Cupid and Sideron, court Moors of William V, in the Hague Historical Museum

In the Historical Museum of The Hague, it is impossible to walk past two child mannequins in eighteenth-century royal livery. These exhibits are a modern reconstruction of the costumes of two court Moors, as Black people were then commonly called at court: Cupido and Sideron. The first came from Curaçao, the second from Guinea.

In their earliest childhood they were given as presents to the Prince of Orange and Nassau-Dietz, William V, the last Stadtholder of the Netherlands. Unlike many slaves, Cupido and Sideron made a career at court: William and his family patronised them in every way, gave them a good education, made them gifts and advanced them in the service, while they, for their part, were an ornament of the court. In the list of watercolours depicting the royal servants only these two are named; the rest are simply enumerated, like objects.

There is a whole book about these boys by Esther Schreuder. Unfortunately, I do not speak Dutch, so I learned its contents from my sister's brief retelling.