The patriotic carrot

An urban legend holds that orange carrots were bred to honour Prince William of Orange. But is it true?

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In the late 1500s, the Dutch low countries were a Spanish colony, ruled as the Spanish Netherlands from Madrid.

Then along came William, Prince of Orange, a bygone territory in what is now the south of France.

He was one of the main leaders during the Dutch Revolt, which began in 1566 and led to the formal recognition of a self-governing Dutch republic more than 80 years later.

Though William was assassinated before independence from Spain was official, he is largely credited as the country’s founding father.

According to the tale, Dutch farmers at the time began to develop and cultivate orange varieties of the carrot as a mark of respect for William’s House of Orange. The carrots grew in popularity and spread around the world to become the vegetable’s standard colour.