@Grutness
It seems to me more that the narrator (Wilhelmus van Nassouwe) is defending his actions by citing his loyalty to the king in the first stanza ("den Koning van Hispanje / heb ik altijd geëerd"), but the anthem as a whole seems, at least to me, critical of Spain. Consider, for example, the 10th stanza ("Dat u de Spanjaards krenken, / o edel Neerland zoet, / als ik daaraan gedenke, / mijn edel hart dat bloedt."). Though I suppose that might be easy to miss nowadays, given that only the 1st and 6th stanza are typically sung.
21
@Grutness
It seems to me more that the narrator (Wilhelmus van Nassouwe) is defending his actions by citing his loyalty to the king in the first stanza ("den Koning van Hispanje / heb ik altijd geëerd"), but the anthem as a whole seems, at least to me, critical of Spain. Consider, for example, the 10th stanza ("Dat u de Spanjaards krenken, / o edel Neerland zoet, / als ik daaraan gedenke, / mijn edel hart dat bloedt."). Though I suppose that might be easy to miss nowadays, given that only the 1st and 6th stanza are typically sung.