 After the French invasion of 1747, the regents were forced by a popular movement to accept William IV, Prince of Orange, stadtholder of Friesland and Groningen, as stadtholder in the other provinces.On 22 November 1747, the office of "stadtholder" was made hereditary ("erfstadhouder").As William (for the first time in the history of the Republic) was "stadtholder" in all provinces, his function accordingly was restyled "Stadhouder-Generaal".