• Advising the Minister of Defence on the nominations or requests for appointment, promotion within the Order, or dismissal from the Order
• Providing information to the Minister of Defence on issues concerning the Military William Order
• Keeping registers of the four classes of the Military William Order
• Keeping notes on conferral of decorations to units of the Armed Forces.

The Minister of Defence receives by hierarchical route the nomination or request for honour and subsequently sends it to the Advisory Commission for their advice. The advice of the Advisory Commission carries a great deal of weight. The minister must present good arguments if he wants to deviate from this advice. If the minister and the Commission cannot agree, then the cabinet decides on the nomination. The conferral is ratified by Royal decree.

By virtue of his position, the Chancellor of the Netherlands Order is the chairman of the Advisory Commission, which has a total of ten members: seven permanent members and three deputies. Traditionally and until recently, only holders of the Military William Order were members of the Advisory Commission. This also applied to the position of Chancellor. However, this tradition has been broken with out of necessity. The last living Knights of the Military William Order left the Advisory Commission on reaching the age of 75, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure. All four units of the Armed Forces (Royal Navy, Royal Army, Royal Air Force, Royal Military Police) are represented on the Advisory Commission.

At the moment, the conferral of bravery decorations, including the Military William Order, is being reviewed in light of the current deployment of the Armed Forces. To this end, the Commission for Bravery Decorations in the Ministry of Defence has been re-established. The Advisory Commission is also studying this issue.

The Advisory Commission of the Military William Order
photo Studio Richard