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


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Prince Bernhard's will.

It became known that the late Prince Bernhard has changed his will 6 days before his death, to open his inheritance for his two illegitimate daughters.

It is absolutely unclear how much the inheritance of the Prince was. He inherited nothing from his own spouse, the late Queen Juliana. He has had his own fortune and inherited from his German relatives.

For so far known there are only a few facts:

The sale of Prince Berhard's yacht, Jumbo VI, resulted in € 2.650.000,--.
The sale of Prince Berhard's yacht, Jumbo V, resulted in € 590.000,--.
Vogelhof House in Soest was bougt by the Queen and the three Princesses for € 1.500.000,--.
The house at Noorderweg 22 in Soest was bougt by the Queen and the three Princesses for € 250.000,--.
The house at Noorderweg 75 in Soest was bougt by the Queen and the three Princesses for € 725.000,--.
The villa l'Elefante Felice, Porto Ercole (Italy) has not been sold and is estimated for € 10.000.000,--.
Theworth of the late Prince's investments and stock-portfolio is unknown.
The worth of private heirlooms to be auctioned is unknown.
For so far some € 15.715.000,-- is traced by outsiders.

The three houses in Soest were bought by the Queen and the three Princesses and their two halfsisters were paid an equal share in the value of the three houses. Apparently to prevent the loss of these houses (rented to retired staff from the household). The money for Alicia de Bielefeld and Alexia Grinda was paid via the lawyer's firm De Braauw, Blackstone and Westbroek in The Hague.


The 6 heirs in Prince Berhard's will are, according to his testament d.d. 1 December 2004:

Her Majesty Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, aged 69, born Soestdijk Palace, the Netherlands, residing in The Hague, Huis ten Bosch Palace, the Netherlands, unmarried;

Her Royal Highness Princess Irene Emma Elizabeth of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, aged 67, born Soestdijk Palace, the Netherlands, residing in Wijk bij Duurstede, the Netherlands, unmarried;

Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet Francisca of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, aged 64, born in Ottawa, Canada, residing in Apeldoorn, Huis Het Loo, the Netherlands, married;

Her Royal Highness Princess Marijke Christina of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, aged 60, born Soestdijk Palace, the Netherlands, residing in London, United Kingdom, unmarried;

Alicia Hala de Bielefeld, aged 55, born in San Francisco, United States of America, residing in San Francisco, United States of America, unmarried;

Alexia Bénédicte Irina Manuella Olivia Grinda, aged 39, born in Boulogne-Billancourt, France, residing in Paris, France, unmarried.
 
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I wonder how the press knows this? I can not imagine the court announcing it, or the sollicitors of the prince babbling to the press.
 
I have no idea. It looks like a document has been leaked, or needs a document to be made public in a sort of registry? There is an inconsequence though: according to the Prince in his 'Volkskrant'-interviews, he inherited nothing from his spouse.

I thought that a surviving partner always has the right on half-plus-one child's portion?

This would have meant that Queen Juliana's personal fortune was split in 9 parts:

5/9 for Prince Bernhard (4 portions (= half) plus one child's portion)
1/9 for the Queen
1/9 for Princess Irene
1/9 for Princess Margriet
1/9 for Princess Christina
----
9/9

This would mean that on his turn Prince Bernhard's fortune needs to be divided by six:

1/6 for the Queen
1/6 for Princess Irene
1/6 for Princess Margriet
1/6 for Princess Christina
1/6 for Alicia de Bielefeld
1/6 for Alexia Grinda
----
6/6

I'm sure that Queen Juliana was absolutely not happy with the idea that illegitimate daughters of her surviving spouse get part of her own fortune. Maybe that some settlement was made, for an example, the bulk was a transferred as 'a gift' to her eldest daughter? That must have been done more than 5 years before her death, when she still was able to handle her affairs.
 
Wills in the US are public; that's why people often set up trusts before they die (trust terms are not made public).
 
kaffir said:
Wills in the US are public; that's why people often set up trusts before they die (trust terms are not made public).

In the Netherlands testaments are strictly private and never made public. But Prince Bernhard already revealed that all his daughters (including Alicia and Alexia) will equally share in his inheritance.

