Sovereign: Beatrix Queen of the Netherlands (Soestdijk Palace, Netherlands, January 31st, 1938).
Daughter of Juliana Queen of the Netherlands (1909-2004) and Bernhard Prince zur Lippe-Biesterfeld (1911-2004).
Succeeds her mother Queen Juliana (abdicates 1980).
Inauguration: New Church, Amsterdam, Netherlands, April 30th, 1980.
Motto: Je Maintiendrai (I shall maintain).
Religion: Dutch Reformed.
Married (1966): Claus von Amsberg (1926-2002).
Children:
* Willem-Alexander Crown Prince of the Netherlands Prins van Oranje (Academic Hospital, Utrecht, the Netherlands, April 27th, 1967), married (2002): Máxima Zorreguieta (1971). They have three daughters: Amalia (2003), Alexia (2005) and Ariane (2007).
* Johan Friso (1968), married (2004): Mabel Wisse Smit (1968). They have two daughters: Luana (2005) and Zaria (2006).
* Constantijn (1969), married (2001): Laurentien Brinkhorst (1966). They have three children: Eloise (2002), Claus-Casimir (2004) and Leonore (2006).
(Postal) Address:
Paleis Noordeinde
Noordeinde 68
2514 GL 's-Gravenhage
The Netherlands
Titles: The Queen, Majesty, is Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Oranje-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, etc, etc. Etc, etc. stands for Duchess of Limburg, Marquess of Veere and Vlissingen, Countess of Katzenelnbogen, Vianden, Diez, Spiegelberg, Buren, Leerdam and Culemborg, Viscountess of Antwerpen, Baroness of Breda, Diest, Herstal, IJsselstein, Eindhoven, Cranendonck, the town of Grave and the lands of Cuyk, Liesveld, Beilstein, Warneton, Arlay and Nozeroy, Suzerain and lady of Ameland, Lady of Polanen, Geertruidenberg, Niervaart, Klundert, Naaldwijk, Bredevoort, Borculo, Lichtenvoorde, Baarn, Soest, Ter Eem, Het Loo, Hooge and Lage Zwaluwe, Steenbergen, St.Maartensdijk, Willemstad, Montfort, Sankt Vith, Bütgenbach, Daasburg, Besançon, Turnhout and Zevenbergen. Queen Juliana also bears the title Duchess of Mecklenburg. The daughters of Queen Juliana are Royal Highness, Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Oranje-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld. The husband of the Queen is Royal Highness, Prince of the Netherlands. The sons of Queen Beatrix are Royal Highness, Prince of the Netherlands, Prince of Oranje-Nassau, Jonker of Amsberg. The heir to the throne is Crown Prince of the Netherlands, Prince of Oranje. On February 17th 1983 the title of Crown Prince was struck off the Constitution. The children of Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien will be named Count(ess) van Oranje-Nassau, Jonkheer (Jonkvrouwe) van Amsberg. The sons of Princess Margriet are Highness, Prince of Oranje-Nassau, Van Vollenhoven. The children of Prince Maurits and Princess Marilène will bear the name Van Lippe-Biesterfeld van Vollenhoven. The children of Prince Bernhard and Princess Annette will only be Van Vollenhoven.
Succession: The throne is hereditary in male and female line, by right of the first-born. If a King/Queen has no descendants, the throne goes to the brother/sister who is next in line, or to their oldest heir. This is possible in the branch line until the third degree. When there is no legal heir the two chambers of the States General have to choose a new heir. Members of the House of Oranje-Nassau who get married without asking permission of the States General are excluded from succession to the throne. Heirs of the throne can't renounce their rights to the throne before, as it is also a duty that is imposed on the dynasty.
History
The first known ancestors of the royal family of the Netherlands are the Laurenburgs, later called the counts of Nassau. In 1255 the brothers Otto I and Walram II of Nassau divided the county in two parts. The grandduchal family of Luxemburg descends from Count Walram II, the Dutch royal family from Otto I. One of the most famous persons in the family before they became Kings of the Netherlands, was Willem Prince of Orange Count of Nassau (1533-1584). He and his sons Maurits and Frederik Hendrik played a very important part in the completion of the Republic of the United Netherlands. The war against the Spanish Habsburgs began in 1568 and finally reached his end with the Münster Peace Treaty in 1648. Until 1795 the Nassau family served the Republic as stadtholders. In 1689 stadtholder Prince Willem III of Orange became King of Great Britain after his wife Mary II Stuart was chosen as Queen of Great Britain. In 1795 the last stadtholder Prince Willem V fled to England and the Netherlands became a part of the French Republic and later the French Empire of Napoleon. Between 1806 and 1810 Louis Napoleon, a brother of the Emperor Napoleon, was the first King of Holland.
In 1813 the son of the last stadtholder was chosen as sovereign. At the Congress of Vienna the Kingdom of the Netherlands was drafted and in 1815 this sovereign became King Willem I. His Kingdom also enclosed the later Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. In the battle of Waterloo in 1815 the new crown prince Willem played a quite important part. Afterwards it gave him the nickname Hero of Waterloo, and the Russian czar offered him his sister Anna Pavlovna as his bride. Belgium became independent after a revolt in 1830, but the Netherlands didn't recognize the new kingdom until 1839. King Willem I abdicated in 1840 and died in Berlin in 1843. The new king was Willem II who already died in 1849. In 1848 he had to accept a new liberal constitution. He was followed by King Willem III. From his first marriage to Sophie Duchess of Württemberg he had three sons: Willem (1840-1879), Maurits (1843-1850) and Alexander (1851-1884). After the death of Sophie he married Emma Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont. In 1880 their daughter Wilhelmina was born. When her father died in 1890 she was the only Nassau left. Her mother Emma became the Queen-Regent in the Netherlands. The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg could only be inherited by a male Nassau and the new Grand Duke was Prince Adolph of Nassau, descendant of Walram II.
In 1898 Queen Wilhelmina ascended the throne. In 1901 she married Hendrik Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. They only got one daughter Juliana, who was born in 1909. In 1937 Juliana married Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld and before the war they got two daughters: Beatrix (1938) and Irene (which means peace; 1939). In May 1940 the whole family fled to England. Princess Juliana and her children spent the rest of World War II in Canada, where in 1943 the third daughter Margriet was born. From England Queen Wilhelmina inspired the resistance in the Netherlands. In 1948, three years after the end of WW II, Queen Wilhelmina abdicated. She died in 1962. Her daughter Juliana became the next Queen. In 1947 she had given birth to her last daughter Marijke (later called Christina). In 1975 the colony of Surinam became an independent country. In 1980, after some years of speculation by the media, she abdicated in favour of her oldest daughter Beatrix. Queen Beatrix married Claus von Amsberg in 1966, and one year later the first Dutch Prince since 116 years was born: Willem-Alexander (since his mother became the Queen he is known as the Prince of Orange). He was followed by his younger brothers Johan Friso (1968) and Constantijn (1969).
The Kings of The Netherlands
| Willem I (1772-1843) | 1813/15-abd. 1840 |
| Willem II (1792-1849) | 1840-1849 |
| Willem III (1817-1890) | 1849-1890 |
| Emma (1858-1934) | Regent: 1890-1898 |
| Wilhelmina (1880-1962) | 1890/98-abd. 1948 |
| Juliana (1909-2004) | 1948-abd. 1980 |
| Beatrix (1938- ) | 1980 - |