咲宮薫

Underconstruction

オランダは1815年3月16日から独立した君主制を has been an independent monarchy since 16 March 1815, and has been governed by members of the House of Orange-Nassau since.

Constitutional role and position of the monarch

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are defined and limited by the constitution of the Netherlands. An obvious consequence of this is that a fairly large portion of the Dutch constitution is devoted to the monarch; all in all, roughly a third of the constitution describes the succession, mechanisms of accession and abdication to the throne, the roles and responsibilities of the monarch and the formalisms of communication between the States-General of the Netherlands and the monarch in the creation of laws.

The constitution refers to the monarch of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as "The King". This is an indication of the role and refers equally to a man or a woman.

王位継承・即位・譲位・廃位

君主に周期的に起こる事柄については、憲法第2章（オランダ政府について規定する章）の最初の節で説明されている。

王位継承

ウィレム1世の相続人の跡を受けることでオランダ王位は継承される。継承者は二つの仕組み、つまり性別によらない長子相続と血縁の遠近によって決まる。オランダは1983年から、男子優先の長子相続に代えて性別によらない長子相続制を採っている。血縁の近さに関する規則によって3親等以内の血族でなければ即位することを禁じている。たとえば、マルフリーテの孫たちは女王ベアトリクス（マルフリーテの姉、その孫の大伯母）から4親等に当たるため、王位継承権を持たない。また、継承は嫡出の相続人に限られ、婚外子は王位を請求することができない。男王が死亡したとき王妃がなお妊娠中であるという特殊な状況では、胎児は、死産でない限り、その時点で相続人と見なされる。もし死産であれば、その子はA special case arises if the male king dies while his queen is still pregnant: the unborn child is considered the heir at that point, unless stillborn — the child is then considered never to have existed, so that proximity of blood can take precedence over primogeniture. This means that if the old king dies while his wife is pregnant with their first child, the unborn child is immediately considered born and immediately becomes the new king. If the pregnancy goes badly and the unborn monarch is stillborn, his or her reign is expunged and proximity of blood will determine which person will be the successor to the old king.

If the monarch is a minor, a regent is appointed and serves until the monarch comes of age. The regent is customarily the surviving parent of the monarch, but the constitution determines that the custody and parental authority of the minor monarch will be determined by law. This means that another person might also be appointed as regent, as legal guardian or both.

There are also a number of special cases which the constitution recognizes. First of all, if there is no heir when the monarch dies, the States-General may appoint a successor upon the suggestion of the government. This suggestion may also be made before the death of the reigning monarch, even by the monarch himself (in case it is clear that the monarch will die without leaving an heir). Second, there are a number of persons who may be excluded from the line of succession. There are two categories of these:

• The heir-apparent who marries without the permission of the States-General loses the right of succession. This is a generalization of the historic law that the king may not marry a Catholic, which was intended to prevent the return of Spanish rule. Currently the rule is intended to prevent truly objectionable royal consorts.
• A person who has done something to make him undesirable as king can be removed from the line of succession by an act of the States-General, upon the suggestion of the king. This possibility has never been used and is to be seen as an "emergency exit" (for example, in case the heir-apparent sides with an enemy of the Kingdom).

Accession

As with most monarchies, The Netherlands cannot be without a king (strictly in the constitutional sense; the role of King has been fulfilled by queens since 1890). There must be a head of state in order for the government to function. For this reason, the new king assumes the duties of kingship the moment that the previous king ceases to hold the throne. The only exception is if there is no heir at all, in which case the Council of State assumes the role of the king pending the appointing of a king or regent.

The king is expected to execute his duties and responsibilities for the good of the nation. He must therefore swear to uphold the constitution and execute his office faithfully. This swearing-in must occur as soon as possible after the King assumes the throne, before a joint session of the States-General held in Amsterdam. The language of Article 32 of the Dutch constitution speaks of a swearing-in in "the capital Amsterdam", which incidentally is also the only phrase in the constitution that makes Amsterdam the capital of the Kingdom.

