succession was vested exclusively in the direct male line of the house
of Orange-Nassau in the order of primogeniture. The death, however, in
the year mentioned, of the sole surviving male heir occasioned, as has
been stated, an amendment of the constitution authorizing the succession
of a female heir, in default of a male; and, upon the death of William
III., November 23, 1890, the throne accordingly passed to his only
daughter, the present Queen Wilhelmina.[724] In default of a legal
heir, the successor to the throne is to be designated by a law presented
by the crown and acted upon by a joint meeting of the legislative
chambers, each house containing for this purpose double its usual (p. 524)
number of members. In the event of the minority or the incapacity of
the sovereign a regency is established, and the regent is named by law
enacted by the States-General in joint session.[725]

[Footnote 723: The official title is "The Kingdom
of the Netherlands." In ordinary usage, however,
the term "Holland" is more commonly employed.]

[Footnote 724: Wilhelmina was at the time but ten
years of age. Until she attained her majority,
August 31, 1898, a regency was exercised by the
Queen-Dowager Emma. E. Lemonon, La succession au
trone neerlandais, in _Questions Diplomatiques et
Coloniales_, December 1, 1908.]

[Footnote 725: Arts. 20-21. Dodd, Modern
Constitutions, II., 84.]

The sovereign, at accession, is installed in a public joint meeting of
the two chambers in the city of Amsterdam, and is required to take
oath always "to observe and maintain the constitution;" whereupon the
members of the chambers solemnly pledge themselves "to do everything
that a good and loyal States-General ought to do." The person of the
monarch is declared inviolable. For the maintenance of the royal
establishment the constitution stipulates that, in addition to the
revenue from the crown lands, the sovereign shall be entitled to a
yearly income, to be paid out of the national treasury, together with
summer and winter residences, the maximum public expenditure upon
which, however, is restricted to 50,000 florins a year. At each
accession the amount of the annual stipend is fixed by law for the
entire reign. William II.'s civil list was 1,000