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 led them collectively. By custom, Friesland and Groningen appointed stadtholders from the cadet branch of the house.

The States General was chaired by the grand pensionary (raadpensionaris), who at times held power to rival the prince. The most important examples were the Stadtholderless Periods. The first occurred when William II died days before his only son was born. When William III was finally appointed as in 1672, he imposed a strongly English policy.

The second such period followed William's death. 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. She largely delegated power, but as the eldest daughter of George II, she did serve as a continuing agent of English interests.

William, still a teenage, was appointed stadholder upon Anne's death in 1759. His reign is characterized by two wars:

• The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, an offshoot of the American Revolution. William broke from the pattern of English subservience, and established diplomatic relations with the rebelling colonies. George III retaliated with naval raids.

• The First Coalition. The French army repeatedly pushed into Dutch territory, and in early 1795 forced William to free for England.

The wars had important domestic ramifications. Following the Treaty of Paris, a movement of Patriots emerged seeking to abolish the stadtholdership. William's brother-in-law, Frederick William II, ordered an invasion to suppress the movement. The movement largely fled to France, where they joined with the rapidly emerging revolution.

When the French army arrived, the Patriots re-emerged in a Batavian Revolution. From exile, William ordered his colonial governors to hand power to the British. Many would be returned to the eventual kingdom of the Netherlands, but not Cape Colony or Ceylon.

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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