The king is not crowned (there is a physical royal crown for heraldic use, but it is too big for anybody to wear). The monarch's swearing of the oath described earlier constitutes his acceptance of the position of king. Note though that it is not so that the monarch becomes king by taking this oath: this would imply a vacancy of the throne until the new monarch swears the oath, which is not allowed to occur. The monarch ascends immediately after the previous monarch ceases to reign; the swearing-in only constitutes acceptance in public.

Abdication and removal

The king may cease being king in any of four ways:

Death

A dead person cannot be king.

Abdication

A king may willingly step down as king.

Ceding the throne

The king may temporarily cease executing his office.

Removal from the throne

The government may remove the king if he is deemed unfit.

The first of these options is obvious. The first two are permanent: a deceased monarch cannot become alive again and an abdicated monarch cannot return (for this reason any children born to the abdicated monarch are not in line for the throne; children born before abdication are). Both these events cause the regular mechanisms of succession to go into effect. Interestingly, the constitution considers both permanent possibilities so obvious that they are not explicitly mentioned anywhere. They are both acknowledged, however, in that the constitution describes what happens after the king dies or abdicates; but the possibilities are never explicitly mentioned as causes of the end of a king's reign.

There is only one monarch, so an abdicated monarch becomes a prince or princess once again (and a dead person technically cannot have any titles at all in the Netherlands). However, a deceased monarch (abdicated or not) is customarily referred to again as "king" or "queen". So, for example, Queen Juliana became queen on September 4, 1948 and princess again on April 30, 1980 following her abdication, but has been referred to as Queen Juliana again since her death on March 20, 2004.

The other two occurrences are both temporary and examined in detail in the constitution. A monarch can temporarily cease being King for any reason. This can be at his own request, or because the Council of Ministers deems the monarch unfit for office. Although there is no limit on reasons for ceding the throne or removal, both the monarch and the council are deemed to act responsibly and not to leave the country without a king frivolously. Taken in that light, both possibilities of temporary removal of kingship are intended to deal with emergency situations such as physical or mental inability to execute the office of monarch.

Both in case of ceding and removal an act of the joint states-general is needed to strip the monarch of authority. In the case of the monarch ceding the throne, the required act is a law. In case of removal, it is a declaration of the states-general. Procedurally these are the same — both are achieved following the same procedure as is used to pass a new law in the Netherlands. In case of removal it is not a law, however, since a law requires the signature of the king to come into effect (and presumably the monarch will not agree to being removed).

Since neither ceding nor removal is permanent, neither triggers succession. Instead, the states-general appoint a regent. This must be the heir-apparent, if the heir-apparent is old enough. In order for the actual monarch to resume his duties, a law must be passed to that effect (which is signed into law by the regent). The monarch resumes the throne the moment the law of his return is made public.

The reign of the king

As head of state, the king has many duties and responsibilities under the constitution.

The king and the executive branch

The king and the government

Although the king has roles and duties in all parts of the government and in several important places in the rest of society, the primary role of the king is within the executive branch of the Dutch government: the king is part of the government of the Netherlands. More than that: together with the Council of Ministers of the Netherlands, the king is the government.

The role of the king within the government of the Netherlands is described in Article 42 of the constitution:

Article 42

1. The government consists of the king and the ministers.
2. The king is inviolate; the ministers are responsible.

This article is probably the greatest paradox in the entire constitution, in that it is the basis of the full power and influence of the king and makes him beyond reproach before the law — yet serves to render the king all but powerless in the Dutch system of government.

The first paragraph of Article 42 determines that the government of the Netherlands consists of the king and his ministers. It is important to note that, even though the king is the head of state, there is no hierarchy: the king is not the head of government, the ministers are not answerable to the king within the government. This holds true even though the ministers are civil servants and as such technically work for the king (they are appointed by the king). It even holds against the fact that the Prime Minister is commonly referred to as the head of government (which he is not; he is the chairman of the Council of Ministers). The essential thing to understand is that there is no distinction, no dichotomy, no segregation or separation: the king and his ministers are the government and the government is one.

