Prince Maurits Willem Pieter Hendrik of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven (born 17 April 1968) is a member of the

Dutch royal family The monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Consequently, a large portion of it is devoted to the monarch. Roughly a third of ...

as the eldest son of

Princess Margriet of the Netherlands Princess Margriet Francisca of the Netherlands (born 19 January 1943) is the third daughter of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. As an aunt of the reigning monarch, King Willem-Alexander, she is a member of the Dutch Royal House and curren ...

and

Pieter van Vollenhoven Pieter van Vollenhoven Jr. (born April 30, 1939) is the husband of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and a member, by marriage, of the Dutch Royal House. Early life and career Van Vollenhoven was born in Schiedam, he is the second son of ...

. Before the succession of his cousin

Willem-Alexander Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born ) is King of the Netherlands, having acceded to the throne following his mother's abdication in 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht as the oldest child of Princess Beatri ...

as King, he was a member of the

Dutch Royal House In the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the monarchy is a constitutional office and is controlled by the Constitution of the Netherlands. A distinction is made between members of the royal family and members of the royal house. Membership According t ...

and tenth in the

line of succession to the Dutch throne Since 1983, the crown of the Netherlands passes according to absolute primogeniture. From 1814 until 1887, a monarch could only be succeeded by their closest female relative if there were no eligible male relatives. Male-preference cognatic pri ...

. With Willem-Alexander's succession however, he is no longer a member of the Dutch Royal House, and is no longer in line to direct succession to the Dutch throne.

Life and career

Maurits was born on 17 April 1968. His godparents are

Princess Christina of the Netherlands Princess Christina of the Netherlands (Maria Christina; 18 February 1947 – 16 August 2019) was the youngest of four daughters of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. Early life Princess Christina, who wa ...

, Prince Alois-Konstantin of Lowenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, Jhr. G. Krayenhof, and The Dutch Merchant Fleet. Van Vollenhoven has three brothers:

Bernhard Bernhard is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar (1604–1639), Duke of Saxe-Weimar * Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (1901–1984), head of the House of Saxe-Meiningen 194 ...

, Pieter-Christiaan, Floris. Prins Maurits als LTZ3

In 1987, van Vollenhoven performed military service with the

Royal Netherlands Marine Corps The Netherlands Marine Corps ( nl, Korps Mariniers) is the elite naval infantry corps of the Royal Netherlands Navy. The marines trace their origins back to the establishment of the on 10 December 1665, by the then grand pensionary of the Dutc ...

and the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...

. He graduated at

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

in 1995, where he obtained a MSc degree in Economics. After his study he worked for the

Schiphol Airport Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport ( nl, Luchthaven Schiphol, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province ...

Authority, where he occupied several positions, including Senior Manager of Passenger Services. From September 2001 to May 2006, the prince worked for

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

(Domestic Appliances and Personal Care) in

Amersfoort Amersfoort () is a city and municipality in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands, about 20 km from the city of Utrecht and 40 km south east of Amsterdam. As of 1 December 2021, the municipality had a population of 158,531, making it the second- ...

, where he was in charge of part of the Philishave portfolio. In May 2006, van Vollenhoven started his own business, The Source, which focuses on innovative concepts for products, services and systems for both business and government. Since 1 May 2013, Maurits is Aide-de-camp to King Willem-Alexander and promoted to the rank of Commander (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

: Kapitein-lieutenant ter Zee) in the

Marriage and family

In 1989, van Vollenhoven met Marilène (Marie-Helène) van den Broek b. 4 February 1970, the youngest daughter of

Hans van den Broek Henri "Hans" van den Broek (; born 11 December 1936) is a retired Netherlands, Dutch politician and diplomat of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) and later the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and jurist who served as List of Euro ...

and Josee van Schendel. Their civil marriage ceremony was in

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. It is located about 60 km east of Utrecht, 60 km west of Enschede, 25 km north of Arnhem and 35 km south of Zwolle. The ...

on 29 May 1998, followed by a religious ceremony on 30 May. He was the first grandchild of

Queen Juliana Juliana (; Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980. Juliana was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. S ...

and

Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. ...

who married. Together, the couple has three children: * Anastasia (''Anna'') Margriet Joséphine van Lippe-Biesterfeld van Vollenhoven (Amsterdam, 15 April 2001) - the first great-grandchild of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard, * ''Lucas'' Maurits Pieter Henri van Lippe-Biesterfeld van Vollenhoven (Amsterdam, 26 October 2002), * ''Felicia'' Juliana Bénedicte Barbara van Lippe-Biesterfeld van Vollenhoven (Amsterdam, 31 May 2005). By Royal Decree of 26 May 1998, the children of van Vollenhoven bear the surname "van Lippe-Biesterfeld van Vollenhoven", without titles. Upon the

abdication Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of duty, in other societ ...

Queen Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husband ...

, which took place on 30 April 2013, it was confirmed that the children of Princess Margriet and Pieter van Vollenhoven would no longer be eligible to succeed to the throne, and that they would also cease to be members of the Royal House according to The Membership of the Royal House Act.

Titles and styles

* 1968–present: ''

His Highness Highness (abbreviation HH, oral address Your Highness) is a formal style (manner of address), style used to address (in grammatical person, second person) or refer to (in grammatical person, third person) certain members of a reigning or formerl ...

'' Prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven

Ancestry

Standard of a Prince of the Netherlands (sons of Margriet)

References

External links

Royal House of the Netherlands

Website Royal House – Family Van Vollenhoven
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maurits of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven, Prince 1968 births Living people Aide-de-camp to the Monarch of the Netherlands Directors of Philips Dutch businesspeople Dutch nonprofit directors Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands Hybrid electric vehicle advocates Royal Netherlands Navy officers Royal Netherlands Marine Corps officers Princes of Orange-Nassau University of Groningen alumni