The Arrival of Frederik V of the Palatinate and Elizabeth Stuart in Flushing on 29 April 1613

On 29 April 1613 the English warship Prince Royal reached Flushing, the Dutch port at the mouth of the Scheldt, carrying Princess Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I of England, and her new husband Frederick V, the Elector Palatine. They had married in London that February and were heading for his capital, Heidelberg, by way of the Dutch Republic, with stops in The Hague and Haarlem. Hendrick Vroom painted their arrival ten years later, and by then the story had turned. In 1619 Frederick accepted the crown of Bohemia and lost it the following year, and since 1621 he and Elizabeth had been living in exile in The Hague. In February 1623 the Holy Roman Emperor handed Frederick's rank of elector to the Duke of Bavaria. None of that reaches the picture. Salutes are fired, flags fly and boats crowd the water, and the couple are aboard the big ship just left of centre.