 The Dutch officers had been ordered that "if he [James] wanted to leave, they should not prevent him, but allow him to gently slip through".James then left for France on 23 December after having received a request from his wife to join her, even though his followers urged him to stay.The lax guard on James and the decision to allow him so near the coast indicate that William may have hoped that a successful flight would avoid the difficulty of deciding what to do with him, especially with the memory of the execution of Charles I still strong.