Royce van Rijsewijk

Royce van Rijsewijk was a Terran founding figure, general and advisor and friend of the Custodian. He is best known for commanding the armies of the Custodian throughout his reign. He also served as a permanent member of the executive council from 2088, and was the Federation's first chancellor.
Born on the 15th of August 2024 in the dutch city of Utrecht into a middle-class family, Royce van Rijsewijk studied to become a lawyer. Having been a devoted pan-European supporter throughout his life, he decided to instead join the military in 2043, seeing the increasingly hostile attitude of the Russian Federation and Maghreb Federation towards the European Federation. 
One of the Custodian's earliest friends and supporters, they met in 2044 in southern Italy, preparing the invasion of the Maghreb. He was a subordinate of the Custodian during the Maghreb Wars, and helped him organise the coup d'état in 2055. He then became the field commander of all armies of the European Federation, Trans-Atlantic Union and later First Commonwealth. On multiple occasions Rijsewijk proved to be an expert strategist, winning a complete victory on the Russian front against overwhelming odds. His expertise was not just in pure military matters, and he was important in the relatively peaceful pacification of the United States upon their entry in the Trans-Atlantic Union. He retired from his military duties in 2082. 
Rijsewijk obtained a permanent seat on the executive council in 2089, a year after its creation. Whilst less active than most of its other members, he extensively wrote about its functioning and the bureaucracy behind the First Commonwealth in his diary. This is now the primary source for historians, as other sources such as Joasia Kalinowska's writings, as he is considered more objective. He also wrote extensively about his military campaigns and European and TAU administration before, and his chancellorship later. These diaries have been compiled into several books.
From the day of the coup, Rijsewijk was a moderate. He sided with the Custodian in many matters, but disapproved of the purely technocratic government the Custodian first invisioned. He was however not as radical in his democratic ideals as someone like Tanya Abrams, and thought maintaining the technocratic institutions was essential. His centrist position made him the figurehead of the moderate technocrats, which are now the Federalists and Democrats. In the first election of the Federation in 2097, the moderates won an overwhelming majority, and he was elected to the post of chancellor. In 2103, he was elected again. Alongside Tanya Abrams and Albert Frijkstadt's later reforms, he is responsible for shaping the Federation's political and government structure after the Custodian's definitive retirement.
After his chancellorship he took an interest in writing. He wrote multiple novels, the most well-known of which are the Roman Apogee novels, which are now the most-sold book series in the Federation.
He died from natural causes in 2125 in his estate in Venice. He was buried in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, as were all the other permanent councillors.