"The 76-year-old prince, who had suffered from sporadic ill-health over the past decade, died at 7 p.m. (1700 GMT) in an Amsterdam hospital, it said in a statement.
Claus had been in intensive care with respiratory and heart problems. His failing left kidney was removed in May last year. In 1991, doctors diagnosed him with a mild form of Parkinson"s disease.
The exact cause of his death was not immediately clear. The royal couple"s three sons were at Claus"s bedside when he died, Dutch television reported. "