This fact has practical consequences, in that it is not possible for the king and the ministers to be in disagreement. The government speaks with one voice and makes decisions as a united body. When the king acts in an executive capacity, he does so as representative of the united government. And when the government decides, the king is in agreement (even if the king or queen personally disagrees). As an ultimate consequence of this, it is not possible for the king to refuse to sign into law a proposal of law that has been agreed to and signed by the responsible minister. Such a disagreement between the king and his minister is a situation not covered by the constitution and is automatically a constitutional crisis. These are quite rare in the Netherlands and have, on occurrence, always led to collapse of the government (resignation of the ministers), parliamentary elections and eventually to abdication of the monarch.

The second paragraph of the article, though, is what really renders the king powerless. This paragraph states that the king is inviolate. He is beyond any reproach, beyond the grasp of any prosecution (criminal or otherwise) for any acts committed or actions taken as king. If anything goes wrong, the minister responsible for the topic at hand is responsible for the failings of the king. This sounds like it makes the king an absolute tyrant, but in fact the opposite is true: since the ministers are responsible, they also have the authority to make the decisions. The ministers set the course of the government and the country, the ministers make executive decisions and run the affairs of state. And since the government is one, the King abides by the decision of the ministers. In fact the Kings of the Netherlands rarely make any executive decisions at all and practically never speak in public on any subject other than to read a statement prepared by the prime minister (since an unfortunate off-the-cuff remark could get a minister into trouble). The practical consequence of this limit on the power of the king is that the king never makes a decision on his own. Every decision, every decree must be countersigned by the responsible minister(s).

The king and the law of the land

Technically, the king has a lot of practical power. For instance, no proposal of law actually becomes a law until signed by the king — and there is no legal requirement for the king to sign. In practice, the king will always give assent since most proposals of law are made by the government "by or on behalf of the king". And while proposals of law must be approved by the States-General, a lot of the practical running of the country is done by royal decree (in Dutch: Koninklijk Besluit). These royal decrees are used for all sorts of things, ranging from appointments of civil servants and military officers to clarifications of how public policy is to be executed (in this they are like American executive orders) to filling in the details of certain laws. Royal decrees create ministries, disband the houses of the States-General, and appoint and fire ministers.

However, since the ministers are responsible, royal decrees are in fact made by the responsible minister. And while the king must sign laws and royal decrees before they come into effect, the constitution determines that the responsible ministers and state secretaries must countersign. That, given the fact that the ministers have the authority, really means that they decide and it is the king who countersigns, and even that is a formality. Also, while the king may technically propose laws ("by or on behalf of the King"), ministerial responsibility means that he never does. And even though the government may refuse to sign a States-General approved proposal into law, this is practically unheard of and the king refusing to sign on his own is even more rare (and a constitutional crisis to boot).

There is one special case in which the king has, if possible, even less power than normal: the appointment of his ministers. Ministers are appointed by royal decree, which of course have to be countersigned by the responsible minister. The royal decree to appoint a minister, however, is countersigned by two responsible ministers rather than one: the outgoing minister responsible for the ministry and the Prime Minister.

Formation of the government

Given the discussion above, it is a valid question whether the position of King of the Netherlands is entirely ceremonial. The answer however, is "no". Despite all appearances the King does have some actual power, relating to the formation of a new government after parliamentary elections. And, even more interestingly, this power is traditional and is not described in the constitution.

After the parliamentary election there follows a period of time in which the leaders of the political parties in the parliament seek to form a coalition of parties that can command a majority of the newly elected parliament. The current nationwide party-list system, combined with a low threshold for getting a seat (two-third percent of the vote) makes it all but impossible for one party to win an outright majority. Thus, the bargaining required to put together a governing coalition is as important as the election itself.

This process of negotiations, which can last anywhere from two to four months (more on occasion...), is coordinated in the initial stages by one or more informateurs, whose duty it is to investigate and report upon viable coalitions. After a likely combination is found, a formateur is appointed to conduct the formal coalition negotiations and form a new Council of Ministers (of which the formateur himself usually becomes the prime minister). If the negotiations fail, the cycle starts over. The informateurs and formateur in question are all appointed to this task by the king. The king makes his own decision in this, based on advice from the leaders of the different parties in parliament, as well as other important figures (the speakers of the new parliament and the senate are among them).

