Royal Marechaussee
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Royal Military Constabulary Koninklijke Marechaussee |
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| Abbreviation | KMar |
Logo of the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee
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| Motto |
Zonder vrees en zonder blaam Without fear and without dishonour |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | November 26, 1814 |
| Employees | 6,000 |
| Legal personality | Governmental: Government agency |
| Jurisdictional structure | |
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National agency (Operations jurisdiction) |
Netherlands |
| Legal jurisdiction | As per operations jurisdiction. |
| Governing body | Ministry of Defence (Netherlands) |
| Constituting instrument | Royal Decree of 1954 |
| General nature | |
| Specialist jurisdictions |
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| Operational structure | |
| Headquarters | The Hague |
| Agency executive | Luitenant-Generaal Harry van den Brink, Commandant |
| Website | |
| www.marechaussee.nl/ | |
The Koninklijke Marechaussee, the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, abbreviated to KMar (English is Royal Marshals, but commonly seen as Royal Military Constabulary), is one of the four Services of the armed forces of the Netherlands. It is a gendarmerie force performing military police and civil police duties.
The Corps de Maréchaussée was created by King William I to replace the French Gendarmerie on October 26, 1814. The word gendarmerie had gained a negative connotation, so William called the new force "marechaussée" (he forgot the first acute accent in the document). Maréchaussée is an alternate French word for gendarmerie. At that time, the Marechaussee was a part of the army (landmacht). The Marechaussee was tasked with maintaining public order, law enforcement, and safeguarding the main roads. Although not specifically mentioned, this included police duties for the army. As such, the Marechaussee was part of the national police (rijkspolitie).
The Marechaussee was the only police force in many small municipalities, such as Venlo, especially in the southern provinces of Limburg and North Brabant (former Generality Lands).
In 1908, Queen Wilhelmina assigned the Marechaussee the task of guarding the royal palaces, which had previously been done by gardeners. To this day, guarding a palace is called "klompendienst" (clog service).
On July 5, 1940, the German occupation government merged the Marechaussee with the rijksveldwacht and the gemeenteveldwacht. This meant that the Marechaussee lost its military status and the Royal. These changes did not apply to the Marechaussee outside occupied Dutch territory. About 200 marechaussees guarded the Royal Family and the Dutch government-in-exile, and provided military police services to the Princess Irene Brigade, a brigade formed in the United Kingdom, consisting of Dutchmen.
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Wikipedia