Second-half goals from Dutch forward Vincent Janssen and substitute Luciano Narsingh cancelled out a Jamie Vardy strike in the first half, sapping the optimism around Roy Hodgson's side ahead of this June's European Championship finals.
On paper it should have been a routine victory for England -- a team undefeated at Wembley for 2-1/2 years, brimming with Premier League talent and up against an injury-hit, experimental Dutch outfit that failed to qualify for the Euros.
But history was never on their side. Barring one win in 1996, they have not tasted success against the Netherlands in more than 30 years.
This time they may have reason to feel aggrieved, with striker Janssen appearing to shove defender Phil Jagielka in the build-up to Narsingh's winner.
Yet from the start England struggled to rekindle the attacking flair that saw them stage a second-half fightback to beat Germany 3-2 on Saturday.
"I don't think the decisions were particularly favourable to us. The second one in particular was exceptionally harsh," Hodgson told reporters.
"But I was more disappointed that we did not reach the level of intensity or creativity that we did on Saturday night."
England had the lion's share of possession in the opening exchanges but it took until the 41st minute for Vardy to tap his side ahead after right back Kyle Walker found space on the right-hand side of the area and nicked the ball across the face of goal.
The goal -- England's 100th in the four-year tenure of manager Hodgson -- appeared to liven up the crowd, who had little to rouse them early on other than a moving ovation to legendary Dutch forward Johann Cruyff, who died last week.
There were defensive lapses from both sides on the wet Wembley surface, hinting that the game could swing either way.
So it was a ramshackle Dutch side -- without reliable veterans such as Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben -- that levelled the score shortly after the break when defender Danny Rose gave away a penalty for a handball.
Janssen fired the 50th-minute spot kick high into the net, his first goal for his country.
"England maybe were better, they had more of the ball and we had to defend. That is normal. We are missing 14 players and are a very young team," Dutch coach Danny Blind said.
England had some chances of their own to regain the lead. An acrobatic leap from Dutch keeper Jeroen Zoet stopped a swerving long-range effort from Vardy before substitute defender Nathaniel Clyne thumped another scoring chance at the stopper.
Ultimately it took a contentious incident to help separate the two sides, leading to long protestations from England's players and booing from the home support.
"It really is a high followed by a low," said Hodgson.
England's next game is against Turkey in Manchester on May 22. They kick off their campaign in the Euros against Russia on June 11, having also drawn Slovakia and Wales in Group B.
(Editing by Stephen Wood and Pritha Sarkar)
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