Capital of the Netherlands but also for royal weddings (note though that royal burials take place in Delft), and also because of its dominant position in Dutch history. From the end of the 16th century the city grew rapidly to become the largest and most powerful city in the Netherlands and the main centre of trade, commerce, finance and culture. The origins of the split between Amsterdam as capital city and The Hague as seat of government lay in the peculiar Dutch constitutional history. From the middle-ages to the sixteenth century, The Hague had been the seat of government of the County of Holland
Bicentennial of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Bicentennial of the Kingdom of the Netherlands From 2013 to 2015, the Kingdom of the Netherlands celebrated its bicentennial. A National Committee, appointed by the Council of Ministers in 2011, supervises the bicentennial celebrations. The Committee is chaired by politicians Ank Bijleveld and Jozias van Aartsen. The celebrations started with a reenactment on 30 November 2013 of Prince William Frederick's landing at Scheveningen, exactly two hundred years earlier, with Huub Stapel playing the role of William Frederick, the later king William I. The reenactment (which is performed every 25 years) drew a crowd of several thousand. Five more "national events"