Queen Juliana (1909-2004) and Prince Bernhard (1911-2004)


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
From Corbis:

Juliana (the girl) ice skating in 1917:

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http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f50/Jan-Maarten/HU027461.jpg


Juliana and Bernhard having fun in Porto Ercole:

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I'm so glad you discovered photobucket, Marengo! These pictures are priceless! Juliana was such a warm and lovely queen!!! And thanks for telling us about the history with Juliana and prince Carl. I really love to learn about these things, because I don't know much about the pas history of our royal family, though I'm highly interested in it. Maybe I should go and see if the library of my university has some books about them. :)
 
You should definately get the biography by Prof. Fasseur about Wilhelmina, it is excellent! The search for a husband for both Wilhelmina and especially for Juliana was so difficult and hilarious (for today's reader). And Wilhelmina of course was an exceptional woman...
 
Thanks for the tip, Marengo! I will surely get that one and read it. I just did a little search in the search option of the library of the university (Don't you just love the internet?) and they got three things of Fasseur on Wilhelmina: 'Wilhelmina: krijgshaftig in een vormeloze jas' (interesting title ;)), 'Wilhelmina: de jonge koningin' (inspired by one of my favourite movies, Sissi, die junge Kaiserin? :D) and 'Wilhelmina: sterker door strijd.' Which one of these is it, or is it just three volumes?
 
Well, here is a shocker: It's all three of them...
The first, Wilhelmina, de jonge koningin is around 600 pages, and stops after WWI, the second volume 'krijgshaftig in een vormeloze jas' is the rest of her life, also around 600 pages. The other book is much smaller and contains anecdotes/information Fasseur didn't mention in the first two books. Fasseur writes very well, though the biography is highly political, which can be boring at times (How Wilhelmina treats her ministers is fun to read btw, she wasn't to be trifled with).
 
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Marengo said:
Well, here is a shocker: It's all three of them...
The first, Wilhelmina, de jonge koningin is around 600 pages, and stops after WWI, the second volume 'krijgshaftig in een vormeloze jas' is the rest of her life, also around 600 pages. The other book is much smaller and contains anecdotes/information Fasseur didn't mention in the first two books. Fasseur writes very well, though the biography is highly political, which can be boring at times (How Wilhelmina treats her ministers is fun to read btw, she wasn't to be trifled with).

Hmmm, oh well. I read much more than 1200 pages in my whole life course (I'm a real 'boekenwurm' as it is called in Dutch, I read a lot of books and that's not even close to what I still have to read... :)). So, I think I'll take the challenge some day in the near future. I let you know when I finished it, okay? ;) Let's say, reading about royals will keep me from wandering in the streets without a purpose... and that's a good thing, isn't it? :)
 
Well, a good walk can be very healthy ;) But the wandering without purpose probably leads to shops & more shops, which is rather damaging for your bankaccounts.

Before we get to much OT, here a picture of Juliana and her mother (note how straight her back is, even Queen Mary couldn't beat that one ;)) Wilhelmina had the habit of talking very loud through the microphone, as if she had to reacht he inhabitants of the Dutch Indies with her own voice.

source: Corbis

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Caption:
Queen Wilhelmina with Speech in Hand by Princess Juliana
Original caption: Amsterdam, Holland: Holland's Queen Speaks To Subjects In The Indies. Photo shows her highness, Queen Wilhelmina of Holland, and her daughter, the Princess Juliana speaking from the radio station here. The talk was broadcast over a wave length strong enough to carry to the waiting subjects in the Dutch East and West Indies
 
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Marengo said:
Well, a good walk can be very healthy ;) But the wandering without purpose probably leads to shops & more shops, which is rather damaging for your bankaccounts.
Tell me about it, I'm experiencing some really rough financial times at the moment... ;) That's why it's a good thing that I can get the book about Wilhelmina at the library... for free! :rolleyes:
 
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Well, who doesn't, it has been sales ;) I have the history library of the AMsterdaam University to provide me books, so I will soon ask for the autobiography of Duchess Victoria-Luise of Brunswick (grandmother of Queen Sofia of Spain).

