Orange-Nassau

   Members of the House of Dillenburg served as stadtholders in the Dutch Republic. William I of Orange, who in 1544 inherited the small princedom of Orange in southern France from his cousin Rene of Chalon, was the first in this line. With the death of Stadtholder William III of Orange, the king of England, in 1702, the male line of this house died out. In the female line, it was continued by the descendants of the House of Nassau-Dietz. William IV, who became hereditary stadtholder of all Dutch provinces, car ried the title of the Prince of Orange and Nassau (1747–1751). After the Batavian Revolution and the annexation to the French Empire, his grandson, William I, became king of the Netherlands in 1815.