I think it is part of detective work by the journalist. The yachts Jumbo V and Jumbo VI were sold and it was known these were property of the late Prince. It is also known that the Prince's villa Il Elefante Felice in Porto Ercole is for sale, with an estimated sum of € 10.000.000,- (some $ 13,000,000.--).

In the registry anyone can see which who is the owner of immovables. Man can see that the villa and the two houses, owned by the late Prince and used as grace and favour houses to retired staff have changed in ownership. Man can trace that the properties were bought by the four Princesses, to 'outbuy' their two halfsisters. And it was already known for years that the chique lawyer's firm De Braauw Blackstone & Westbroek in The Hague works for the Queen and her sisters.

So I think it was much of detective work. Still the bulk of the inheritance is unknown. We also already know that the execution of the wills of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard is a complicated affair and that the two illegitimate daughters have had to wait quite a long time. The newspapers claimed that € 800.000,-- (around $ 1,000,000.--) has been paid as an advance sum to both halfsisters. The newspaper also claims that the Queen and the Princesses want to outbuy Alicia's and Alexia's claims completetely and do not wish to have direct contact with them. All goes via lawyers.
 
It might very well be that there are special circumstances at play with the will of a former monarch. There might also, and very likely, be a prenuptial agreement in place as there was so much wealth and national treasure at stake. In this case, Bernhard would not be entitled to one half, plus one childs portion. In fact, while I understand where you are coming from, in this case especially, it is highly unlikely that he inherited much from his late wife. The division that you speak of is often, even in the Netherlands, only valid if there is no will, or if the will specifically states so.

With the royal family, I doubt that one can marry into it, even years ago, without some serious thought and preperation going into the pre marriage documents. One of which surely concerned wealth and property.

So basically my thoughts are this. Bernhard probably had some personal wealth, as well as gifts from his late wife, as well as what he might have earned and invested as the consort of his late wife, as well as what he might have earned by outside ventures. But the most likely scenario with his late wifes will is that everything that was hers went to her daughters and grandchildren, or was put in trust, and Bernhard was likely given an allowance both from the state as well as from his late wifes trust.
 
Pre-nuptial contract Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard

You are right.

I forgot about the pre-nuptial agreements made 71 or 72 years ago, which is a loooong time ago, but still are in force.

If in the pre-nuptial contract is determined that the possessions of Princess Juliana and her future inheritance from her mother Queen Wilhelmina are completely out of the marriage, in change for a lavish annual dotation for the Prince, then it indeed can be true what the Prince himself said: "I have inherited nothing from my late spouse".

On the exhibition 'Ja, ik wil' (on marriages in the House of Orange-Nassau) there was a golden pen, used for the signing of the marriage contracts and documents between Her Royal Highness Princess Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Duchess of Mecklenburg and His Serene Highness Prince Bernhard Leopold Friedrich Eberhard Julius Kurt Karl Gottfried Peter zur Lippe-Biesterfeld born Noble Seigneur and Count zu Lippe-Biesterfeld, Count zu Schwalenberg und Sternberg.

See pic.
 
Executors of the late Prince Bernhard's will

According to the reliable newspaper 'Parool', the execution of the will of the late Queen Juliana and the late Prince Bernhard is coordinated by the office of De Brauw, Blackstone & Westbroek in Amsterdam/The Hague,a renowned firm of notaries, lawyers and fiscalists.

Pierre Nijnens, a partner from this office, Jacob van Lunteren, a fiscalist and the Baron Boetzelaer van Oosterhout, a former banker are in the board of the special Stichting Bewind (Foundation Custody) which is statutary vested at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague.
 
I've just been reading a wonderfully moving book by Nel Halberstadt-Elfring who was an internee at a civilian camp in Batavia, 1945. In it, she tells of her home coming when Princess Juliana came onto the boat to meet the liberated women.

'Robke (her daughter) looked over the harbour and said loudly, "Wonderful isn't it mama?". Princess Juliana heard this and bent down, scooping Robke up into her arms and kissing her. "Welcome home", said the Princess, "And God Bless You!" '.

I found that very moving.
 
