PRINCES OF ORANGE

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Coat of Arms of the Principality of Orange.

'Prince of Orange' is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, now in southern France.
It is carried by members of the House of Orange-Nassau, as heirs to the crown of the Netherlands, and is also seen carried by the pretenders by members of the House of Hohenzollern. It is currently carried by Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (Orange-Nassau) and the pretender Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia (Hohenzollern).

Contents
The Principality of Orange
Bearers of the title (with dates)
as sovereign prince of Orange
As a personal title or as heir apparant
House of Hohenzollern
House of Orange-Nassau (second creation)
House of Mailly
House of Bourbon-Conti
The Princes of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau
Historical background
Pretender heirs apparent

The Principality of Orange


The title originally referred to the sovereign Principality of Orange in the Rhone valley in southern France, which was a property of the house of Orange and from 1544 of the house of Orange-Nassau.
Because Orange was a fief in the Holy Roman Empire, in its Kingdom of Burgundy, the title contained feudal rights and that sovereignty which German principalities came to enjoy.
The last descendant of the original princes, René of Nassau, left the principality to his cousin William the Silent, who was not a descendant of the original Orange family but the legal heir of the principality of Orange.
In 1673, Louis XIV of France annexed all territory of the principality to the royal domain, as part of the war actions against the stadtholder William III of Orange — who later became King William III of England and King William II Scotland.
In 1673, Louis XIV bestowed the principality on Louis of Mailly-Nesles, marquis of Nesles (1689-1764). In 1712, Louis XIV bestowed the principality again, on prince Louis Armand of Bourbon-Conti. Descendants of both still claim the title today.
Because William III died without legitimate children, the principality was regarded as having been inherited by his closest cognatic relative, Frederick I of Prussia, who ceded the principality — at least the lands, but not the formal title — to France in 1713. France supported his claim. In this way, the territory of the principality lost its feudal and secular privileges and became a part of France.
An agnatic relative of William III, John William Friso of Nassau, who also by female line descended from William the Silent, was designated the heir to the princes of Orange in the Netherlands by the last will of William III. Several of his descendants became stadtholders. They claim the principality of Orange on the basis of agnatic inheritance, similar to that of William the Silent, inheriting from his cousin René, though not being a descendant of original princes of Orange, and also on basis of the testament of William III. France never allowed them to obtain anything of the principality itself, but they nevertheless assumed the title. From that derivation of the title comes the tradition of later stadtholders of the Netherlands, and the present-day royal family of the Netherlands, also holding this title.
Thus, there are now three pretender claimants to this title:

★ The House of Hohenzollern, who reigned in Prussia until 1918

★ The House of Mailly-Nesles

★ The House of Bourbon-Conti

Bearers of the title (with dates)


as sovereign prince of Orange

Until 1340, it was customary for all sons of the prince of Orange to inherit the title.
Only the direct line of descent to Raimond V is shown here.

House of Baux



Bertrand I (1171-1181)

House of Baux-Orange



William I (1182-1218)

Raymond I (1218-1282)

Bertrand II (1281-1314)

Raymond II (1314-1340)

Raymond III (1340-1393)

House of Châlon-Arlay (also House of Ivrea of Anscarid dynasty)



Mary (1393-1417), with her husband John I (1393-1418)

Louis I (1418-1463)

William II (1463-1475)

John II (1475-1502)

Philibert (1502 - 1530)

House of Nassau



Rene (1530-1544), nephew of Philibert

House of Orange-Nassau (first creation)



William I (1544-1584), cousin of René of Châlon, also Lord of Breda and Count of Dillenburg, stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland etc.

