Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest child of Princess Beatrix and Prince Claus. He became Prince of Orange as heir apparent upon his mother's accession on 30 April 1980. He went to public primary and secondary schools in the Netherlands, and an international sixth-form college in Wales. He served in the Royal Netherlands Navy, and studied history at Leiden University. He married Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti in 2002, and they have three daughters: Catharina-Amalia, Alexia, and Ariane. Willem-Alexander succeeded his mother as monarch upon her abdication in 2013. He is the first man to hold this position since the death of his great-great-grandfather William III in 1890, as the intervening three monarchs—his great-grandmother Wilhelmina, his grandmother Juliana and his mother Beatrix—had all been women.
Willem-Alexander attended local state primary school Nieuwe Baarnse Elementary School in Baarn from 1973 to 1979. He went to two different state secondary schools (the Baarns Lyceum in Baarn from 1979 to 1981 and the Eerste Vrijzinnig Christelijk Lyceum in The Hague from 1981 to 1983) and the private sixth-form college United World College of the Atlantic in Wales (1983 to 1985), where he received his International Baccalaureate.[5][9]
After his military service from 1985 to 1987, Willem-Alexander studied history at Leiden University from 1987 onwards and received his Master of Arts degree (doctorandus) in 1993.[10][11] His final thesis was on the Dutch response to France's decision under President Charles de Gaulle to leave NATO's integrated command structure.[5]
Willem-Alexander speaks English, Spanish, French, and German (his father's native language) in addition to his native Dutch.[12]
Military training and career
Willem-Alexander in the navy uniform of ensign in 1986
Before his investiture as king in 2013, Willem-Alexander was honourably discharged from the armed forces. The government declared that the head of state cannot be a serving member of the armed forces, since the government itself holds supreme command over the armed forces. As king, Willem-Alexander may choose to wear a military uniform with royal insignia, but not with his former rank insignia.[14]
Willem-Alexander is interested in water management and sports issues. He was an honorary member of the World Commission on Water for the 21st century and patron of the Global Water Partnership, a body established by the World Bank, the UN, and the Swedish Ministry of Development. He was appointed as the Chairperson of the United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation on 12 December 2006.[16]
He was a member of the supervisory board of De Nederlandsche Bank (the Dutch central bank), a member of the Advisory Council of ECP (the information society forum for government, business and civil society), patron of Veterans' Day and held several other patronages and posts.[19]
On 28 January 2013, Beatrix announced her intention to abdicate. On the morning of 30 April 2013 (Koninginnedag), Beatrix signed the instrument of abdication at the Moseszaal (Moses Hall) at the Royal Palace of Amsterdam. Later that afternoon, Willem-Alexander was inaugurated as king before a joint session of the States General in a ceremony held at the Nieuwe Kerk.
As king, Willem-Alexander has weekly meetings with the prime minister and speaks regularly with ministers and state secretaries. He also signs all new Acts of Parliament and royal decrees. He represents the kingdom at home and abroad. At the State Opening of Parliament, he delivers the Speech from the Throne, which announces the plans of the government for the parliamentary year. The Constitution requires that the king appoint, dismiss and swear in all government ministers and state secretaries. As king, he is also the President of the Council of State, an advisory body that reviews proposed legislation. In modern practice, the monarch seldom chairs council meetings.[20]
At his accession at age 46, he was Europe's youngest monarch. He is currently third-youngest after Frederik X of Denmark and Felipe VI of Spain. He is also the first male monarch of the Netherlands since the death of his great-great-grandfather William III in 1890. Willem-Alexander was one of four new sovereign monarchs in 2013 along with Pope Francis, Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar, and King Philippe of Belgium.