Two more pics of the war years,

Pics: Corbis

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Dutch Royal Family Exiting Their Palace
Original caption: The Hague, Holland: Holland's Rulers Will "Do Their Duty" A photo made at the Hague, recently, showing the Dutch Royal family receiving acclamation of their subjects as they leave the Palace. L-R, Queen Wilhemina, Crown Prince Consort Bernhard with his daughter Princess Beatrix and Crown Princess Juliana. In an official announcement, this morning, following Germany's land and air invasion of the Netherlands, Queen Wilhemina stated, "I and my country will do our duty."

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Royal Dutch Family Posing Outdoors
Original caption: Ottawa, Canada: The Royal Family Of The Netherlands. The latest picture of the Netherlands Royal family, posed outside their home near Ottawa. August 31st will mark the 63rd birthday of her majesty, Queen Wilhelmina. From left to right are: Prince Bernhard, consort of the Crown Princess, holding their youngest daughter Princess Margriet Francisca; Princess Irene; Crown Princess Juliana; Queen Wilhelmina and Princess Beatrix, eldest of the daughters.
 
Marengo said:
And from my photobucket (but originally from www.hetgeheugenvannederland.nl), a nice poem about the engagement of Princess Juliana and Prince Carl of Sweden!!!

I wonder if anyone could translate the poem or provide a gist of what the poem says? I'm curious to know what the back story about Juliana being paired with Carl of Sweden is -- was that a popular love match in the eyes of both countries like Nikolas of Greece and Victoria of Sweden?
 
Well here in Holland the press and general public was openly speculating about a marriage of the two. As I said, their pictures appeared in shopwindows and it was reported in several newspapers that an engagement was in the making.

In reality the dutch ambassadors were looking everywhere for suitable princes for Juliana, who had to be protestant and healthy (and preferably not german, as the Nazi thing was already going on). So an obvious choise were the swedish princes. Now the dutch ambassador in Stockholm didn't have encouraging reports to send to The Hague. He found the sons of the Crownprince, Princes Sigvard and Bertil not suitable due to their interest in cars and women, and not much else. Prince Lennart was sickly, so the ambassador thought not capaple of reproducing (in fact, the prince became obver 90, with a lot of children from 3 marriages). The only one left was Carl, who was slightly more intelligent then his cousins. I believe Wilhelmina and King Gustav V-Adolf had some contacts about the matter, but when the two met each other Juliana thought him immature and he had more interest in parties with other girls. According to the Dutch ambassador to London, Juliana didn't behave well towards him & showed more interest in the greek princes Paul and Peter (this was during the celebrations for the wedding of Marina of Greece and the Duke of Kent, I believe that Juliana came back to hear that her father had died).

It was popular here, not so much for the prince but because they wanted Juliana married ;)


A note before the song: it was written by somebody from the working-class area in Amsterdam, the 'Jordaan'. This area was known for it's special way of celebrating, singing, making fun etc. Well, you get the style when you read it, don't take it to seriously ;)

The song, seems strange(r) due to the translation:

O Juliaantje

I have read in the newspaper
That Juliaantje from our country
Will soon be engaged,
A swedish prince gave her a chance,
And she gave him 'sjans' (she flirted)
And promised her hand (in marriage).
Now we will get a party again
As never before
Now we are going 'pot verteren' (old fashioned expression to say you have fun, spend money, party etc etc).
O, people, what fun
That it may be a party like that
I will teach you how to drink.

O Juliaantje, what have you done now?
O Juliaantje, don't let him go
Don't let him slip, for sure
That it will be, Orange 'boven' (up, as in, they will celebrate the house of Orange).
O Juliaantje, what have you done now?
O Juliaantje, don't let him slip
Don't let him get away
But give him immediately
Oranjebitter (traditional drink, to celebrate the house of Orange), with a 'klont' (don't know what it is, probably something to eat with the drink).

And soon, just believe me
Juliaan will be in 'ondertrouw' (when you regester witht he city the intention and date when to get married).
Then she will go to the cityhall
And we will get a giant party
As we never had before
in honour of Juliaan.
And our entire Netherlands
Will put it's sorrows aside (JM: it was during the economical crisis).
You can see them party again,
If our Juliaan
Will get step in her marriageboat (expression to say gets married)
Then we can dance for a week.

We will get an Orange party here,
as we never had before,
in our House of Orange.
Whole our Holland will be one piece of joy,
you will only live for drink and beers,
in the Jordaan of Mokum (Mokum = Amsterdam, and Jordaan is an area there).
And all the time
You will here a drunken man
who says we will get one other 'graantje) (JM = graanjenever, traditional drink)
In honour of the Swede
I don't know what her lover is called
and another one in the honour of Juliaantje.
 
