In earlier studies we found that the Dutch nobility continues to have a strong advantage in achieving elite positions within Dutch society today, despite its very weak legal status since the late 19th century. The aim of this article is to explore some of the possible reasons why this ascriptive characteristic has remained important in a modern and bourgeois society such as the Netherlands. From the official lists of members of the Dutch nobility, we selected all 3,977 persons born in the 20th century in 113 Dutch noble lineages with surnames starting with letters between H and Na. The analyses of these data yield several pieces of information. The absolute number of Dutch nobles did not decline during the 20th century, despite the extinction of 20 percent of the noble families. The Dutch nobility's participation in higher education has increased strongly, apparently unconnected with noble background. Membership of knightly orders (Johanniter; Malta) has remained stable during the 20th century, correlates positively with tertiary education and increases the odds of obtaining elite positions in the Netherlands. Thirteen percent of the members of the Dutch nobility marries a noble husband or wife. Given the small size of Dutch nobility relative to the Dutch non-noble population in the comparable classes, this equals an odds ratio of 23.4 for homogamy within the nobility. Male members of the nobility are more likely than female members of the nobility to have aristocratic spouses, and this gender difference has not diminished during the 20th century. The odds of obtaining elite positions did not decrease significantly for members of the Dutch nobility born before 1940, and the lower odds for the members of the nobility born after 1940 are attributable to their youth. Combining the husband's and wife's elite positions in one indicator yields higher odds for female members of the nobility of living in elite surroundings than for male members of the nobility. The continuing advantage of members of the Dutch nobility is most easily attributable to their bourgeois origins and their modernisation of their social and cultural capital.