There is some relation to the Batavian Republic, when the French conquered the Netherlands. According to the article on Wikipedia about the flag of the Netherlands: "With the revolution in the Netherlands in the last decade of the 18th century, and the conquest by the French, the name "Prince's Flag" was forbidden. The orange-white-blue was changed into red-white-blue (colours to which the French "liberators" were kindly disposed, analogous as they were to their own tricolour, chosen just a few months earlier) […]".
And the motto of the Netherlands is "Je maintiendrai" ("I will maintain" or "I will stand my ground", in French). It is also the motto of the city of Orange, in France, in connexion to the house of Orange. They chose it when William I of Orange-Nassau kicked out the Spaniards.
[That said, even the motto of the UK is in French: "Dieu et mon droit" (more or less "My divine right" in old French).]
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There is some relation to the Batavian Republic, when the French conquered the Netherlands. According to the article on Wikipedia about the flag of the Netherlands: "With the revolution in the Netherlands in the last decade of the 18th century, and the conquest by the French, the name "Prince's Flag" was forbidden. The orange-white-blue was changed into red-white-blue (colours to which the French "liberators" were kindly disposed, analogous as they were to their own tricolour, chosen just a few months earlier) […]".
And the motto of the Netherlands is "Je maintiendrai" ("I will maintain" or "I will stand my ground", in French). It is also the motto of the city of Orange, in France, in connexion to the house of Orange. They chose it when William I of Orange-Nassau kicked out the Spaniards.
[That said, even the motto of the UK is in French: "Dieu et mon droit" (more or less "My divine right" in old French).]