Admiral ("admiraal") is a rank of the Royal Netherlands Navy ("Koninklijke Marine") that can be held by either an Naval officer appointed by the government or a member of the royal family. The nobility connection to the rank of Admiral possibly originated in 1830 when King William I promoted his son prince Frederik (who was already the Secretary of State for War and Navy) to the rank of Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Admiral. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_%28Netherlands%29