Willem-Alexander is an avid pilot and has said that if he had not been a royal, he would have liked to be an airline pilot so he could fly internationally on large-sized aircraft such as the Boeing 747.[21] During the reign of his mother, he regularly flew the Dutch royal aircraft on trips.[22] However, in May 2017, Willem-Alexander revealed that he had served as a first officer on KLM flights for 21 years, flying KLM Cityhopper's Fokker 70s twice a month, even after his accession to the throne. Following KLM's phased retirement of the Fokker 70, he began training to fly Boeing 737s. Willem-Alexander was rarely recognized while in the KLM uniform and wearing the KLM cap, though a few passengers recognized his voice, even though he never gave his name and only welcomed passengers on behalf of the captain and crew.[21][23]
In an attempt to strike a balance between privacy for the royal family and availability to the press, the Netherlands Government Information Service (RVD) instituted a media code on 21 June 2005 which essentially states that:[29]
Photographs of the members of the royal house while performing their duties are always permitted.
For other occasions (like holidays or vacations), the RVD will arrange a photo-op on condition that the press leave the family alone for the rest of the activity.
During a ski vacation in Argentina, several photographs were taken of the prince and his family during the private part of their holiday, including one by Associated Press staff photographer Natacha Pisarenko, in spite of the media code, and after a photo opportunity had been provided earlier.[30] The Associated Press decided to publish some of the photos, which were subsequently republished by several Dutch media. Willem-Alexander and the RVD jointly filed suit against the Associated Press on 5 August 2009, and the trial started on 14 August 2009 at the district court in Amsterdam. On 28 August 2009, the district court ruled in favour of the prince and RVD, citing that the couple has a right to privacy, that the pictures in question add nothing to any public debate, and that they are not of any particular value to society since they are not photographs of his family "at work". Associated Press was sentenced to stop further publication of the photographs, on pain of a €1,000 fine per violation with a €50,000 maximum.[31]
In October 2020, Willem-Alexander apologised for a family holiday trip to Greece which had taken place while his country was under partial lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.[32] He and his family cut their trip short, and in a two-minute video he stated that it "hurts to have betrayed" people's trust.[32] Earlier in August, he and his wife were photographed with a restaurant owner during another trip to Greece, which was a violation of social distancing rules at the time.[32]
Properties
From 2003 until 2019, Willem-Alexander and his family lived in Villa Eikenhorst on the De Horsten Estate in Wassenaar.[33] After his mother abdicated and became Princess Beatrix once again, she moved to the castle of Drakensteyn, after which the King and his family moved to the newly renovated monarch's palace of Huis ten Bosch in The Hague in 2019.[34]
Willem-Alexander has a villa near Kranidi, Greece.[35]
Villa in Machangulo
On 10 July 2008, the Prince of Orange and Princess Maxima announced that they had invested in a development project on the Mozambican peninsula of Machangulo.[36] The development project was aimed at building an ecologically responsible vacation resort, including a hotel and several luxury holiday homes for investors. The project was to invest heavily in the local economy of the peninsula (building schools and a local clinic) with an eye both towards responsible sustainability and maintaining a local staff.[37] After contacting Mozambican President Armando Guebuza to verify that the Mozambican government had no objections, the couple decided to invest in two villas.[38] In 2009, controversy erupted in parliament and the press about the project and the prince's involvement.[38] Politician Alexander Pechtold questioned the morality of building such a resort in a poor country like Mozambique. After public and parliamentary controversy, the royal couple announced that they had decided to sell the property in Machangulo once their house was completed.[39] In January 2012, it was confirmed that the villa had been sold.[40]
Willem-Alexander's full title is: His Majesty King Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, etc., etc., etc.[41]
Willem-Alexander is the first Dutch king since Willem III (d. 1890). Willem-Alexander had earlier indicated that when he became king, he would take the name Willem IV,[42] but it was announced in January 2013 that his regnal name would be Willem-Alexander.[43]
Coat of arms of Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
Notes
As Monarch, Willem-Alexander uses the Greater Coat of Arms of the Realm (Grote Rijkswapen). The components of the coats of arms were updated and further regulated by Queen Wilhelmina in a royal decree of 10 July 1907 and were affirmed by Queen Juliana in a royal decree of 23 April 1980.
Crest
Issuing from a coronet Or, a pair of wings joined Sable each with an arched bend Argent charged with three leaves of the lime-tree stems upward Vert.
