Prince Maurits of the Netherlands was in the Medway today to kick off festivities commemorating the 350th anniversary of one of Britain’s greatest naval defeats, the retaliatory Raid on the Medway, when Dutch ships came up the Thames, sank 13 naval ships off Rochester, and departed with the prize flagship Royal Charles. Frits de Reuter, descendant of the Dutch admiral who commanded the raid, was among the party.
The day began at Upnor* Castle (below, the Prince is the uniformed officer third from the right) where the party watched the arrival of a flotilla of Dutch vessels, expected to number more than 70 by this weekend, led by the sailing ship Aphrodite. An exhibition in the castle explains the battle, with an interactive model. He then went on to Chatham Dockyard where marine bands marched and played, and speeches were made — the best joke coming from the Dutch commander who remarked that Churchill had described the Navy as a life of “rum, sodomy and the lash” — “ He was obviously talking about the British Navy.” he said. ”The Dutch Navy gave up the lash a long time ago.”
The prince then went on a tour of ‘Breaking the Chain’, an exhibition in the Dockyard, which has drawings and paintings from Holland as well as from British collections, though the prize carved coat of arms from the stern of the Royal Charles is still in the Rijksmuseum. He then boarded the Dutch ship Holland, which is in Chatham marina, and can be visited by the public this weekend, before flying home.
This weekend see the start of celebrations, including firework displays, that go on until June 30. See http://thedockyard.co.uk/wh…/battle-of-medway-commemoration/
* THE LONDON STONE at Upnor marks the extent of the City of London Corporation's ancient jusisdiction over the Thames, which includes the mouth of the Medway up to Chatham Dockyard.
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