the text of the Dutch national anthem, the Wilhelmus.

Calvinism became the theological system of the majority in Scotland ( see John Knox ), the Netherlands, with men such as William Ames, T J Frelinghuysen and Wilhelmus à Brakel and parts of Germany ( especially those adjacent to the Netherlands ) with the likes of Olevianus and his colleague Zacharias Ursinus.

Having become monarchs with a claim to represent the entire nation and stand above factions, the House of Orange decided to break with the song which served them as heads of a faction, and the Wilhelmus was hence replaced by Hendrik Tollens ' song Wien Neêrlands bloed door d ' aderen vloeit, which was the official Dutch anthem from 1815 till 1932.

The work was attacked with a bread knife by an unemployed school teacher, Wilhelmus de Rijk, in 1975, resulting in a large zig-zag of slashes.

In particular, the Wilhelmus was unpopular with the anti-Orangist Patriot party, which dominated the country ( under French tutelage ) for a considerable time.

The replacement had much to do with the fact the " new " 1815 anthem had become even more controversial than the Wilhelmus had been, with Socialists refusing to sing it.

The Dutch respected the neutrality of the port, played the Wilhelmus and saluted Montagu three times with white smoke.

Wilhelmus " Willem " Hendrikus Petrus Johannes Zwart ( Also known as William Black ), ( 16 May 1862 The Hague-11 December 1931 The Hague ) was a Dutch painter, engraver, watercolorist, with many connections to the Hague School and later associated with the Amsterdam Impressionism movement.

However, at the foundation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1813, the Wilhelmus had fallen out of favour.

The music of De Wilhelmus has its origin in Het Wilhelmus, the national anthem of the Netherlands.

The sentence " Den Coninck van Hispaengien heb ick altijt gheeert " in the 1st stanza of the Dutch national hymn Het Wilhelmus (" To the King of Spain I always paid my respect ") refers to the initial loyalty of these three leading figures of the Dutch Revolt, the Counts of Hoorne and Egmont and the Prince of Orange, to Philip II and their claim that they merely objected against some hardships of the Spanish rule over The Netherlands as executed by Philips ' emissaries, especially concerning the taxation and the merciless and cruel religious prosecutions, in the form of hanging and burning of protestants by the Spanish Inquisition, the latter being a human rights issue before this term was coined in the 18th Century.

Wien Neêrlands bloed was officially replaced by Het Wilhelmus on 10 May 1932, though it remained in use by the Royal Netherlands Navy and Army until 1939.

Since May 4, 1994, the flags, having hung at half-staff from 18: 00 onwards, are then hoisted to the music of the " Wilhelmus ", the Dutch national anthem.

Though only proclaimed the national anthem in 1932, the Wilhelmus already had a centuries-old prior history.

Trumpets played the Wilhelmus when Prince Maurits visited Breda, and again when he was received in state in Amsterdam in May 1618.

When William V arrived in Schoonhoven in 1787, after the authority of the stadholders had been restored, the church bells are said to have played the Wilhelmus continuously.

However, the Wilhelmus remained popular and lost its identification as a factional song, and on 10 May 1932, it was decreed that on all official occasions requiring the performance of the national anthem, the Wilhelmus was to be played-thereby replacing Tollens ' song.

Dutch composer Adriaen Valerius recorded the current melody of the Wilhelmus in his " Nederlantsche Gedenck-clanck " in 1626, slowing down the melody's pace, probably to allow it to be sung in churches.

Some see this as evidence that neither Marnix or Coornhert wrote the anthem as they were both experienced poets when the Wilhelmus was written and they would not have taken these small liberties.

A French translation of the Wilhelmus appeared around 1582.

Another legend claims that following the Navigation Acts ( an ordinance by Oliver Cromwell requiring all foreign fleets in the North Sea or the Channel to dip their flag in salute ) the Wilhelmus was sung ( or rather, shouted ) by the sailors on the Dutch flagship Brederode in response to the first warning shot fired by an English fleet under Robert Blake, when their captain Maarten Tromp refused to lower his flag.

The Wilhelmus was first printed in a " geuzenliedboek " ( lit.

Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002 ), was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author and professor who formed his own party, Pim Fortuyn List ( Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF ) in 2002.

In 1624, the first colonists, mostly Walloons and company-owned slaves, arrived in the new province, landing at Governor's Island and Initially were dispersed to Fort Orange, Fort Wilhelmus and Kievets Hoek.