There is usually some popular discussion in the Netherlands around the time of these negotiations about whether the authority of the King in this matter should not be limited and whether or not the newly elected parliament should not make the appointments that the King makes. These discussions are usually based (to varying degrees) around the argument that decision by a king is undemocratic and there is no parliamentary oversight over the decision and the king might make use of this to push for a government of his or her liking.

On the other hand, it is somewhat questionable that the king really has much opportunity here to exert any influence. The informateur is there to investigate possible coalititions and report on them. He could technically seek "favorable" coalitions, but the political parties involved are usually quite clear on what they want and don't want and the first choice for coalition almost always is the coalition of preference of the largest party in the new parliament. Besides, the kings and (particularly) the queens have traditionally known better than to appoint controversial informateurs, usually settling for well-established yet fairly neutral people in the political arena (the deputy chairman of the Dutch Council of State is a common choice). Once a potential coalition has been identified the King technically has a free rein in selecting a formateur. However, the formateur almost always becomes the next Prime Minister, and in any case it is a strong convention that a government must command the support of a majority of the House of Representatives in order to stay in office. These considerations mean that the selected formateur is always the party leader of the largest party in the potential coalition.

The king and the states-general

The throne of the Ridderzaal, from which the Dutch monarch delivers the Throne Speech on the Prince's Day.

The one branch of government in which the king has no direct part is the legislative branch, which is formed by the States-General of the Netherlands. This parliamentary body consists of two chambers, the House of Representatives (also commonly referred to as the Parliament) and the Senate.

As in most parliamentary democracies the states-general are dually responsible for overseeing the government in its executive duties as well as approving proposals of law before they can become actual laws. In this respect it is of course vital for the government to maintain good relations with the states-general and technically the King shares that effort (although the king never officially speaks to members of the states on policy matters due to ministerial responsibility).

Constitutionally, the king deals with the states-general in three areas: lawmaking, policy outlining at the opening of the parliamentary year and dissolution.

Of the three, policy outlining is the most straightforward. The parliamentary year is opened on the third Tuesday of September with a joint session of the two houses. At this occasion the King addresses the joint states in a speech in which he sets forth the outlines for his government's policies for the coming year (the speech itself is of course prepared by the ministers, their ministries and finally crafted and approved by the Prime Minister). This event is mandated by the constitution in Article 65. Tradition has made more of this occasion than a policy speech though, and the event known as Prinsjesdag has become a large affair with much pomp and circumstance, in which the states-general and other major bodies of government assemble in the Ridderzaal to hear the queen deliver the speech from the throne after having arrived from the Noordeinde Palace in her golden carriage. Both in constitutional aspects and in ceremony the event has much in common with both the British Queen's Speech and the American State of the Union.

Lawmaking is the area in which the king has the most frequent involvement with the states-general (although in fact he has very little to do with it in practice). Laws in the Netherlands are primarily proposed by the government and can be proposed "by or on behalf of" the King (this phrase is repeated often in the constitution). Technically this means that the king may propose laws in person, hearkening back to the days of the first kings of the Netherlands when the kings really could and did propose laws. However, this possibility is at odds with ministerial responsibility and the queens have always avoided the issue by never proposing laws in person. The king must still sign proposals into law though, a historical deference to the fact that the law of the land is decreed by the king.

While the king has no practical involvement anymore in lawmaking other than a signature at the end, one might get a different impression from reading the communication between the government and the States-General regarding proposals of law and the laws themselves. All communication from the states-general to the government is addressed to the king and communication in the opposite direction formally is from the king (it is also signed by the King, without a ministerial countersignature – such communication is not a decision or decree, so does not require a countersignature). The formal language still shows deference to the position of the King, with a refusal of the states-general to approve a proposal of law for example becoming "a request to the King to reconsider the proposal". The constitution prescribes a number of the forms used:

• If the government accepts a proposal of law and signs it into law, the language is that "The King accedes to the proposal".
• If the government refuses a proposal of law, the language is that "The King shall keep the proposal under advisement".

A law, once passed, is formulated in such a way as to be decreed by the King.

The final involvement of the king with the States is dissolution. Constitutionally, the king is empowered to disband either house of the states by royal decree. Of course, this means that a minister (usually the Prime Minister) makes the decision and the king countersigns. The signing of such a royal decree constitutionally implies new elections for the house in question and the formation of a new house within three months of dissolution.

