As someone who grew up in the Orange community of N.I, what do the Dutch think of us, if you even know we exist?
Hi guys! I grew up in the heavily loyalist area of Northern Ireland. My town is the town where King billy (William III, Prince of orange) landed to begin his war across Ireland. I know he's not viewed too positively in the Netherlands but growing up he was practically a folk hero. Kids were taught they were sons and daughters of William, etc. Orange and purple standards are commonly flown, and a common way of signing off messages etc is "🧡💜". Outside my house right now in fact is an orange and purple flag. It's not necessarily a community i agree with however I can't help how I was born. One thing I noticed however that on Koningsdag you wear practically the exact same outfits we would wear on the 12th of July - bright orange shirts! Please be nice; like i said even if you think it's stupid (and to an extent so do I) I still love our connection to the Netherlands in my part of Ireland and no matter what the Orange will always be a big part of me and who I am 😊
Edit: before anyone mentions "oh billy was gay" yes, he was and it's usually used as a slander point against him - in fact my surname is actually the Ulster-scotsified name of one of his officers who was given the small farming community me and my family come from after they landed 5 miles away - it's suspected him and William were lovers!