The Royal House of Orange-Nassau

Country: The Netherlands

Royal House Name: Orange-Nassau

Current Head: Queen Beatrix (born: January  31, 1938)

Reigned: since April 1980

Consort: Claus von Amsberg (1926-2002)

Successor: HRH Prince Wilhelm-Alexander 

The House of Orange-Nassau came into existence during the 16^th century when Count Hendrik III of Nassau and Claudia de Chalon of Orange, married. These two provinces were once part of the present-day Netherlands. The country was annexed by France in 1795 forcing the Dutch ruler, Prince Willem V, to flee to England. 


The Netherlands remained part of France and subsequently, Napoleonic Empire. In 1815 after the famous defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Waterloo, Willem’s son returned to the throne establishing the rebirth of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, he was crowned King Wilhelm I.

But after 1890 on the death of his grandson, King William III, the Netherlands is ruled by female monarchs up to the present. William III’s daughter, Queen Wilhelmina, who ascended the Dutch throne when she was 10 years old, was followed by a female successor, Queen Juliana, the mother of the current Dutch monarch, Beatrix.

Finally in 1960, Beatrix, who married in 1959 to a German nobleman, Claus von Amsberg, gave birth to a son, Prince Willem-Alexander. He would be the first male monarch in the Netherlands since the 19th century, but after his reign, the Dutch throne again will be ruled by a female, because the children of the Prince are all females. He is married to Maxima and has three daughters: Princess Catarina-Amalia (2003), Princess Alexia (2005) and Princess Arianne (2007).

Royal Family of The Netherlands

HM Queen Beatrix

HRH Prince Wilhelm-Alexander

HRH Princess Maxima

   Princess  Catharina-Amalia

   Princess  Alexia

   Princess Arianne

HRH Prince Frisco

HRH Princess Mabel

    Countess Luana

    Countess Zaria

HRH Prince Constanjin

HRH Princess Laurentien

    Countess Eloise

    Count Claus-Casimir

    Countess Lenore 


Children of Prince Friso and Prince Constanjin are not Princes and Princesses because they voluntarily removed themselves  in the line of succession when they did not seek the approval of the council on their marriages.