Thanks for sharing that story, Beatrixfan. That sounds just like Juliana indeed. At one of those visits she got rubella/german measles which caused her daughter christina to be born with very limited eyesight. She felt guilty about this for a long time which was one of the reasons she turned to faithhealer Greet Hofmans, which caused the monarchy to fall into a crisis.
 
Thank you for that story, it is very sweet! Personally I always loved Juliana and I think she was the most royal of them all. She didn´t need all the pump and ceremonies to be royal, she just was it from the heart. And what a warm heart it was! Also, she never felt herself above others and she always involved the public in things. I remember her birthday celebrations on television with for example Jos Brink. I don´t see the present Queen doing something simular.
 
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Thank you for that story, it is very sweet! Personally I always loved Juliana and I think she was the most royal of them all. She didn´t need all the pump and ceremonies to be royal, she just was it from the heart. And what a warm heart it was!

Actually, contrarily to the public image of a 'sweet granny', Queen Juliana has used far more pump and circumstance that her daughter ever has done, packing out with the grandest jewels and using all the maximum tralala!

:flowers:

Queen Juliana was not thát common as the media loves to miscast her.
 
According to RTL Boulevard there was an article in ´the Guardian´ in June that Prince Bernhard was offered 60.000 pounds in 1967 to ´promote´ British militairy material in the Netherlands. It is insinuated that he was bribed.There isn´t an enormous amount of evidence though, just one letter.

According to Marc van der Linden (not reliable but in thisit makes sense) Dutch newspapers thus far have refused to publish the document.

RVD: no comment.
 
More on this in Dutch:

Royalblog
De Stentor

--

The article in the Guardian can be found here.

from that article:

Brown went on to offer, according to the files, to bribe "an influential person in Dutch government circles" with £50,000 to sell Centurion tanks.


"An influential person in Dutch government circles is known to us and he is willing to assist us by promoting interest in the tank. We intend therefore to make an arrangement with this person."​
A civil servant at the Treasury identified him as Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, consort to the Dutch queen and, as far as well-placed businessmen there were concerned, widely known to be on the take.
 
It is only speculation,the army contract the british were more then willing to bribe for never occurred,as mentioned in a 1967 memo from the MoD to the Treasury,as the dutch army aquired 415 far superior german Leopard tanks instead.It was a civil servant at the MoD who later wrote "Bernhard?" on the document.

The Guardian also mentions the fact that "bribes blend in with a longstanding british tradition".There never has been a transfer of funds in this case.
 
Phillip Droge, who previously wrote a book about the wealth of the RF now wrote a book about the Nazi past of Prince Bernhard. Apparently he has found new facts, Droge says he kept in tough with the SS even after his marriage to Juliana. The contact was that Bernhard helped his former commander and friend Walter Mundelich. The commander became one of the commanders of a Dutch concentration camps but the Prince helped Walter to evade judgement for crimes of war. Note that Prince Benrhard and Droge had some sort of vendetta. Bernhard denied most alligations in his letter to de Volkskrant and named Droge in this letter. Of course he didn´t have the chance to defend himself about this. And to be honest, Droge isn´t enormously reliable.
 
Phillip Droge, who previously wrote a book about the wealth of the RF now wrote a book about the Nazi past of Prince Bernhard. Apparently he has found new facts, Droge says he kept in tough with the SS even after his marriage to Juliana. The contact was that Bernhard helped his former commander and friend Walter Mundelich. The commander became one of the commanders of a Dutch concentration camps but the Prince helped Walter to evade judgement for crimes of war. Note that Prince Benrhard and Droge had some sort of vendetta. Bernhard denied most alligations in his letter to de Volkskrant and named Droge in this letter. Of course he didn´t have the chance to defend himself about this. And to be honest, Droge isn´t enormously reliable.

I highly doubt Dröge had access to archives,at all.He just can't stop kicking while a man already is down,and dead,and make a buck of it.Surely Bernhard was no saint,but he was vigorously anti-german from before the war,during the war and a long while after.This
contact points to the period very shortly after the war,say late '45 and 1946 when the trials were staged against the war criminals,
he (Bernhard) would never have meddled with that without us knowing about it by now,worse info surfaced while he was alive,so this
would have surely "hit the fan" in a far earlyer stage if true.I think.
 
