Dutch Monarchs

A history of Dutch monarchs.

Republic of the Seven United Netherlands

The republic was officially governed as a confederation of independent provinces. They each had the ability to appoint independent stadtholders, but in practice the prince of Orange was appointed stadtholder over all of them. (Customarily, Friesland and Groningen appointed stadtholders from the cadet branch.)

The States General was chaired by the grand pensionary (raadpensionaris), who at times held power to rival the prince. The most important examples where the Stadtholderless Period; the first occurred between the reigns of William II and William III, and the second between his reign and that of William IV.

William IV was restored to the stadtholdership through an Orangist revolution in 1747. This was amid French occupation through the War of Austrian Succession. However, he died just three years later, leaving his infant son William V to inherit while Anne served as regent.

William V participated in the First Coalition, but his army disintegrated by 1795. The domestic political situation then rapidly deteriorated, and the Batavian Revolution overthrew the Dutch Republic, replacing it with the Batavian Republic.

Kingdom of Holland

Napoleon replaced the Batavian Republic with a monarchy under his brother, Louis I (Lodewijk). This kingdom of Holland was granted control over the Southern Netherlands, re-unifying the provinces.

Kingdom of the Netherlands

Following Napoleon's fall, this kingdom was largely retained as the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The Belgian Revolution forced the kingdom to recognize the independence of the Southern provinces. Simultaneously, Luxembourg was made an independent grand duchy held in union with the kingdom of the Netherlands.

Throughout World War 2, Wilhelmina led the government in exile from London.

The kingdom attempted to maintain control over its overseas possessions through global decolonization. The primary example is the Netherlands-Indonesia Union, which lasted from 1949 to 1956. Following that union's collapse, the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands was established.

Dynasties

Orange

The eldest son of William I, Philip William, was kidnapped by the Spanish crown as a child. He technically inherited the principality of Orange and claimed to rule the Netherlands, though his younger brother Maurice of Nassau was the official stadtholder and the effective leader of the Dutch resistance. When he died in 1618, Maurice formally became prince of Orange.

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