For three hundred and thirty-five years, the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly were at war.

The navy had sided with the Royalists during the English Civil War, but by 1648 most of the mainland was under Parliamentarian control and the navy was forced to retreat to the Scilly Isles. The Dutch Navy, which was on the Parliamentarian side, suffered heavy losses from the Royalist fleet. In March 1651, Admiral Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp (what a name!) arrived in Scilly to demand reparation for the captured Dutch ships and goods. When he received no satisfactory answer, he declared war on the islands. Two months later the Royalist fleet surrendered to the Parliamentarian forces, but the Dutch forgot to officially declare peace.

The "war", during which not a single shot was fired, ended on this day in 1986 after the Chairman of the Isles of Scilly Council invited a Dutch ambassador to visit the islands and sign a peace treaty.