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Royal Marechaussee Koninklijke Marechaussee
Coat of Arms of the Royal Marechaussee
Country	Netherlands
Type	Gendarmerie
Formed	26-10-1814
Motto	Zonder vrees en zonder blaam (Without fear and without blame)
HQ	The Hague
Commandant	Luitenant-Generaal Minze Atte Beuving
Website	Koninklijke Marechaussee
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A Marechaussee van

The Royal Marechaussee, in Dutch Koninklijke Marechaussee, abbreviated to KMar, (English direct translation is Royal Marshals but is often translated as Royal Constabulary) is one of the four military bodies of the Netherlands. It is a gendarmerie — that is, a military force performing the peacetime duties of a civil police force.

History

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" (in the document he forgot the first acute accent). 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, fighting crime, 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 would form the only police force in many small cities like Venlo, especially in the southern provinces of Limburg and North Brabant.

In 1908, Queen Wilhelmina gave the task of guarding the royal palaces to the Marechaussee, a task 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 predicate Royal. These changes did not apply to the Marechaussee outside the occupied territory. About 200 marechaussees took care of the protection of the royal family, the Dutch government and provided police services to the Princess Irene Brigade, a brigade formed in the United Kingdom, consisting of Dutchmen.

After World War II, the Marechaussee was split into a Korps Rijkspolitie (National Police Corps) (as a replacement of the rijksveldwacht and the gemeenteveldwacht) and the Royal Marechaussee, which regained its military status. From this time the main tasks for the Marechaussee were border protection, military police and guard duties.

On July 3, 1956, Princess Beatrix was made patroness of the Royal Marechaussee.

In 1994, the National and Municipal police forces merged into the present 25 regional police forces and the Korps landelijke politiediensten (National Police Services Agency). The National Police transferred its airport police and security tasks (notably Schiphol) to the Marechaussee.

In 1998, the Marechaussee was made independent of the army.

Emblem

The Grenade

The emblem of the Royal Marechaussee is, as with many other gendarmerie forces, a burning grenade. In the 17th century, a new weapon was introduced in Europe: the hand grenade. The soldiers who handled grenades were called grenadiers. They became an elite type of soldier in all European armies. In France the grenade symbol was adopted by the gendarmerie, and this was imitated by various other similar forces throuhgout Europe.

The burning grenade (but in this case within an eight-pointed star) was also the emblem of the Rijkspolitie.

Present KMar

The present maréchaussée is a police organisation with a military status, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense, but mostly working for the ministries of Justice and Domestic Affairs. The KMar performs the following missions:

security and police work at all civilian airports, notably Schiphol Airport
guarding the national borders
military police functions for the Dutch Armed Forces
guarding the royal palaces and the house of the Prime Minister
assistance to and replacement of the police
fighting international crime
fighting illegal immigration
VIP close protection
riot control and protection
Escorting and protection of NATO convoys

Structure

Staff Headquarters in The Hague
Districts:
- West (Holland and Utrecht, except Schiphol)
- South (Zeeland, Brabant and Limburg)
- North/East (all other provinces)
- Schiphol
- National and International Units
- National Training Centre

The first four units are territorial districts, the other two do not have territorial responsibilities.

National and International Units District

This district was created in 2005 to centralise all existing and new units with national and international missions. The most important units in this district are:

Brigade Speciale Beveiligingsopdrachten (Special Security Brigade), special forces for arrests, observation and protection
KMOO, the Military Police Service
All missions to foreign countries

Spelling

In the course of time the two acute accents of the French spelling (Maréchaussée) were dropped. The lowest ranking personnel are referred to as marechaussees (without the capital M), a rank comparable to corporals.