Well, that first one shows us that prince Constantijn is a clone of prince Bernhard. I always thought so, but here we can all see it very clearly... :)
 
Maxie said:
Well, that first one shows us that prince Constantijn is a clone of prince Bernhard. I always thought so, but here we can all see it very clearly... :)

I never noticed that before Maxie, but yes, in that picture that Marengo posted of Bernhard you can really see the resemblence!


Marengo ... thanks for the translation of that interesting poem. If I ever get to the Amsterdam, I will have to pay a visit to the Jordaan. I think they know how to have a good time there.;) It seems like every other sentence in that poem had the word "party" in it.

On a more serious side, what horrible pressure Juliana must have been under to make a suitable marriage. No wonder she rebelled and married a German.
 
Squidgy said:
Marengo ... thanks for the translation of that interesting poem. If I ever get to the Amsterdam, I will have to pay a visit to the Jordaan. I think they know how to have a good time there.;) It seems like every other sentence in that poem had the word "party" in it.

On a more serious side, what horrible pressure Juliana must have been under to make a suitable marriage. No wonder she rebelled and married a German.

You should visit it, it's a beautiful area (the area I live anyway ;)) , but these days it is more for students and especially for YUP-people and people who think they are intellectual. There are however some funny cafes left and every year there is a special festival for songs in this genre (fellow poster Beatrixfan should know all those songs by heart these days ;)).

I think that much of these machinations went on behind Juliana's back and without her knowledge, and I don't think it was the reason of her rebellion. Juliana was an intelligent woman, and attracted to intelligent, active men, which she found in Bernhard (to active one might add).
 
A painting of Juliana form the memory of the Netherlands, originally posted by John R on the Benelux Royals MB

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Two more by J Altink and Max Nauta, also posted on the Benelux Royals MB by John R. Juliana posing in her enthronement robes. Notice the red white and blue combination. She is wearring the necklace and the bracelet of the peacock ruby parure, the stomacher and earrings from the melliero ruby parure and a hairnet with diamonds (her daughter should be so original with her jewelbasket!!!)

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Queen Juliana and protocol

I have heard she was a Queen who changed and shock up a lot of royal protocol. I don't know a lot about Dutch royals, but i am interested to hear more about this if anyone knows:D
 
she sounds like such a character !
 
Arranged from A to Z

Princess Juliana had hardly any say in the spouse of her choice.

Queen Wilhelmina ordered envoys in European capitals to look after a 'suitable partner' (= royal, spotless and protestant). But also other European countries, like Germany, showed interest. After all Princess Juliana was the single child of Queen Wilhelmina (herself a single child as well) and a heiress to one of Europes grand dynasties. Her mother Queen Wilhelmina was rumoured to be the 'richest woman of the world' (there was never a proof for that).

In the end it was the German Envoy in The Hague, Julius Count Zech von Burkersroda (1885-1946) who did attend a diner at the Dutch Embassy in Brussels, attenting the minister of Foreign Affairs Jhr. A.J. de Graeff on a certain 'Prinz Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld'.

A 'coincidental' meeting was arranged during the Olympic Winter Games of Garmisch Partenkirchen in 1936 and the rest is history.

:flowers:
 
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shame he couldnt stay faithfull
 
sm1939 said:
shame he couldnt stay faithfull

In Prince Bernhard's defence I wanted to say:

- it was an arranged royal marriage, purely for the procreation of the dynasty
- for Princess Juliana it was love on first sight
- Prince Bernhard probably never has loved his wife
- after two years of marriage the couple separated for 6 years (WWII and its aftermath with Prince Bernhard as supreme commander of the Netherlands forces in the chaotic liberated Netherlands)
- soon after this Princess Juliana became Queen (in 1948)

The marriage was under pressure from the very beginning and was purely artificial. The separation in the war never healed fully, soon in the Fifties the enormous clash between the Queen and the Prince came (the Prince attacking his wife for being under the spell of a Rasputin, the 'faith healer' Margaretha 'Greet' Hofmans),

It was no wonder that the couple separated in the mid-fifties (Prince Bernhard lived in one wing of the palace, Queen Juliana in the other wing of the palace) and so they remained 'married' for 68 years.

