WHO WAS GRAAF LEOPOLD...
Count Leopold van Limburg Stirum, born in Hoogveen, 1758. He was a military man and politician.
Leopold was a Captain in the 2nd Regiment Orange-Nassau. During the French occupation he was governor of The Hague.
After the French fled the country he took the position of Minister of War in order that there was no danger of annexation from Prussia or England.
In 1813 together with other politicians he invited prince William VI of Orange to re-establish the monarchy. Leopold welcomed the prince on the beach of Scheveningen in November of that year.
The prince became King in 1815. Now King William I of the Netherlands he confirmed count Leopold as governor of The Hague and named him Lieutenant General.
In July 1815, Leopold van Limburg Stirum was named Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Netherlands Lion, a title reserved for members of the Royal Family, foreign Heads of State and a select group of former prime ministers, Princes and Cardinals.
In 1828 he became General of the Infantry. From 1833 till his death, he was member of the Senate. Count Leopold died in ‘s-Gravenhage in 1840.
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