Capital of the Netherlands Capital of the Netherlands Amsterdam is the capital of the Netherlands according to the Constitution of the Netherlands, although the States General and the Executive Branch have been situated in The Hague since 1588, along with the Supreme Court and the Council of State. Since the 1983 revision of the Constitution of the Netherlands, Article 32 mentions that "the King shall be sworn in and inaugurated as soon as possible in the capital city, Amsterdam". It is the only reference in the document stating that Amsterdam is the capital. Only once during its history was Amsterdam both "capital" and seat
Kingdom of the Netherlands measures to be made for arbitration between countries as well. In contrast with Article 12a, this article is not imperatively formulated. Article 3 of the Charter specifies the Affairs of the Kingdom: One additional Kingdom affair is specified in article 43(2): Paragraph 2 of Article 3 specifies that "other matters may be declared to be Kingdom affairs in consultation". These Kingdom affairs are only taken care of by the Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, if the affair affects Aruba, Curaçao or St. Maarten. Article 14, paragraph 3, of the Charter, foresees the handling of Kingdom affairs