Apparently Princess Juliana was worried by possible dementia.A few before she became seriously ill and suffered from loss of memory,she was already afraid of that prospect.During a luncheon at the Amsterdam RAI in 1988,during a symposium on dementia,she already expressed her worries on the matter to Mr.Huub Buijssen,a clinical psygologist.

As an expert on the issue,Mr. Buijssen was present as the main speaker of the symposium and sat next to the Princess during lunch."Mr.Buijssen,I keep forgetting so many things lately.Could I be suffering from dementia too?"

Mr.Buijssen then put her at ease by saying that most people who complain about forgetting things are far from dementia.
He then proceeded by asking her some usual test questions;"Do you remember what you had for dinner last night?".She knew."Do you know who is the Queen of The Netherlands?"Ofcourse she knew,her daughter."Well then,there's nothing wrong".That put her at ease.

A book by Mr.Buijssen on dementia is to be published today on occasion of World Alzheimer Day,today.

http://www.royalblog.nl/

Courtesy HJA.
 
Most Dutch newspapers featured an article about Prince Bernhard yesterday. Journalist Ton Biesemaat will publish a new book called Bernhard Gate, which - according to his own words- will reveal that Berhard did write the so-called ´stadholdersletter´ to Adolf Hitler. In which the prince basically offered to rule the Netherlands as a vassal of the Nazi´s. Biesemaats ´proof´ are some people who claim that they have read the letter. Biesemaat also accuses newspaper ´De Telegraaf´ of lies, he sayus that they have known for 50 years that such a letter was around, which they have always hidden from the public. He apparently will show some letters of an old editor of the nespaper in which the editor writes about the stadholders-letter.

The newspaper reacted furiously and called it ´utter rubbish´, Prince Bernhard always denied that he ever wrote such a letter and at the end of his life he said in an interview in newspaper ´De Volkskrant´ that he offered a reward of 1 million euros to the person who could show him the letter. Nobody ever showed up of course.

Untill Biesemaat can come up witht he letter this is all highly unlikely, also as he claims that Juliana signed the letter too, which would be even more shocking and unbelievable to me. Anyway, the author has good hopes that more information will come up next year, when some information int he American archives will be opened to the public.
 
Most Dutch newspapers featured an article about Prince Bernhard yesterday. Journalist Ton Biesemaat will publish a new book called Bernhard Gate, which - according to his own words- will reveal that Berhard did write the so-called ´stadholdersletter´ to Adolf Hitler. In which the prince basically offered to rule the Netherlands as a vassal of the Nazi´s. Biesemaats ´proof´ are some people who claim that they have read the letter. Biesemaat also accuses newspaper ´De Telegraaf´ of lies, he sayus that they have known for 50 years that such a letter was around, which they have always hidden from the public. He apparently will show some letters of an old editor of the nespaper in which the editor writes about the stadholders-letter.

The newspaper reacted furiously and called it ´utter rubbish´, Prince Bernhard always denied that he ever wrote such a letter and at the end of his life he said in an interview in newspaper ´De Volkskrant´ that he offered a reward of 1 million euros to the person who could show him the letter. Nobody ever showed up of course.

Untill Biesemaat can come up witht he letter this is all highly unlikely, also as he claims that Juliana signed the letter too, which would be even more shocking and unbelievable to me. Anyway, the author has good hopes that more information will come up next year, when some information int he American archives will be opened to the public.

More things did happen then we know of now,but that letter,and even signed by Juliana,wasn't among it.Ever.
Fake story by another twit trying to make a buck.Pathetic.
 
As posted by Jos on the Benelux Royals MB:

In yesterday’s and today’s NRC Handelsblad there is a plea for erecting a statue for Queen Juliana. The author is Bert van Nieuwenhuizen who published books on Juliana and Wilhelmina. His argument is that Queen Juliana succeeded to generate general support for the Dutch monarchy by the Dutch population. This can not be said of Queen Wilhelmina, who became the “Mother of the Nation” only during WWII because of her resistance against the German occupation. Before the Second World War she considered herself a Protestant queen of a Protestant nation, and disliked Catholics, hated Socialists and distrusted Liberals. Juliana, however, had great diplomatic qualities and showed true statesmanship, for I instance during her stay in Canada during WWII when she succeeded in getting the support of President Roosevelt. She was gifted with a “social antenna”, and her human way of operating was her strongest weapon.

