History
- For rulers of the Netherlands before 1806, see Stadtholder of the Netherlands
Prior to the Napoleonic wars, most of the semi-independent provinces of the Netherlands had been ruled by elected stadtholders, who were all drawn from the House of Orange-Nassau.
The House of Orange-Nassau came from Dillenburg, Germany, seat of the Dukes of Nassau. Their title 'Prince of Orange' was acquired through inheritance of the Principality of Orange in southern France, in 1544. William of Orange (also known as William the Silent) was the first Orange-Nassau stadtholder (ironically, appointed by Philip II of Spain). From 1568 to his death in 1584, he led the Dutch struggle for independence from Spain. His younger brother, John VI, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, was the direct male line ancestor of the first King of the Netherlands.
The Netherlands remained, formally, a confederated republic, even when in 1747 the office of stadtholder was centralized (one stadtholder for all provinces) and became formally hereditary under the House of Orange-Nassau.
The first King of the Netherlands was actually French. In 1806, Emperor Napoleon installed his brother Louis Bonaparte as ruler of the Kingdom of Holland, a puppet state. The Kingdom of Holland was abolished in 1810.
The present monarchy was founded in 1813, when the French were driven out. Prince William V of Orange was proclaimed Sovereign Prince of the United Netherlands (comprising certain northern provinces). The new monarchy was confirmed in 1815 at the Congress of Vienna as part of the re-arrangement of Europe after the fall of Napoleon, and its status as a kingdom was also confirmed.
William VI became the first king of the constitutional monarchy of the Netherlands as William I.
The House of Orange-Nassau was given the modern day Netherlands and also Belgium and Luxembourg to rule as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. In addition, the king of the Netherlands became hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Until 1839, Luxembourg was both a grand duchy of the German Confederation and a province of the kingdom simultaneously.
Abdication of the throne has become a de facto tradition in the Dutch monarchy. Queen Wilhelmina and Queen Juliana both abdicated in favour of their daughters and William I abdicated in favor of his eldest son.
The present monarch, Queen Beatrix, has stated she will not abdicate in the near future, to allow Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife Princess Máxima to spend time with their family.
Read more about this topic: Monarchy Of The Netherlands
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“The greatest horrors in the history of mankind are not due to the ambition of the Napoleons or the vengeance of the Agamemnons, but to the doctrinaire philosophers. The theories of the sentimentalist Rousseau inspired the integrity of the passionless Robespierre. The cold-blooded calculations of Karl Marx led to the judicial and business-like operations of the Cheka.”
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