The constitution prescribes a number of cases in which one or more houses of the States are disbanded (particularly for changes to the constitution); this is always done by royal decree. In addition, traditionally the collapse of the government is followed by dissolution of the House of Representatives and general elections. Before World War II, before it became common to form new governments with each new parliament, it would happen from time to time that a Council of Ministers found itself suddenly facing a new and unfriendly parliament. When the inevitable clash came, it was an established political trick for the Prime Minister to attempt to resolve the problem by disbanding the parliament in name of the King in the hope that new elections brought a more favorable parliament (but it was also possible for the trick to backfire, in which case the new, equally hostile and far more angry parliament would suspend the budget to force the resignation of the government).

Even though the King never speaks with members of the states-general formally, it was tradition up to 1999 that the queen would invite the members of parliament over once a year for informal talks about the general state of affairs in the country. Of course these conversations were held in the strictest confidence due to ministerial responsibility. The tradition was suspended after 1999 though, due to repeated incidents involving MPs blabbing about the contents of the conversations despite agreeing not to (and embarrassing the Prime Minister in doing so). In 2009 an attempt was made to resume the tradition, but this failed due to Arend Jan Boekestijn resuming the tradition of revealing the contents of his conversation with queen Beatrix anyway.

Other functions of the king

In addition to the duties and responsibilities described in previous sections, the king has several other functions as well. Some of these are (partly) constitutional, others are more traditional in nature.

Although it does not say so anywhere in the constitution, the king is the head of state of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. As such, the king is the face of the kingdom towards the world: the ambassadors of the Netherlands are emissaries of the king, foreign ambassadors represent foreign heads of state to the king. And even though head-of-government responsibility lies with the prime minister, it is the king that makes state visits to foreign heads of state as representative of the Netherlands. It is also the king whose face is shown on Dutch stamps and Dutch euro coins.

Constitutionally the king is the head of the Dutch Council of State. The council is a constitutional body of the Netherlands that serves two purposes. First, it is an advisory council to the government which advises on the desirability, practicability and constitutionality of new proposals of law. Second, it is the Supreme Court for the Netherlands in matters of administrative law. The position of the King as constitutional head of this Council means two things for the constitutional position of the King:

1. The king is constitutionally directly involved with practically all aspects of lawmaking except approval by the States-General (the representative of the electorate). From inception of the law through proposal to the States to finally signing into law, the King is involved. This involvement is derived from the days when the King was an absolute ruler and really made law. Originally, with the creation of the first constitutions, the kings strove to maintain power by maximum involvement with all aspects of lawmaking. Over time this has grown into a more advisory role.
2. The king is constitutionally involved with at least part of the judicial branch of government as well.

Of course, the role played by the King in the Council is largely theoretical due to ministerial responsibility. While the King is officially head of the Council, in practice the queen never votes in Council meetings and always turns over her responsibility as chair of the meetings to the deputy head of the Council. She is presumed to be part of the discussions though.

Despite the limitations on the role the king may play in the Council, his involvement is seen as valuable due to the experience and knowledge that a monarch accrues over the years. Reciprocally, being part of the Council deliberations is considered invaluable training and preparation for the role of king, which is why the heir-apparent is constitutionally an observer-member of the Council from the time he comes of age.

The king is also the Grand Master of the Dutch orders of knighthoods: the Order of Orange-Nassau, the Order of the Netherlands Lion and the Military William Order.

Lastly, the king plays a very large but completely unofficial role in the running of the country as advisor and confidant to the government. This duty traditionally takes the form of a weekly meeting between the prime minister and the monarch in which they discuss the affairs of the week, the plans of the cabinet and so on. It is assumed that the queen exerts most of her influence (as such) in these meetings, in that she can bring her knowledge and experience to bear in what she tells the prime minister. In the case of queen Beatrix, several former prime ministers have remarked that her case knowledge of each and every dossier is extensive and that she makes sure to be fully aware of all the details surrounding everything that lands on her desk.

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly for a monarchy, the king is not formally the commander-in-chief of the military of the Netherlands. He was until 1983, but a large overhaul of the constitution that year shifted supreme command of the armed forces to the government as a whole.

