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The Netherlands

Who is Prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau?

Prince Maurits is the son of Princess Margriet and cousin to the current King of the Netherlands, King Willem-Alexander. He was born in Utrecht on 17 April 1968 and is eldest of four brothers born to Princess Margriet and Pieter van Vollenhoven – the others being Bernhard, Pieter-Christiaan and Floris. He entered military service both with the Marine Corps and the Navy and since May 2013 has been Aide-de-Camp to King Willem-Alexander and has the rank of Commander in the Navy.

After his military service, the Prince attended the University of Groningen and passed an MSc in Economics. He was gone on to work for both the Schiphol Airport Authority and Phillips before starting his own company in 2006, which focuses on innovative concepts for products, services and systems for both private and public sectors alike. Perhaps aided by his time at Phillips where he was responsible for part of the Philishave portfolio.

His time at Phillips was not the only time that the Prince dabbled with things electric. Between 2009 and 2012, he played his part in promoting electrical transport within the Netherlands by being Chairman of the Formula E Racing team; this was as the concept of racing electrical cars was just starting. There are now a very successful series of races throughout the year.

In 1989, he met and married Marilène van den Broek while they were both studying at Groningen. They were married on the 29th May 1988 at Apeldoorn, and this was followed by a religious ceremony the following day. She has an MSc in Business Administration and currently works for the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, using her marketing skills as she is responsible for the “Friends of the Rijksmuseum.” The family currently live in Amsterdam and have three children; Anastasia (or Anna, born 2001), Lucas (born 2002) and Felicia (born 2005).

Following the abdication of Queen Beatrix in 2013, it was confirmed all children of Princess Margriet and Pieter van Vollenhoven would no longer be eligible succeed to the throne. This is because the Membership of the Royal Houses Act requires “a maximum of three degrees of Kinship.”  This is a similar situation to in England where the grandchildren of the Dukes of Kent and Gloucester, who were brothers of King George VI are no longer members of the British Royal Family and do not hold the title of Prince or Princess but may have a subsidiary title.

By Peter Anderson