T he last power of any real significance that had been stripped away from the Dutch monarchy had been that of appointing the informateur . When a government had dissolved, someone needed to go around and have conversations with leaders in all the significant political parties and run the numbers and try to work out what the next ruling coalition might look like. When that picture began to come into focus, the informateur , as this person was called, would make a graceful exit and be replaced by a formateur who was usually the next prime minister.