William V's constitutional position gave Britain useful room for political maneuver. As stadtholder he was closer to a traditional first citizen than a monarch, yet British policy could present him as a dispossessed sovereign when convenient. The coalition assumed that returning him with an army might trigger broad Dutch support and reverse the Batavian alignment with France. That expectation proved overoptimistic ashore, but the Orange claim still became a powerful instrument against the fleet at Den Helder.
Notable Point · 1:38-2:42
Britain turns William V's ambiguous status into leverage
The stadtholder was not a Dutch king, but Britain treated him as one when that fiction could encourage an Orange restoration.