Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Holland
![The royal arms](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/62/De_twee_wapens_van_het_Koninkrijk_Holland.jpg/200px-De_twee_wapens_van_het_Koninkrijk_Holland.jpg)
The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Holland, a client state of Napoleon Bonaparte's French Empire which encompassed most of the modern-day state of the Netherlands, was instituted in 1806.
When the Emperor Napoleon proposed that his younger brother Louis Napoleon Bonaparte should become the king of a new kingdom, a state that would replace and succeed the age-old Dutch republic, at that time called the "Batavian Republic". He chose the name "Holland", after the most important province, as "Hollande" was much used in France as a name for the Netherlands.
The statute[1] described the royal arms and mentioned a royal crown. On 20 May 1807[2] a precise drawing of the royal coat of arms was approved by the king. The crown was topped with an orb with a cross.
In practice crowns without a cross became part of the crosses of Louis' Order of Knighthood, the Order of the Union, and the new coins. The second coat of arms, approved on 6 February 1806, showed no cross.
![The royal arms](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/63/Wapen_van_het_Koninkrijk_Holland_en_Lodewijk_Bonaparte_%281808%29.svg/200px-Wapen_van_het_Koninkrijk_Holland_en_Lodewijk_Bonaparte_%281808%29.svg.png)
As the country was ruined by the Napoleonic wars and the resulting lack of trade there was no opportunity for a coronation. The crown existed on paper alone until the French annexed the country in 1810. In 1813 the Dutch "chose" a new sovereign ruler, later king, William I who had a new crown, the crown of the Netherlands designed and wrought in gilded silver.[3]
See also
- Circlet
- Coronet
- Diadem
- Helmet
- Tiara
- Papal tiara
- Crown jewels
- List of royal crowns
References
- Hubert de Vries, "Wapens van de Nederlanden", Amsterdam 1995
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![Coat of arms of the Netherlands](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5a/Royal_Arms_of_the_Netherlands.svg/92px-Royal_Arms_of_the_Netherlands.svg.png)
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- Netherlands Antilles
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