When Philibert died in 1530, René inherited the Princedom of Orange on condition that he used the name and coat of arms of the Chalon-Orange family.

[3] The couple had only one child, a daughter named Maria, who lived only 3 weeks and was buried in the Grote Kerk in Breda.

Rene himself was only 25 years old when he died, but he provided a historic and indispensable link which brought the house of Nassau to the stadholdership of the Netherlands.

Like his uncle, Rene also had no surviving children, and in his last will and testament, he left all his landed possessions, including the principality, to his paternal cousin, William of Nassau-Dillenburg.

William the Silent duly added the name of Orange to his own paternal dignities and thus became, in 1544, the founder of the House of Orange-Nassau.