page_title: Netherlands–United Kingdom relations
section_title: Armed forces
hierarchical_section_title: Netherlands–United Kingdom relations / Armed forces
context_page_description: The Netherlands and the United Kingdom have a strong political and economic partnership.
  Over forty Dutch towns and cities are twinned with British towns and cities. Both English and Dutch are West Germanic languages, with West Frisian, a minority language in the Netherlands, being the closest relative of the English language if one excludes Scots. In addition, between 90% and 93% of people in the Netherlands claim to speak English, although a negligible percentage of British people can speak Dutch.
  The Netherlands has an embassy in London, and the United Kingdom has an embassy in The Hague and a consulate in Amsterdam. The UK also has a consulate in Willemstad, Curaçao.
  There are also strong ties between the UK's overseas territory of Anguilla and the nearby Sint Maarten of the Netherlands.
context_section_description: The Royal Marines and Netherlands Marine Corps are allied through a 'Bond of friendship'.
  Since 1973, units of the Netherlands Marine Corps have formed part of the British 3 Commando Brigade during exercises and real conflict situations. Together, these form the UK/NL Landing Force. Either the First or the Second Marine Combat Group can be assigned as the Dutch contribution to this force.
  The co-operation between the Korps Mariniers and the Royal Marines has led to extensive integration in the areas of operations, logistics and materials. Within NATO this is seen as a prime example of what can be achieved in military integration.
  In combined NLMC and Royal Marines actions by the British and Dutch navies during the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–1713), amphibious operations were carried out, the most notable being the capture of Gibraltar in 1704. During this action, a successful attack was carried out against the fortress of Gibraltar by an 1800-strong brigade of Dutch and British Marines under the command of Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt. Both corps share this battle honour.
  The nickname of the Dutch Marines among their British Royal Marine counterparts is "Cloggies", a reference to the historic wearing of clogs by some Dutch people.
  Royal Navy Submarine Service officers taking the Submarine Command Course use a Dutch submarine simulator for part of the course.
caption: Dutch Marines in a British made Rigid-hulled inflatable boat
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