Princess Irene of The Netherlands, Current Events Part 1 (July 2003 - )


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It is interesting that Princess Irene -after her divorce- lived less grand than her sisters Princess Margriet (Het Nieuwe Loo on the Crown Domain near Het Loo Palace) or Princess Christina (a house in Kensington Gardens district in West-London, before that an appartment at Central Park in New York, before that the Villa Eikenhorst on the royal estate De Horsten in Wassenaar - see one of her salons here).

The two only "befitting" residences of Princess Irene before her divorce were the appartement at the Calle de los Hermanos Bécquer in Madrid (a posh street where also the Dowager Francisco Franco lived, and the Spanish Prime Minister whom was assasinated by the ETA, Admiral Luís Carrero Blanco lived around the corner). The American Embassy territory borders this street. The Princess also stayed at the Château de Lignières (and inside) which sadly went to her husband's estranged brother, Prince Sixte-Henri de Bourbon de Parme. Luckily the Château will look better, since it is now under restoration.
 
Duke, In the past,I heard a story that the Bourbon Parma(parents) came to the Netherlands when Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard where abroad with such a "sans gêne" that they were asked to leave immediately.
 
maria-olivia said:
Duke, In the past,I heard a story that the Bourbon Parma(parents) came to the Netherlands when Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard where abroad with such a "sans gêne" that they were asked to leave immediately.
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Rumours indeed said that the Duke and Duchess of Parma occupied Soestdijk Palace and started to behave like they owned the whole place, giving orders to staff et all. But these are not substantiated and probably were part of the negative atmosphere with misinformation around the De Bourbon de Parmes.
 
maria-olivia said:
Duke, In the past,I heard a story that the Bourbon Parma(parents) came to the Netherlands when Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard where abroad with such a "sans gêne" that they were asked to leave immediately.
Click to expand...

Oh but there IS more to it then just that...And about misinformation,Duc,the BP's were champions of that themselves,their behaviour did it all for them...That happened indeed,and it was the very last time they were all at Soestdijk.Old Xavier and his family ordered the personnel around and behaved as if they owned the place while Juliana and Bernhard were abroad,so much so,that a member of the staff contacted Prince Bernhard who immediatly took action and "evicted"them all out of Soestdijk Palace by phone.The Families only met at the christenings of Princess Irene's children at Lignieres afterwards.C'est tout.
 
The villa of Princess Irene in Wijk bij Duurstede is for sale for the price of 2 million euros. This summer the princess already moved to Wassenaar, near The Hague.

The villas is 465 sq. meters, 6 bedrooms, several living rooms, a pool and has solar panels on the roof for clean energy.

Huis te koop: Singel 2 3961 CE Wijk Bij Duurstede [funda]
Landhuis prinses Irene kost 2 miljoen|Binnenland| Telegraaf.nl
Prinses Irene zet haar prachtige landhuis in Wijk bij Duurstede te koop. Zie foto's - Bekende Buren
 
The villa (picture) of Princess Irene has been bought by a young couple, Mr Willem Gerritsen (36) and Ms Inge Balvers (30) from Wijk bij Duurstede. Mr Gerritsen is an independent data-analyst.

The couple told that they never have seen Princess Irene. The sale completely went via estate agents. Only Prince Carlos (the Duke of Parma, the eldest son who lives in Brussels and The Hague) has been seen by the couple: for some months he kept an accomodation in the converted carriage house on the estate until his move to The Hague.

The villa has a salon, a study, a dining room, a big living-kitchen, a scullery, an utility-kitchen and two more rooms on the ground floor. There is a big greenhouse which serves as a separate room as well, On the first floor there are six bedrooms of which two ensuite with a bathroom as well separate bathrooms. There is a private swimmingpool. On the domain there is also an annex for staff and the remise (carriage house) which is converted into an accomodation as well.

I have not seen pictures of the new property of Princess Irene yet. She has a new house in Wassenaar (pic) near The Hague, one of the most expensive villages to reside in the Netherlands.

Source: Jong paar koopt landgoed prinses Irene

According some public information from the registry office Princess Irene has given a capital of around 1 million Euro to her eldest son Prince Carlos and a similar capital to her daughter Princess Margarita. These are registered as mortgages. It is not known if Prince Jaime (in Rome) and Princess Carolina (in Geneva) have received similar motherly assistance in the purchase of a house.
 
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On Friday Princess Irene "van Lippe-Biesterfeld" was interviewed by 'Nieuwsuur'. In the tv-programme the princess said it was shameful that The Netherlands does not invest more in sustainability.

Prinses Irene: schandalig dat Nederland niet meer investeert in duurzame energie | Nieuwsuur

And today the 2nd newspaper of the country (Algemeen Dagblad) had an interview with the pricness as the main article on their front page. The princess spoke again about sutainability. She also says that she will not be burried in Delft but that her ashes will be spread in Africa.

About her youth, the princess says that she found it difficult to be set apart from others by the gates around the palace and by the special school that she and her sisters attended.

She also talkes about her legal procedures against Royal Shell, which wants to drill for gas next to her estate in Africa. The court case has been taking 7 years already.

Cookies op AD.nl | AD.nl

The reasons for the interviews are a book of the princess that will be available in shops next week. The book is called 'Bergplaats', after her estate of 5000 acres in a natural reservein South Africa.
 
Marengo said:
The reasons for the interviews are a book of the princess that will be available in shops next week. The book is called 'Bergplaats', after her estate of 5000 acres in a natural reservein South Africa.
Click to expand...


