In the Low Countries, stadtholder (Dutch: stadhouder, Dutch pronunciation: [ˈstɑtˌɦʌudər]), literally steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The title was used for the official tasked with maintaining peace and provincial order in the early Dutch Republic and came to designate the head of state of the Dutch Republic during the 16th to 18th centuries, which was an effectively hereditary role. For the last half century of its existence, it became an officially hereditary role and thus a monarchy (though maintaining republican pretence) under Prince William IV. His son, Prince William V, was the last stadtholder of the republic, whose own son, King William I, became the first king of the Netherlands. The Dutch Monarchy is thus descended from the first stadtholder