Constitution of the Netherlands in the context of "Monarchy of the Netherlands"

The monarchy of the Netherlands is governed by the country's charter and constitution, roughly a third of which explains the mechanics of succession, accession, and abdication; 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 monarch is head of state and de jure head of government of the Netherlands.

The once-sovereign provinces of the Spanish Netherlands were intermittently ruled by members of the House of Orange-Nassau from 1559, when Philip II of Spain appointed William the Silent (William of Orange) as a stadtholder, until 1795, when the last stadtholder, William V, Prince of Orange, fled the country. William the Silent became the leader of the Dutch Revolt and of the independent Dutch Republic. Some of his descendants were later appointed as stadtholders by the provinces and, in 1747, the role of stadtholder became a hereditary position in all provinces of the thus "crowned" Dutch Republic.

In the Netherlands, the Constitution refers to Amsterdam as the capital city. However, since 1588, the States General and the Executive Branch, along with the Supreme Court and the Council of State, have been situated in The Hague as the seat of government. Since the 1983 revision of the Constitution of the Netherlands, Article 32 mentions that "the King shall be sworn in and inaugurated as soon as possible in the capital city, Amsterdam". It is the only reference in the document stating that Amsterdam is the capital. In contrast, The Hague is customarily called the residentie ("residence").

Only once during its history was Amsterdam both "capital" and seat of government. Between 1808 and 1810, during the Kingdom of Holland, King Louis Napoleon resided in Amsterdam and declared the city capital of his kingdom and seat of government. To accommodate the king, the grand seventeenth-century Town Hall of Amsterdam, a prime example of the republican values that were prevalent for so long in the Netherlands, was converted into a Royal Palace.

Sommelsdijk is a village on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee, South Holland, the Netherlands, and part of the municipality of the same name. Sommelsdijk has (1 January 2022) 7,195 inhabitants which makes it the second largest settlement after Middelharnis on the island.

In the past, Sommelsdijk was the only place on the island of Goeree-Overflakee that was part of the province of Zeeland. In 1805 it was made a part of Holland, and remained such under the amendment of the Dutch Constitution of 1814.

The Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands (in Dutch: Statuut voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden; in Papiamentu: Statuut di Reino Hulandes) is a legal instrument that sets out the political relationship among the four countries that constitute the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten in the Caribbean and the Netherlands (for the most part) in Europe. It is the leading legal document of the Kingdom. The Constitution of the Netherlands and the Basic Laws of the three other countries are legally subordinate to the Charter.

The Dutch nobility is a small elite social class consisting of individuals or families recognised as noble, and with or without a title of nobility in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The existence of nobility was established in the Constitution of the Netherlands of 1814. Those who belong to the nobility were entitled to certain privileges, in particular to take a seat in the "Ridderschap", a former executive and legislative assembly at the regional or provincial level, and therewith the power to select members for the States-Provincial.

In the Netherlands, the term public body (a literal translation from the Dutch term openbaar lichaam) is the general denomination for administrative divisions within the Dutch state, such as the central government, a province, a municipality or a water board. These types of political entities are defined by the Constitution of the Netherlands.

In addition, Article 134 of the constitution provides for the definition of other public bodies by law. Such bodies can be professionally oriented, like the Dutch Order of Advocates (Dutch: Nederlandse Orde van Advocaten), or be constituted to perform functions in a specific region. This means that the term public body is sometimes used to indicate a special or irregular type of public body (without a specifically defined name), which can also be an administrative division or a certain other type of governmental organisation.

William II (Dutch: Willem II, French: Guillaume II; 6 December 1792 – 17 March 1849) was King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Duke of Limburg. He reigned for nearly nine years, making him the shortest-reigning monarch in Dutch history.

William II was the son of William I and Wilhelmine of Prussia. When his father, who up to that time ruled as sovereign prince, proclaimed himself king in 1815, he became Prince of Orange as heir apparent of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands. With the abdication of his father on 7 October 1840, William II became king. During his reign, the Netherlands became a parliamentary democracy with the new constitution of 1848. William II was married to Anna Pavlovna of Russia, with whom he had five children. William II was succeeded by his son William III.