The title came into the house of Nassau through a female line.
Rene died childless and made his first cousin on his paternal side his heir (William the Silent).
His legitimate male line died in 1702 with William III the King-stadholder.
William III's universal heir Johan Willem Friso of Nassau-Dietz and his wife Maria Louisa of Hesse-Kassel were both female line descendants of William the silent. He through Frederik Hendrik's daughters Albertine Agnes and Henrietta Catharina (his grandmothers) and she through both Louise Juliana and Catharina Belgica (oldest and third daughters of William the silent's third marriage to Charlotte de Bourbon-Montpensier).
In later generations an additional line through Louise Henriette (oldest daughter of Frederik Hendrik and married to her first cousin's son providing the Prussian Hohenzollern dynasty) was made.
The male Orange-Nassau-Dietz line ende with King Willem III of the Netherlands in 1890. His daughter Wilhelmina married in 1901 and after consultation with the other Nassau branch (Nassau-Weilburg in Luxemburg) it was decided her descendants would remain prince(ss) of Orange-Nassau. That has continued to the present day.
the current King Willem-Alexander is King of the Netherlands, prince of Orange-Nassau and jonkheer van Amsberg. He also has the use of about 40 other historic titles like count of Buren or Baron of Breda.
His daughters however do not have the van Amsberg name.
Catharina-Amalia is HRH the Princess of Orange, princess of the Netherlands and Princess of Orange-Nassau
her sisters Alexia and Ariane are HRH princess Alexia/Ariane of the Netherlands, princess of Orange-Nassau.
The children of the king's younger brothers do have their grandfather's name.
Friso's daughters are countess of Orange-Nassau van Amsberg.
Constantijn's children are count(ess) of Orange-Nassau, jonkheer/jonkvrouwe of Amsberg.
I do wonder why Jose added the line of Orange blood. The the best of my knowledge your father does not provide you with more genes or blood than your mother simply based on their sexe.
The current King of the Netherlands, like all reigning European monarchs except the Pope and the two co-princes of Andorra descents from Johan Willem Friso of Orange-Nassau-Dietz and Maria Louisa of Hesse-Kassel. Both descendants of William the Silent.
Through Charlotte the Bourbon-Montpensier all of them also descent from Vladimir the Great and Saint Olga of Kiev, the Visconti's of Milan and Harold Godwinson amongst many others.
It always surprises me how people totally forget that the Prince of Orange title inherited in the female line into the house of Nassau and has continued in the female line since the male line of the house of Orange-Nassau-Dietz died out. The House of Orange-Nassau however is still going strong and will in the next generation once again go through the female line.
Since the start of the kingdom of the Netherlands in 1814 we've had several alterations to the law of succession. Up until now each one of those laws still would have seen the current King on the throne. Once the current Princess of Orange succeeds only the oldest succession law (already abandoned in the late 19th century) would have given the throne to another. All other succession laws would still see the throne go to Catharina-Amalia.
The Orange-Nassau dynasty is not the only one chasing to continue in a female line.
In 1903 Russia celebrated 300 years of Romanov rule even though the last male line Romanov Elisabeth Petrovna died in 1762.
In the UK and the other realms Charles III is king the reigning house is Windsor in spite of the fact that his father was a Glucksborg.
In Sweden the House of Bernadotte will continue once princess Estelle succeeds. Her father became a Bernadotte upon his marriage to crown princess Victoria.
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The present king of the Dutch is son of a German-Claus Von Amsberg is it? I thought that the House of Orange extended back several generations what with William of Orange and wife Mary Stuart being monarchs of England and Scotland. I believe William was a prince of the House of Orange .
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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