Prince Maurits was a Stadtholder, a post resembling that of commander-in-chief, and had great powers in times of war, but in peace time he was subject to numerous checks and balances. In the 17th Century, the seven northern provinces of Holland (the Netherlands) were declared a Republic, while the southern provinces (Belgium today) remained under Spanish rule. The Hague was the centre of government and was made capital of the Republic.

However, the other Dutch cities refused to pay for Maurits’ city walls, and The Hague itself was ravaged by war and poverty; the defensive canals were all the city had. The Hague had practically been leveled to the ground during the war, and the castle, the church and City Hall were the only buildings left standing. The Hague had to be reconstructed within the defensive canals. There were plans to erect houses directly behind the palace of the prince, but Maurits thwarted them. The Outer Court was redesigned as a square instead, where a statue of William of Orange with his dog stands. It has been claimed that his dog saved his life in battle once.

The Netherlands and the Orange dynasty nurtured a close relationship in The Hague’s historical scheme, hence the Dutch national anthem praising William of Orange and the country’s national color, orange. Before Napoleon’s invasion, the Netherlands was a republic, but members of the Orange family served as heads of state.

All the buildings around the Outer Court, except the Prison Gate, were torn down between the 17th and early 20th Centuries. Johan de Witt was among the few Stadtholders not associated with the Orange family. But in 1672, the Year of Disaster, the Netherlands entered a war against four great European nations and De Witt was murdered by the people of The Hague from desperation of poverty and hunger. The Oranges returned to power until the time of Napoleon and the seat of the princes of Orange was in The Hague, which officially was still not a city. Delft and Leiden continued to deny The Hague city rights, until the French armies occupied the Netherlands and put an end to the rule of these major cities. The heritage of these powers lies in the embassies (Logementen) in The Hague.