I think the idea of a statue for Queen Juliana is very appealing. However, our history of erecting statues is not such a pleasant one. Right after Queen Wilhelmina’s death there were plans for a statue of her. It took about 20 years not to realize it. It was a most horrendous plan consisting of a pebble track through The Hague and much multi media nonsense. In the end one decided to have a copy of the statue Charlotte van Pallandt created of Wilhelmina for Het Park in Rotterdam. It was put in front of Noordeinde Palace. Other statues erected recently (for André Hazes, Pim Fortuyn, Wim Kan and Corry Vonk, etc) are striking for their ugliness. For me it would be a small statue if people would stop referring to Juliana a “princess”. After all, she was our Queen. After Juliana’s death I missed a statement by Queen Beatrix similar to the one Juliana issued after Wilhelmina’s death: it was a request to call her mother “Queen Wilhelmina” again instead of “Princess Wilhelmina”.

I agree with him completely, esp. considering they already created a statue for Bernhard. Juliana certainly ´deserves´ one, pref. in The Hague. Maybe they could make it near Palace Lange Voorhout? It would be a magnificent place.
 
Somebody broke into the cityhall of Wageningen last night and stole a picture portrait of Prince Bernhard. 4 in het land showed an angry spokeswoman for the city saying that this kind of vandalism is not a joke (she suspects a fraternity groups of the university might have stolen it) as a window was smashed and it was an original picture that had value to the city. The Prince was honairy citizen of Wageningen as he was there on May 5th 1945 when the Nazi´s signed the capitulation in hotel ´De Wereld´.
 
Four years today since Her Majesty Queen Juliana passed away.

:easter:
 
The cities Baarn and Soest both get a small bronze sculpture of Queen Juliana. It will be 55cm and it still has to be decided where they will be placed.

--

HP/De Tijd has an article on Prince Bernhards interest in the army. A while ago some private papers were released. The papers were usually typed by the prince and sent to ministers, officers etc. Nothing shocking, mostly suggesting another uniform here, complain about the long hairstyle of soldiers in the 70-ties there and more of the sort.
 
Nieneke Lamme made 2 small bronze statues of Juliana for Baarn and Soest, in which Juliana lived (the two villages were both claiming that their village was where Soestdijk was located, though I believe in the end Baarn was right).

IMO the statues aren't very nice, it seems to be a lady doing the groceries, suitable for the Ahold office maybe.

The statue can be seen here.
 
Nieneke Lamme made 2 small bronze statues of Juliana for Baarn and Soest, in which Juliana lived (the two villages were both claiming that their village was where Soestdijk was located, though I believe in the end Baarn was right).

IMO the statues aren't very nice, it seems to be a lady doing the groceries, suitable for the Ahold office maybe.

The statue can be seen here.

Could be anyone,don't you think?Pity that 4 years have passed and nothing substantially worthwhile but most of all worthy of Queen Juliana has seen the light of day.Sad.
 
Thank you for reminding us about the late Queen. This would have been her 99th birthday. I wonder if they will do something next year, to commemorate her 100th birthday.
 
TV program NOVA will be entirely dedicated to Princess Juliana during the war years in Canada this saturday may 10th,Ned2 at 22.15PM.

Witness of those years there,now 91 year old Martine (Roëll) Feaver,tells how she and her daughter Renée got to the Palace and left together with the RF.

Renée was a playmate for wee Beatrix then,but the two remained each others best friends to this day.

http://www.royalblog.nl/

Courtesy HJA.

P/S

And while you are at Hans's wonderfull Royalblog,clcik on "Majestic Keukenhof" (At your left)too,to get an idea of how beautifull the national flower garden looks in may.For all those who can't make it there themselves.
 
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I saw the introduction of the programme on NOVA yesterday. Martine Feaver was saying tht Juliana loved to dust the house (in Canada)
 
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