THE DUTCH REGALIA

THE DUTCH REGALIA

The crown
The crown symbolizes the sovereignty of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The crown also symbolizes the dignity of the head of state. The Dutch king or queen does not undergo a coronation but undergo an Inaugeration, thus the crown is never worn by the new sovereign.

Other regalia
In addition to the crown the other regalia are:
the scepter: the symbol of the authority of the king
the orb: symbol for the territory of the king
the realm sword: symbolizes the power of the king;
the national standard or -banner the Dutch royal coat of arms.

There was no crown present in Brussels in 1815 for the Inaugeration of King William I. The Netherlands had never had a king or queen before so a crown had to be made. There is evidence that preparations were made to design a crown. Three designs were submitted to the king but he opted for a crown based on the crown used for Louis Napoleon, but with 8 brackets.
The crown was very simple and made of gilded bronze and using colored foil mounted glass stones.
The scepter, the orb and sword probably existed already considering the short time they had to prepare for the inauguration. They may have came from the funeral of Stadholder Prince Willem V. There is however, little known about them.
King Wilem II ordered a new crown and regalia for his inauguration. He used the same design but with a more expensive execution. The king had them made at various jewelers.
The crown, orb, scepter and sword of state were now constructed in gilded silver, but again with imitation jewelry. The brackets had 72 imitation pearls placed on them. This crown was designed by the Amsterdam jeweler Bonebakker. The crown cost 1390 guilders and his salary was 600 guilders.
When Wilhelmina was Inaugurated, her mother queen Emma had the crown checked and the larger pearls were replaced by smaller ones and instead of 9 per bracket, there were now five. These regalia are still used by Dutch kings and Queens for their inauguration. The last time in 2013 for the inauguration of King Willem-Alexander.

We have the regalia in miniature  in our collection:

Info from the books :

The jewels of the house of Orange by Rene Brus

Inauguration issued by the Nieuwe kerk Amsterdam