"Duytschen" (in English generally translated as "Dutch", "native" or "Germanic") in the first stanza is a reference to William's roots; its modern Dutch equivalent, "Duits", exclusively means "German", and it may refer to William's ancestral house (Nassau, Germany) or to the lands of the Holy Roman Empire, including the Netherlands. But most probably it is simply a reference to the broader meaning of the word, which points out William as a "native" of the fatherland, as opposed to the king of Spain, who seldom or never visited the Netherlands. The prince thus states that his roots are Germanic rather than Romance – in spite of his being Prince of Orange as well.