Death of Princess Christina of the Netherlands: August 16, 2019

[Marengo]

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

Appartments above the Royal Mews? I believe Princess Madeleine of Sweden had one. But I have no idea if the Royal Mews in The Hague houses studios and appartments. It is big enough, I must say:

https://haagspraak.files.wordpress.c...56a6686akl.jpg
and
https://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/binari...ke-stallen.jpg

Somehow I can not imagine the Princess living there. It must be her sister's Beatrix' pied-à-terre at 66.

I have read in a few articles over the years that she used an appartment above the royal stables at Noordeinde. IIRC it was mentioned when the Dafodil trust was in the news. Today the Volkskrant referred to it too:

https://www.volkskrant.nl/nieuws-ach...gaan~b595ce0e/


Perhaps the street-side is less dark & has more windows than on the inner court that you showed, which perhaps makes it more suitable for an apartment:
https://haagspraak.files.wordpress.c...56a6686akl.jpg

Edit: I see now that you have found an article in vorsten that claims the same. The princess lived indeed in Italy. I believe her daughter also lived there with her family, though I do not know if that is still the case.

Originally Posted by tommy100

I don't see why her ex-husband needs to attend, they divorced because he was so mean to her so I would like to think even her children wouldn't need his support for the funeral service and will instead, if needed, seek support in their mother's family.

At the wedding of their eldest son Bernardo the priest told a newspaper that the two were on speaking terms again, that the old wounds were healing and that the wedding and birth of a grand daughter was the reason why.

I do not think we will know if he attended or not. From an interview in 2015 about her art work it seems that Juliana Guillermo has a good relationship with her father, as perhaps also do her brothers.

The cremation will be in private, as were the wishes of the princess and in the line with the way she lived. At most there may be some pictures when the family walks to the cupola of Fagel, as was the case when they said goodbye to the late Duke of Parma. But I would be surprised if they will not allow pictures to be taken this time. As Lee-Z and Duc said: the princess was a very private person and her children even more so.

[Duc_et_Pair]

We do not know if Jorge was mean to her. But it was a public secret that the love was one-sided. But again: it was exactly the same between the late Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. A one-sided love affair.

But that is probably almost unavoidable: Christina was born in a palace, with severe eyesight problems. From day one her much older sisters Beatrix and Irene, the nannies, the governesses, the dames-du-palais, the teachers, all clouded protectively around her. Every time she became in public, all people murmured: "Aaaaawwww.... Look at that... The poor girl..."

She was, like her sisters, stuffed with a fortune to make a good start in life. And there you are: a lonely, overprotected, visibly impaired Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, with a triple diamond platinum credit card, a fabulous art collection and a VIP treatment. No wonder she met men who probably never would have been interested in her. Exactly the same with Juliana & Bernhard by the way.

That is the tragic of many old-style royals not (enough) exposed to real life. And Princess Christina had an extra handicap, of course.

[Marengo]

Curiously enough in 1975 Beatrix told her former nanny -as recorded by the late Willem Oltmans (!) who had the same former nanny- that Jorge Guillermo 'came from an excellent family' and was not a goldigger.

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

a lonely, overprotected, visibly impaired Princess of the Netherlands

I am not quite sure in how far this was true by the time the two met. She was at least very independant. The princess left her parents when she was sixteen to live with a friend & her parents. For her studies she moved to Groningen and later to Montreal where she studied on the conservatorium and after that to New York. She lived abroad in anonimity and even had a job as a singing teacher and gave sound therapy to blind people. I suppose New York in the seventies was hardly a place where naivité could be sustained for a long time.

[HereditaryPrincess]

Oh, how sad. I was aware that Princess Christina was ill but I had hoped she would recover... 72 is pretty young in terms of dying age nowadays.
Christina seemed to be a very talented individual and I hope she has a lot of music at her funeral to reflect that side of her life.

[Alisa]

A nice little biography on the late Princess' life

http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogs...liana.html?m=1

[Appleich]

Rust in vrede uwe koninklijke hoogheid.
My deepest condolences to the Dutch Royal Family.

[Duc_et_Pair]

Now it is clear that the recent sale of artworks from Princess Christina's private collection, for an example drawings by Pieter-Paul Rubens and crystalware by René Lalique, were possibly meant to distribute her wealth in the latest phase of her life.