Here are some photos from Princess Irene's Book Launch at the Balie in Amsterdam which was attended also by her children and spouses.

PPE

PPE Agency
 
Interesting that H.K.H. prinses Irene der Nederlanden, prinses van Oranje-Nassau, prinses van Lippe-Biesterfeld always refers to herself as Irene van Lippe-Biesterfeld in her publications: https://www.bol.com/nl/s/algemeen/zoekresultaten/Ntt/irene%2Blippe%2Bbiesterfeld/N/0/Nty/1/search/true/searchType/qck/suggestedFor/irene+li/originalSearchContext/books_all/originalSection/books/defaultSearchContext/media_all/sc/media_all/index.html

Another regular royal author: H.K.H. prinses Laurentien der Nederlanden, prinses van Oranje-Nassau, mevrouw Van Amsberg née Brinkhorst refers to herself as Laurentien van Oranje in her publications: https://www.bol.com/nl/s/boeken/zoe...archContext/media_all/sc/books_all/index.html
 
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On September 23 Princess Irene attended the Dutch Film Festival and the premiere of the film "Down to Earth" by Renta Heinen and Rolf Winters in Utrecht. Heinen and Winters together with their children had lived with an Indian tribe for four years and made a film about it, Princess Iene presented the film with a speech:



** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 ** Pic 3 ** Pic 4 ** Pic 5 **
 
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Princess Irene signed her book Bergplaas at Jansen & de Feijter in Velp today, November 2nd:


** ppe gallery **
 
I don't know what to think about it. Royals signing books in a bookstore or appearing in talkshows like DWDD, Pauw or RTL Late Night, as just one of the guests. In my personal opinion members of the Royal House better remain bit distant. A lady as Queen Máxima telling kiddies about the value of money, hmmm... unlucky "casting".
 
:previous:

Princess Irene is not a member of the Rpyal House. But I agree with the sentiment. I do not need to see prince Constantijn in DWDD for example, sympathetic as he was in the interview.
 
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Lovely in pink Princess Irene signed copies of her book "Bergplaas" at Paagman bookstore in Den Haag yesterday, December 6:


** ppe gallery **
 
.

Yesterday, January 28, Princess Irene attended the Jumping Amsterdam event, together with her daughter Princess Margarita, son-in-law and granddaughters:


** Pic 1 ** Pic 2 ** Pic 3 **
 
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Princess Irene planted a tree during the 62nd edition of the Tree Day in Heiligerlee today, March 14:


** belga gallery **
 
Princess Irene took part in the climate march in Amsterdam yesterday, March 10.

Dutch cabaret artist and radio journalist Claudia de Breij had announced it with a photo and video of them both:


** Photo/Video **
 
Apologies if this has been posted before, but I noticed today that Princess Irene did a TED Talk (in English) a couple of years ago about her thoughts on people and nature. She's an engaging speaker, and her ideas are very interesting -- not at all the far-out stuff I imagined from descriptions I'd read before.

After her TED Talk played, YouTube queued up this "99 Second" video where she talks about her projects.
 
Princess Irene will have a rather late 80th birthday celebration on September 16 with her NatuurCollege at the Royal Theatre Carre in Amsterdam.

Source: NettyRoyal
 
kalnel said:
Apologies if this has been posted before, but I noticed today that Princess Irene did a TED Talk (in English) a couple of years ago about her thoughts on people and nature. She's an engaging speaker, and her ideas are very interesting -- not at all the far-out stuff I imagined from descriptions I'd read before.
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Yes, it is not so far out. And she has a soothing, calm voice. Would love to attend a talk by her or stay at her South Africa estate Bergplaas (you can book rooms there, from what I understand) in the future. She has appointed her son Prince Jaime to the Bergplaas Foundation and the Spirit of the Wild Trust.

In the first video, she wore a necklace, under the "Leaves" collection, by her daughter Princess Margarita.
 
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I have an old music piece, Peter and the Wolf by Sergey Prokofiev, and there Princess Irene tells the tale, with the assistance of her young daughters Princess Margarita and Princess María Carolina. A very soothing voice, crisp and clear in perfect posh pronounced Dutch. It is an old one, 1984 or or so, and the proceedings of the CD were for the World Wildlife Fund, I thought.
 
Duc_et_Pair said:
I have an old music piece, Peter and the Wolf by Sergey Prokofiev, and there Princess Irene tells the tale, with the assistance of her young daughters Princess Margarita and Princess María Carolina. A very soothing voice, crisp and clear in perfect posh pronounced Dutch. It is an old one, 1984 or or so, and the proceedings of the CD were for the World Wildlife Fund, I thought.
Click to expand...

Does the rest of the family speak with a similar Dutch accent? I was surprised at how different her English accent is from her sisters'. Beatrix says some words with a slight North American intonation -- maybe owing to her years in Canada? -- but she sounds more European overall than Irene does. Margriet's accent is more like Beatrix's.

Somehow, Willem-Alexander seems to have the most American-sounding accent to me. Interesting, as I don't think he ever went to school here.
 
AD (a Dutch newspaper) had an interview with the princess because of her 80th birthday. She shares that she doesn't travel to South Africa (where she bought a large piece of land and transformed it into a nature reserve quite some time ago) anymore. She prefers to spend her time in the Netherlands, close to most of her 9 grandchildren (she has 10 but she doesn't count her out-of-wedlock grandchild by her eldest son) and not too far from where she grew up. She also mentions how the death of her youngest sister brought the remaining three sisters closer together.

Last week a nature-themed birthday performance was held in Amsterdam; many members of the royal family attended.
 
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