The lyrics were first written by a friar of Dutch origin, Friar Radulphus, in celebration of the coronation of Queen Wilhelmina in 1898. It was not until the 1930s when another friar, Friar Candidus Nouwens, composed the melody to which the anthem is sung today. In 1978 the government commissioned a group to rewrite the lyrics to the anthem before it was recognized as the official anthem of Curaçao.