Remuneration and privileges

Stipend

Article 40 of the constitution states that the king is to receive an annual stipend from the kingdom (in other words wages, except that it cannot be called that since the king is not employed by the country but rather the other way around). The exact rules surrounding these stipends are to be determined by law, as is the list of members of the royal house who also receive them.

Under current Dutch law the king receives an annual stipend which is part of the annual budget, as do the heir-apparent, the consort of the King and the consort of the heir-apparent. The king receives this stipend constitutionally, the others because they are not allowed to work for anybody due to their positions. For practical purposes this means that the current recipients of royal stipends are Queen Beatrix (€813,000 in the 2009 budget), Prince Willem-Alexander (the heir-apparent; €241,000 in the 2009 budget) and Princess Máxima (wife of Prince Willem-Alexander; €241,000 in the 2009 budget). This stipend is currently linked to the development of the wages of Dutch civil servants.

At the beginning of 2009 there was some upset in the parliament about the cost of the royal house and the lack of insight into the structure of those costs. At the insistence of the parliament the development of the stipends of the royal house members was then linked to the development of the salaries of the Dutch civil servants. During 2009 it was agreed collectively that the civil servants would receive a pay increase of 1%. In September 2009, at the first budget debate in parliament during the economic crisis, it was pointed out to the parliament that their earlier decision meant that the stipend to the queen would now also increase. This in turn was reason for the parliament to be displeased again.

Royal privileges

Royal Standard

Under the constitution, royal house members receiving a stipend are exempt from income tax over that stipend. They are also exempt from all personal taxes over assets and possessions that they use or need in the execution of their functions for the kingdom. The king and the heir-apparent are exempt from inheritance tax on inheritances received from members of the royal house.

The king has the use of Huis ten Bosch as a residence and Noordeinde Palace as a work palace. In addition the Royal Palace of Amsterdam is also at the disposal of the king (although it is only used for state visits and is open to the public when not in use for that purpose), as is Soestdijk Palace (which is open to the public and not in official use at all at this time).

The King has the use of an airplane and a train for state visits (although the airplane is not exclusively reserved for the King anymore). The King also has a small fleet of cars available, on which he may display the royal standard.

Positions of other members of the royal house and royal family

The royal family has become quite extensive since the birth of Queen Juliana. By consequence so has the Dutch royal house (nominally the collection of persons in line for the throne and their spouses), to the extent that membership of the royal house was limited by a change in the law in 2002.

Despite being a large clan, the family as a whole has very little to do officially with the Dutch government or the running of the Netherlands. Constitutionally an important role is played by the monarch. The heir-apparent is deemed to be preparing to ascend to the throne, so he has some limited tasks and a number of limits on his person (particularly he cannot hold a paying job, since this might lead to entanglements later on). Since neither king nor heir-apparent may hold jobs, they receive a stipend from the government. Their spouses are similarly forbidden from earning an income and receive a stipend as well. But constitutionally that is the whole of the involvement of the royal family with the Dutch government.

In particular (even though it is a common mistake to believe otherwise), members of the royal house other than the king and the heir-apparent have no official tasks within the Dutch government and do not receive stipends. They are responsible for their own conduct and their own income. They may of course be asked to stand in from time to time (for instance to accompany the King on a state visit if the consort is ill), but this is always a personal favor and not an official duty. In addition, they are not exempt from taxation.

Many members of the royal family do hold (or have held) significant positions within civil society, usually functioning as head or spokesperson of one or more charitable organizations, patron of the arts and similar endeavors. Some members of the royal family are also (or have been) avid supporters of some personal cause; Prince Bernhard for instance was always passionate about the treatment of World War II veterans and Princess Margriet (who was born in Canada) has a special relationship with Canadian veterans specifically. As a rule of thumb, the members of the royal family who are contemporaries of Queen Beatrix tend to hold civil society positions as a primary occupation whereas younger family members hold these positions in conjunction with a regular, paying job. A notable exception to this rule is Pieter van Vollenhoven (husband to Princess Margriet), who is chairman of the Dutch Safety Board.