Philip William (son of William I from 1st marriage, not a stadtholder) (1584-1618)

Maurice (son of William I from 2nd marriage), stadtholder, (1618-1625)

Frederick Henry (son of William I from 4th marriage), stadtholder, (1625-1647)

William II (1647-1650), stadtholder

William III (1650-1702), stadtholder, and from 1688 King of England and Scotland
As a personal title or as heir apparant

House of Hohenzollern


Frederick I of Prussia (1702-1713), a senior descendant in female line from William the Silent, who ceded his claims to the lands of Orange to France in 1713, and his descendants
House of Orange-Nassau (second creation)



John William Friso (1702-1711), descendant in male line of William the Silent's brother, and in female line also of William the Silent himself stadtholder of Friesland, and his descendants

William IV (1711-1751), stadtholder 1747-51

William V (1751-1806), stadtholder 1751-95

William I (1806-1815), 1813 he returned to Holland and became the first King of the Netherlands.

William II (1815-1840, title dropped on accession to the throne)

William III (1840-1849, title dropped on accession to the throne)

William, eldest son of Willem III from his 1st marriage (1849-1879)

Alexander, second son of William III from his 1st marriage (1879-1884)

William-Alexander (born 1967), crown prince of the Netherlands
House of Mailly


Louis de Mailly, appointed by the French king, and his descendants
House of Bourbon-Conti


★ prince Louis Armand of Bourbon-Conti, appointed by the French king, and his descendants

The Princes of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau


Historical background

William the Silent (Willem I) was the first Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic and the most significant representative of the House of Orange in the Netherlands. He was count of a small German county, part of the Duchy of Nassau and heir to some of his father's fiefs in Holland. William obtained more extensive lands in the Netherlands (the lordship of Breda and several other dependencies) as an inheritance from his cousin René, Prince of Orange, when William was only 11 years old. After William's assassination in 1584, the title passed to his son Philip William (who had been held hostage in Spain until 1596), and after his death in 1618 to his second son Maurice, and finally to his youngest son, Frederick Henry.
The title of Prince of Orange became synonymous with the stadtholder of the Netherlands.
William III (Willem III) was also King of England, Scotland and Ireland, and his legacy is commemorated annually by the Protestant Orange Order.
William and Mary had no legitimate children. After his death in 1702, the Dutch contender to his title was his heir in the Netherlands, John William Friso of Nassau, who assumed the title. William's testament designated Friso to inherit the title. The other contender was the King of Prussia, who based his claim to the title on the will of Frederick Henry, William III's grandfather. Eventually, a compromise was reached by which both families were entitled to bear the title of Prince of Orange. By then, it was no more than a title because the principality had been annexed by Louis XIV of France.
Friso's line held it as their principal title during the 1700s. The French army drove them away from the Netherlands in 1795, but on their return, the Prince of Orange became the first sovereign of the Netherlands in 1813.
After the establishment of the current Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815, the title was partly reconstitutionalized in a bill and granted to the eldest son of King William I of the Netherlands, Prince William, who later became William II of the Netherlands. Since 1983, the heir to the Dutch throne, whether male or female, bears the title Prince or Princess of Orange. The first-born child of the heir to the Dutch throne bears the title Hereditary Prince(ss) of Orange. Currently, Princess Catharina-Amalia is the Hereditary Princess of Orange. She will be the Princess of Orange once her father, Prince Willem-Alexander, is crowned King of the Netherlands.
The Prince(ss) of Orange is styled ''His/Her Royal Highness the Prince(ss) of Orange'' (Dutch: ''Zijne/Hare Koninklijke Hoogheid de Prins(es) van Oranje'').

Pretender heirs apparent


Other heirs apparent include:

Dauphin of France in the kingdom of France

Prince of Wales in the united kingdom of Great-Britain and Northern-Ireland

Duke of Brabant in the kingdom of the Belgians

Prince of the Asturias in the kingdom of Spain

Diadochos or Duke of Sparta in the kingdom of the Hellenes

Rex iunior in the kingdom of Hungary

King of the Romans (Rex Romanorum) in the Holy Roman empire

Tsesarevich in the Russian empire

Prince of Naples in the kingdom of Italy

Prince of Beira in the kingdom of Portugal

Prince of Turnovo in the kingdom of Bulgaria

Duke of Calabria in the kingdom of the Two Sicilies

Duke of Rothesay in the united kingdom of Great-Britain and Northern-Ireland

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