 William V of Orange-Nassau fled to England, and the office of stadtholder was abolished in 1795, when the French revolutionary forces installed the Batavian Republic.Similarly, while from 1572 in the Southern Netherlands the Habsburg lords continued to appoint provincial stadtholders for the region, this ceased when it was annexed by France in 1794.However, William I, the son of the last stadtholder William V, was named first 'Sovereign Prince' in 1813, then (1815), King of a United Netherlands, after the French army retreated in 1815.