The House of Orange, on what respects the Dutch RF goes back several generations before William III and Mary II Stuart.
The House of Orange was a junior branch (ottonian) of the House of Nassau, while the elder, known as Walriam, subdivided itself in several branches, and is now extinct in the male line after the death of Grand-Duke William in 1912, the father of Gdss Charlotte and gr.grand-father of the current Grand-Duke Henri.
The Ottonians also subdivided themselves in several branches.
The elder representant of the Ottonian branch, Henry III of Nassau-Breda, married Claudia of Châlons, sister of the last (french) prince of Orange who died childless.
So Renatus/René of Nassau-Breda, Henry III's son, inherited the principality of Orange with the obligation of using such title.
Renatus also died childless and the title passed to his first cousin, William from the Nassau-Dillembourg branch, better known as William the Silent.
William's brothers kept the title of Princes of Nassau and founded several lines: N.Siegen or Nassau-Hadamar.
William III Prince of Orange, king of England was William the Silent's great grandson.
Having died childless too, the title passed to his cousin John William Friso of the Nassau-Diez branch.
His grandson, William I, became the first dutch king of the Orange dynasty.
William I's great-grand-daughter was Queen Wilhelmina, the last representant of the Orange family.
She married Henry Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and they had one daughter, the future Queen Juliana.
Juliana married Pr.Bernhard of Lippe and had 4 daughters, the eldest having been Queen Beatrix, married to Count Claus von Amsberg.
But although there is hardly any Orange blood in the present king's veins, the family decided ages ago that it would carry on with the Orange name, thus honouring their long time dead prestigious ancestors.
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