De Grootste Nederlander (The Greatest Dutchman) was a public poll held in 2004 by the broadcasting company KRO of the Publieke Omroep. The series is based on the BBC's 100 Greatest Britons. During the series, it included individual programmes on the top ten, with viewers having further opportunities to vote after each programme.

The assassinated politician Pim Fortuyn was announced as the winner in a live television broadcast on November 15, 2004, two weeks after Theo van Gogh was murdered. This was said to be an "embarrassing" choice by several journalists and historians. The amount of calls was so large that not all could be counted before the end of the show; later it was announced that William of Orange had received the most votes, but only the votes that were counted before the end of the programme counted, so Fortuyn remained as number one.

Wilhelmus Simon Petrus Fortuijn, known as Pim Fortuyn (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈpɪm fɔrˈtœyn]; 19 February 1948 – 6 May 2002), was a Dutch politician, civil servant, sociologist, author and professor who formed his own party, Pim Fortuyn List (Lijst Pim Fortuyn or LPF) in 2002.

Fortuyn provoked controversy with his stated views about multiculturalism, immigration and Islam in the Netherlands. He called Islam "a backward culture", and said that if it were legally possible he would close the borders for Muslim immigrants. He was labelled a far-right populist by his opponents and in the media, but he fiercely rejected this label and explicitly distanced himself from "far-right" politicians such as the Belgian Filip Dewinter, the Austrian Jörg Haider, or Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Pen whenever compared to them. While Fortuyn compared his own politics to centre-right politicians such as Silvio Berlusconi of Italy, he also admired former Dutch Prime Minister Joop den Uyl, a socialist, and former Democratic U.S. president John F. Kennedy. Fortuyn however repeatedly described himself and LPF's ideology as pragmatism and not populism. Fortuyn was openly homosexual.

Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter (Dutch pronunciation: [miˈχil ˈaˑdrijaˑnˌsoˑn də ˈrœy̆tər]; 24 March 1607 – 29 April 1676) is the most famous and one of the most skilled admirals in Dutch history. De Ruyter is most famous for his role in the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century. He fought the English and French and scored several major victories against them, the best known probably being the Raid on the Medway. The pious De Ruyter was very much loved by his sailors and soldiers; from them his most significant nickname derived: Bestevaêr (older Dutch for 'grandfather'.)

De Ruyter was born in 1607 in Flushing (Vlissingen) as the son of beer porter Adriaen Michielszoon and Aagje Jansdochter Little is known about De Ruyter's early life, but he probably became a sailor at the age of 11. In 1622 he fought as a musketeer in the Dutch army under Maurice of Nassau against the Spaniards during the relief of Bergen-op-Zoom. That same year he rejoined the Dutch merchant fleet and steadily worked his way up. According to English sources he was active in Dublin between 1623 and 1631 as an agent for the Vlissingen-based merchant house of the Lampsins brothers. Although Dutch sources have no data about his whereabouts in those years, it is known that De Ruyter spoke Irish fluently. He would occasionally travel as supercargo to the Mediterranean or the Barbary Coast. In those years he usually referred to himself as "Machgyel Adriensoon", his name in the Zealandic dialect he spoke, not having yet adopted the name "De Ruyter". "De Ruyter" most probably was a nickname given to him. An explanation might be found in the meaning of the older Dutch verb ruyten or ruiten which means "to raid", something De Ruyter was known to do as a privateer with the Lampsins ship Den Graeuwen Heynst.

André Kuipers (Dutch: [ˈɑndreɪ ˈkœʏpərs] ( listen)) (born in Amsterdam, 5 October 1958) is a Dutch physician and ESA astronaut. He became the second Dutch citizen, third Dutch-born and fifth^{[citation needed]} Dutch-speaking astronaut upon launch of Soyuz TMA-4 on 19 April 2004. Kuipers returned to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-3 11 days later.

Kuipers is the first Dutch astronaut to return to space. On 5 August 2009, Dutch Minister of Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven, announced Kuipers was selected as an astronaut for International Space Station (ISS) Expeditions 30 and 31. He was launched to space on 21 December 2011 and is scheduled to return to Earth in June 2012.

André Kuipers was born on 5 October 1958 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He graduated from high school in Amsterdam in 1977, and received a physician degree from the University of Amsterdam in 1987. He is married and has three daughters and a son.

When interviewed about his youth, Kuipers stated that he dreamed of becoming an astronaut ever since he was a teenager. His dreams became reality when he was selected to the European Astronaut Corps in 1998.

Ramsey Nasr (born 28 January 1974, Rotterdam) is a Dutch author and actor of mixed descent (half Palestinian half Dutch).

He is Dichter des Vaderlands (Poet Laureate) since January 2009.