By the way, when she left Villa Eikenhorst after the divorce, she had organized an auction too with hundreds of items. She gave permission to the auction house to label it openly as "properties of HRH Princess Christina of the Netherlands". The result however was destined for the Princess Christina Concours (an annual concours for 500 young talents in classical music, which also hands out stipends for promising talents as well a fund to provide in - often costly- music instruments).

[Skippy]

Upthread I read that Jorge Guillermo only cared about his title - but how can he care about a title that he doesn't have?

Or is the meaning that it is a title that he was, at the time, to receive upon marriage?

I think it is too far-fetched to compare Christina's marriage to Jorge Guillermo to that of her parents. Every marriage is different.

[An Ard Ri]

Perhaps he was hoping he'd be made a Count or a Baron ,it never happened and he remains Mr.Jorge Guillermo who was once married to a Princess.

[lucien]

Originally Posted by Rayarena

It was rumored for years. Cristina was even once quoted as saying that Jorge was insufferable and that he only cared about his title. Almost as soon as he married her the problems began. It was said that he would leave her at night and go off. A persistent rumor is that Jorge was gay.

First,the jerk had no title,second,there was vast physical abuse by that guy,not once but often.No,he went into a monastery hiding from the world and keeping himself closeted in more then one way by doing so,the cowardice lice,and afterwards moved back to the US where he came from and had lived with men instead of women before he met dear Christina through her work in NYC!
He is persona non grata here!

[lucien]

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

Appartments above the Royal Mews? I believe Princess Madeleine of Sweden had one. But I have no idea if the Royal Mews in The Hague houses studios and appartments. It is big enough, I must say:

https://haagspraak.files.wordpress.c...56a6686akl.jpg
and
https://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/binari...ke-stallen.jpg

Somehow I can not imagine the Princess living there. It must be her sister's Beatrix' pied-à-terre at 66.

Princess Christina had an appartment above the Royal Mews,yes,her pied a terre here in NL.

[lucien]

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

Now it is clear that the recent sale of artworks from Princess Christina's private collection, for an example drawings by Pieter-Paul Rubens and crystalware by René Lalique, were possibly meant to distribute her wealth in the latest phase of her life.

By the way, when she left Villa Eikenhorst after the divorce, she had organized an auction too with hundreds of items. She gave permission to the auction house to label it openly as "properties of HRH Princess Christina of the Netherlands". The result however was destined for the Princess Christina Concours (an annual concours for 500 young talents in classical music, which also hands out stipends for promising talents as well a fund to provide in - often costly- music instruments).

The Princess knew very wel what was coming,yes.And every single piece was privately funded,never a penny from tax-payers,private property is that for all and every one!!Always.Regardless what pulp drunk & frustrated journaille says & writes.She did what was legally possible in the circumstances and I would just do the very same came the occasion.

Let her rest in peace,she was a good,warm and noble Lady.

[Skippy]

Originally Posted by An Ard Ri

Perhaps he was hoping he'd be made a Count or a Baron ,it never happened and he remains Mr.Jorge Guillermo who was once married to a Princess.

Exactly - and with the first part: he may just have missed his claim to fame by remaining plain Mr. Jorge Guillermo.

[Duc_et_Pair]

I think neither Pieter van Vollenhoven nor Jorge Guillermo would have protested when their mother-in-law would have made them a noble. Both Pieter's parents were patricians. Making him a jonkheer (untitled noble) and their children no Oranges would have been better, in hindsight.

Now we see a one of their sons as "pandjesprins", a much-discussed real estate mogul, owning houses, the Media Park and even a Formula One race circuit.

Was he Bernhard Stuyling de Lange van Vollenhoven, it has a different load than Zijne Hoogheid prins Bernhard van Oranje-Nassau, Van Vollenhoven.

But Queen Juliana refused to bestow a title on Pieter: in her eyes it would like as if she could not accept a "commoner" as son-in-law and she wanted to avoid that wrong impression, especially in de midst of the roaring Sixties. She wanted to show Pieter from Schiedam was exactly the same to her as the dark-blue-blooded Spanish-French-Italian son-in-law Carlos Hugo.