Queen Juliana knew of the Prince's extramarital affairs. She has met his maîtresses and his children. Probably she accepted it because the marriage was over, de facto it was.
 
thanks for that , I stand corrected , shouldnt judge before I know the whole story .
did Julianna find any one to love her ??
 
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sm1939 said:
thanks for that , I stand corrected , shouldnt judge before I know the whole story .
did Julianna find any one to love her ??

Prince Bernhard remained her great and only love she was devoted to.
Even when the Prince became in serious problems (blamed for being accessible for bribery by Lockheed), she defended him as a lioness.

There is a sort of Charlotte & Emily Brontë sadness in this.

:sad:
 
Juliana did have some say in what husband to take. Wilhelmina was actually carefull & did not want her daughter to end up in a loveless marriage like she did herself. For this reason the marriage of Juliana to Karl of Sweden didn't go ahead, and other engagements to. So to say that the marriage was ONLY for procreation is a bit to easy & get's Bernhard of the hook for his behavior to easily to.
 
Today it is three years ago that Queen Juliana died (on 20/03/2004). May she rest in peace.

(pic from het geheugen van nederland, free of copyrights)

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And as posted by Joris on the Benelux Royals MB:

[FONT=verdana, arial]In Feankloaster/Veenklooster in Frisia/Friesland/Fryslân in the North of the Netherlands an exhibition started of the baby/children's clothes (in lovely Frisian: bearnekleantsjes) of Princess Juliana (whose death we sadly commemorate tomorrow...).
If you look at this royalty programme a little report starts in the 28th minute: http://www.eo.nl/portals/programs/episode.jsp?episode=7870552&broadcastrelnumber=7870557 (of course, you are welcome to watch the other subjects of the programme: a.o. the Norwegian festivities, Part II, starting in the 23rd minute)
[/FONT]
 
Mrs. Florentine Rost van Tonningen-Heubel died, she was also known as 'the black widow'.

Her death was announced by one of her sons this weekend. Due to her death the public station re-aired a programme that 'profiel' did on her. Apart from her usual talk (she was a staunch Nazi), she gave some comments regarding the royal family.
She apparently played tennis with Juliana (years before the war) and said that she was instructed to let the Princess win.
She also noted that Princess Juliana was in love with a Jhr. Roell (the father of Renee Roell?) but that he was considered not good enough and that people tried to keep Juliana away from him.
Another remark that she made was about the so-called stadholder letter of Prince Bernhard. She claims that her husband saw the letter and that he was uredered for that (however he commited suicide). This led me to wonder: from which circles came the alligations against Bernhard about this letter? Only from this clique of (former)Nazi's?
 
Marengo said:
Mrs. Florentine Rost van Tonningen-Heubel died, she was also known as 'the black widow'.

Her death was announced by one of her sons this weekend. Due to her death the public station re-aired a programme that 'profiel' did on her. Apart from her usual talk (she was a staunch Nazi), she gave some comments regarding the royal family.
She apparently played tennis with Juliana (years before the war) and said that she was instructed to let the Princess win.
She also noted that Princess Juliana was in love with a Jhr. Roell (the father of Renee Roell?) but that he was considered not good enough and that people tried to keep Juliana away from him.
Another remark that she made was about the so-called stadholder letter of Prince Bernhard. She claims that her husband saw the letter and that he was uredered for that (however he commited suicide). This led me to wonder: from which circles came the alligations against Bernhard about this letter? Only from this clique of (former)Nazi's?

Her youngest son Ebbe was a history teacher at my highschool Rotterdamsch Lyceum for 1 or 2 years, he taught us history, WW 2. So a favorite subject of his was that his father had been pushed down stairs, murdered, because he knew a lot about so called high profiled duchmen being pro nazi and it had to be kept quite by the Dutch secret service. He never mentioned Prince Bernhard but he came to mind a ont of the possible men.
 
How remarkable that he agreed with his mothers version of the story. From what I read her 3 sons did not agree with their mothers point of view and they all had a difficult relationship with her because of that (though suspecting your father is killed is not the same as supporting Nazism, as Mrs. Rost van Tonningen did).

Anyway, in the statement that announced her death the eldest son also said that he and his brothers regretted his mothers opinions and did not agree with them (the Nazism that is).
 
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