As noted before, the spouses of the monarch and the heir-apparent are forbidden from holding paying jobs or government responsibilities. This is to prevent any monetary entanglements or undue influences involving the (future) king. These legal limits were not a great problem when they were instituted in the 19th century; The Netherlands had kings and it was considered normal for a married woman to tend the household, raise the family and not to hold any position outside the home. The limits have been more problematic since the early 20th century, when the monarchy of the Netherlands passed to a series of queens and the consorts became men (starting with Prince Hendrik in 1901). The male consorts since then have all either been raised with an expectation of government responsibility (such as Prince Hendrik), or had established careers of their own before marrying the future queen (Prince Bernhard and Prince Claus). Upon marrying into the Dutch royal family they all found themselves severely restricted in their freedom to act and make use of their abilities. All of the male consorts have been involved in some form of difficulty or another (scandals involving infidelity and finances in the cases of Hendrik and Bernhard, deep depression in the case of Claus) and it has been widely speculated (and even generally accepted) that sheer boredom played at least a part in all of these difficulties.

Over time the restrictions on royal consorts have eased somewhat. Prince Hendrik was allowed no part or role in the Netherlands whatsoever. Due to his war efforts, Prince Bernhard was made Inspector General of the Dutch armed forces (although that role was created for him) and was an unofficial ambassador for the Netherlands who leveraged his wartime contacts to help Dutch industry. All that came to a halt in 1976 however, after the Lockheed bribery scandals. Prince Claus was allowed more leeway still after having established himself in Dutch society (he was unpopular at first, being a German marrying into the royal family after World War II); he was eventually given an advisorship within the Ministry for Development Cooperation pertaining to Africa, where he made good use of his experiences as a German diplomat in that continent. Nevertheless, neither Bernhard nor Claus ever fully got over the restrictive nature of their marriages and at the time of the royal wedding in 2002 it was broadly agreed in government circles that Princess Máxima (who had a career in banking before marrying Prince Willem-Alexander) should be allowed far more leeway if she desires.

Death and burial

Although Dutch lawmakers have historically favored being very conservative about creating special legal positions for members of the royal house or the royal family, there is one area in which the rules for members of the Royal House are very different than for other Dutch citizens: the area of death and burial. More specifically, there is only one rule that pertains to members of the royal house in this area and that is that there are no rules.

For Dutch citizens, the rules surrounding death and burial are laid out by the Funereal Law (Dutch: Wet op de Lijkbezorging). However, article 87 of this law states that the entire law is not applicable to members of the Royal House and that the Minister of Internal Affairs can also waive the law for other relatives of the King. The reason for this exceptional position of members of the royal house is traditional. Ever since the burial of William the Silent in the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft, members of the Orange-Nassau family have favored burial in the same crypt where William was entombed (some members of the family buried elsewhere were even moved there later). However, for health and hygiene reasons, burial in churches was forbidden in the Netherlands by decree of William I in 1829 (the practice had been banned before under French occupation of the country, but returned after 1815). In order to allow entombing of members of the Royal family, all Dutch laws pertaining to burial have made an exception for the Royal House ever since the 1829 decree.

Burial of members of the royal house is completely a matter of tradition, circumstance, practicality and spirit of the times (this due to the lack of any formal rules whatsoever). As a rule of thumb, the body of a deceased member of the royal house is placed on display for a few days in one of the palaces, to allow the family to say goodbye. Depending on the identity of the deceased (a deceased monarch, for instance), there may also be a viewing for the public. Then, on the burial day, the body is transported to Delft in a special horse-drawn carriage. Current protocol specifies eight horses for a deceased monarch and six for a deceased royal consort (which is relatively new, since Prince Hendrik was borne to Delft by eight horses). The current carriage is purple with white trim (this has also changed since the burial of Queen Wilhelmina in 1962, when the carriage was white). Currently, the route to Delft is lined by members of the Dutch armed forces (which is also new since the burial of Prince Hendrik, which was a very quiet affair).

Once in Delft, the body is entombed in the family crypt after a short service. Only members of the family are allowed into the crypt, through the main entrance in the church which is only opened for royal funerals (the mayor of Delft has a key to a separate service entrance, which is only opened in the presence of two military police officers and two members of the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service for maintenance).