With this precedent, any title for Jorge Guillermo was out of the question.

[maria-olivia]

Lucien , I like your posts about your late Princess Cristina
She was an artist a clever and independant Princess .
At the end of her life she was fighting against a painful and terrible cancer.
She was wise to sell her old masters painting and drawings , the amount is already to her 3 Children who were loving Children .

[Skippy]

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

I think neither Pieter van Vollenhoven nor Jorge Guillermo would have protested when their mother-in-law would have made them a noble. Both Pieter's parents were patricians. Making him a jonkheer (untitled noble) and their children no Oranges would have been better, in hindsight.

Now we see a one of their sons as "pandjesprins", a much-discussed real estate mogul, owning houses, the Media Park and even a Formula One race circuit.

Was he Bernhard Stuyling de Lange van Vollenhoven, it has a different load than Zijne Hoogheid prins Bernhard van Oranje-Nassau, Van Vollenhoven.

But Queen Juliana refused to bestow a title on Pieter: in her eyes it would like as if she could not accept a "commoner" as son-in-law and she wanted to avoid that wrong impression, especially in de midst of the roaring Sixties. She wanted to show Pieter from Schiedam was exactly the same to her as the dark-blue-blooded Spanish-French-Italian son-in-law Carlos Hugo.

With this precedent, any title for Jorge Guillermo was out of the question.

The "title question" has been asked to Prof. Mr. Pieter - it was in an interview with Volkskrant for his 50th wedding anniversary in January 2017: he never requested nor wanted a title and is of the disposition that one must think highly of him/herself when a title is wished for. It *has* been discussed, but not by him.

So one can use "high flying language" but this is how it is. Thus the bolded part is not necessarily true, IMO.

Jorge Guillermo is of a totally different order and totally incomparable with Prof. Mr. Pieter.

[Duc_et_Pair]

Originally Posted by Skippy

The "title question" has been asked to Prof. Mr. Pieter - it was in an interview with Volkskrant for his 50th wedding anniversary in January 2017: he never requested nor wanted a title and is of the disposition that one must think highly of him/herself when a title is wished for. It *has* been discussed, but not by him.

So one can use "high flying language" but this is how it is. Thus the bolded part is not necessarily true, IMO.

Jorge Guillermo is of a totally different order and totally incomparable with Prof. Mr. Pieter.

Of course that was a socially desirable answer. What could he say? Yes, I wanted a title for myself and my children? Prince Henrik gave no socially desirable answers. And he was slashed in media.

[O-H Anglophile]

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

Of course that was a socially desirable answer. What could he say? Yes, I wanted a title for myself and my children? Prince Henrik gave no socially desirable answers. And he was slashed in media.

There is a huge difference between a title of Count/Earl and the title King just because you married the Monarch. Not a relevant comparison IMO.

[Lee-Z]

(to steer this thread a bit back to P.Christina herself)

https://blauwbloed.eo.nl/artikel/201...ina-1947-2019/
Foto collection of her life by dutch royalty tv show "Blauw bloed"

google translated

[Tatiana Maria]

Originally Posted by Duc_et_Pair

Of course that was a socially desirable answer. What could he say? Yes, I wanted a title for myself and my children? Prince Henrik gave no socially desirable answers. And he was slashed in media.

Originally Posted by O-H Anglophile

There is a huge difference between a title of Count/Earl and the title King just because you married the Monarch. Not a relevant comparison IMO.

The latter has more rationale and precedent, but the remarks of Prince Henrik of Denmark, and the media reaction, reached far beyond a simple answer about a title.

In any case, I understand the point Duc_et_Pair was making was that Pieter's answer that he never requested a title does not necessarily imply that he would have rejected or resented a title had one been given.

And, to return to the topic of Princess Christina's life, I suppose the rumor(?) that Jorge Guillermo had hopes of a title becomes less believable considering his awareness that even Pieter van Vollenhoven, a working member of the royal house and the father of princes in line to the throne, did not receive one.

In light of his apparent interest in the privileges and benefits of the royal family, why did he not prevail on Princess Christina to request Parliament's authorization for the marriage, which would have allowed him to become a member of the Royal House?