Monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy whose role and position are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Roughly a third of the Constitution explains the succession, mechanisms of accession and abdication to the throne, the roles and duties of the monarch, the formalities of communication between the States General of the Netherlands, and the monarch's role in creating laws..
The Kingdom of the Netherlands has been an independent monarchy since 16 March 1815. Its once-sovereign provinces had been intermittently ruled by members of the House of Orange-Nassau and the House of Nassau from 1559, when Philip II of Spain appointed William of Orange as stadtholder, until 1795, when the last stadtholder fled the country.
William of Orange became the leader of the Dutch Revolt and of the independent Dutch Republic. Some of his descendants were later appointed as stateholders by some of the provinces. In 1747, the function of stateholder became a hereditary position in all provinces of the thus "crowned" Dutch Republic. The last stadtholder was William V, Prince of Orange.
Willem-Alexander has been King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013.
Succession
The monarchy of the Netherlands passes by right of succession to the heirs of William I (see House of Orange-Nassau). The heir is determined through two mechanisms: absolute cognatic primogeniture and proximity of blood. The Netherlands established absolute cognatic primogeniture instead of male-preference primogeniture by law in 1983. Proximity of blood limits accession to the throne to a person who is related to the current monarch within three degrees of kinship. For example, the grandchildren of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands (sister of Princess Beatrix) have no succession rights because their kinship with Beatrix when she was queen, was of the fourth degree (that is, Princess Beatrix is their parent's parent's parents' daughter). Succession is limited to legitimate heirs, precluding a claim to the throne by children born out of wedlock. If the king dies while his wife is pregnant: the unborn child is considered the heir at that point, unless stillborn – the child is then considered never to have existed. As such, if the preceding king dies while his wife is pregnant with their first child, the unborn child is immediately considered born and immediately becomes the new king or queen. If the pregnancy ends in stillbirth, his or her reign is expunged (otherwise the existence of the stillborn king/queen would add a degree of separation for other family members to the throne and might suddenly exclude the next person in line for the throne).
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 stipulates that custody and parental authority of the minor monarch will be determined by law; any person might be appointed as regent, as legal guardian or both.
There are also a number of special cases within the Constitution. First, 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 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, some people are excluded from the line of succession. They are:
Any heir who marries without the permission of the States-General loses the right of succession. A person who is or has become truly undesirable or unfit as monarch can be removed from the line of succession by an act of the States-General, upon suggestion of the reigning monarch. This clause has never been executed and is considered an "emergency exit". An example would be an heir apparent who commits treason or suffers an incapacitating accident.
Accession
As with most monarchies, the Netherlands cannot be without a monarch – the constitution of the Netherlands does not recognise a situation in which there is no monarch. This is because there must be a head of state in order for the government to function, as there must be someone who carries out the tasks of the constitutional role of the King/Queen. For this reason, the new monarch assumes the role the moment the previous monarch 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 monarch pending the appointment of a monarch or regent.