200 Years of the Kingdom of the Netherlands

A flowing endless band traces the outline of King Willem-Alexander on its outer course, then, turning inward, the likenesses of his six predecessors: Queen Beatrix, Queen Juliana, Queen Wilhelmina, King William III, King William II and King William I. The portraits are encircled by the inscription "Willem-Alexander Koning der Nederlanden", the mintmarks and the year "2013". To the left of the portraits: the legend "200 JAAR KONINKRIJK".

When Napoleon placed his brother Louis Bonaparte on the throne of the newly created Kingdom of Holland in 1806, few could have guessed that this would establish a dynastic framework that endures to this day. After the end of Napoleonic rule, the Kingdom of the Netherlands was proclaimed in 1813, and William I of the House of Orange-Nassau took over as the first sovereign king. Over the following two centuries, a continuous monarchy decisively shaped the country: through the building of a colonial trading empire in the 19th century, the policy of neutrality in the First World War, the years of occupation under National Socialism, and the subsequent economic recovery. Especially formative was the role of the monarchy in times of crisis - from Queen Wilhelmina's government-in-exile in London to the stabilising function of the House of Orange in modern parliamentary democracy.

The line of succession since 1813 is remarkable: William I was followed by William II and William III, before Wilhelmina ushered in an era of female rule in 1890 that, through Juliana to Beatrix, lasted nearly 130 years. With Beatrix's abdication and Willem-Alexander's accession to the throne in April 2013, a king returned to the throne for the first time in three generations. On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Netherlands issued a 2-euro commemorative coin in 2013 that symbolically distils this extraordinary dynastic continuity.