Azure, billetty Or a lion with a coronet Or armed and langued Gules holding in his dexter paw a swordArgent hilted Or and in the sinister paw seven arrows Argent pointed and bound together Or.
French: I will maintain (in Dutch: Ik zal handhaven)
Other elements
The monarch places this coat of arms on a purple mantle, with golden borders and tassels, lined with Ermine. Above the mantle is a purple pavilion again topped with the royal crown.[70] (Note: Although the official blazon states the mantle as purple it often looks like (dark) red. French and German purple contains more red and less blue than American or British purple.)
Banner
Upon his succession to the throne, Willem-Alexander adopted the (partly modified) Royal Standard of the Netherlands, which is a square orange flag, divided in four-quarters by a nassau-blue cross. All quarters show a white and blue bugle-horn, taken from the coat of arms of the Principality of Orange. In the centre of the flag is the (small) coat of arms of the Kingdom, which originates from the arms of the House of Nassau, surmounted by a royal crown and surrounded by the insignia of the Grand Cross of the Military William Order.
Symbolism
The seven arrows stand for the seven provinces of the Union of Utrecht.
Previous versions
Quarterly, 1 and 3, Azure, billetty Or a lion with a coronet or armed and langued Gules holding in his dexter paw a sword Argent hilted Or and in the sinister paw seven arrows Argent pointed and bound together Or (royal arms of the Netherlands, i.e. that of his mother, Queen Beatrix), 2 and 4, Or, and a bugle-horn Azure, langued Gules (arms of the former Principality of Orange), on an inescutcheon Vert, a castle proper, on a mount of the last (arms of the House of Amsberg, i.e. that of his late father, Prince Claus).
Through his mother, Willem-Alexander also descends from Paul I of Russia and thus from German princess Catherine the Great and Swedish King Gustav I. Through his father, he is also descended from several Dutch–Flemish families who left the Low Countries during Spanish rule, such as the Berenbergs. His paternal great-great-grandfather Gabriel von Amsberg, a major-general of Mecklenburg, was recognized as noble as late as 1891, the family having adopted the "von" in 1795.[71][72]
Finally, Willem-Alexander is also a distant descendent of William the Silent, who is held to be the Father of the Nation in the Netherlands, since John William Friso, a great-great-grandson of William the Silent, is known to be a common ancestor to all current European monarchs.
^Hoff, Ruud. "Leiden, 2 juli 1993" [Leiden, 2 July 1993]. ANP Historisch Archief Community. Archived from the original on 2013-12-12. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
^"Queen Máxima". Holland.com. 2012-06-06. Archived from the original on 2023-08-25. Retrieved 2023-08-25. Máxima Zorreguieta was born in Argentina on 17 May 1971.
^"Queen Máxima — Youth". Het Koninklijk Huis. 2015-01-15. Archived from the original on 2023-08-25. Retrieved 2023-08-25. Queen Máxima was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 17 May 1971 as Máxima Zorreguieta.
^"Boletim Oficial" [Official Bulletin]. Imprensa Nacional de Cabo Verde (in Portuguese). Vol. 1, no. 80. 2018-12-07. Archived from the original on 2022-03-27. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
^"Ordensdetaljer" [Order details]. borger.dk (in Danish). Archived from the original on 2013-12-07. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
^"Kuningas Willem-Alexander" [King Willem-Alexander]. Office of the President of the Republic (in Estonian). Archived from the original on 2022-04-27. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
^"Real Decreto 349/2024" [Royal Decree 349/2024]. Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Archived(PDF) from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
^"Real Decreto 1141" [Royal Decree 1141] (PDF). Boletín Oficial del Estado (in Spanish). Archived(PDF) from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2017-06-15.
1title granted by Royal Decree to consort of the Queen, without the title "Prince of Orange-Nassau"
2gave up the title "Prince of the Netherlands, but still held the title "Prince of Orange-Nassau"3title granted by Royal Decree to descendants of Princess Irene
.jpeg)
.jpeg)
_ribbon_-vector.svg){kind=small}
