marlene said:
I didn't know that princesses Amilee and Anita were catholic, as a catholic I just thought that all of Holland or at least most of it would be protestant.I guess you learn something everyday.My daughter will be confirmed next week so wish us well that it all goes nicely.
I would say by this time most of The Netherlands (Holland is just a ps
art of the country, like England is of the UK) is not religious. The catholics were mainly located in the south (beneath the rivers as we say) and the protestants more to the north. Traditionally there were more protestants but now a days I would say it is equally divided: Catholics had bigger families and the people without religion come more from protestant backgrounds as the protestant religion tends to be much more austere (although these days the catholic church is losing more followers then the protestant, due to the policies of Rome, on which many catholic dutchmen look upon with digust/disdain/annoyance).
The devision is seen in the dutch-born princesses: Mabel, Laurentien and Annette are protestants while Marilene, Anita and Aimee are catholics. Maxima, as an argentine, is catholic of course. The protestants were always the dominant religion though and the religion of the elite. Nowadays Islam is quickly on it's way to become the biggest religion, due to higher birth rates and because most dutchmen have become/are becoming agnostic/atheists.
The marriage of the heir to a catholic still raised questions in parlament by orthodox protestant political parties, but it was reassured that the house of Orange will remain protestant (Maxima hinted that she might convert if she knew more about the protestant religion).
It is a far cry from the days of the early kings. I remember a story of Grand Duchess Sophie of Saxe-Weimar, daughter of King Willem II, who financed the repair of the roof of a catholic church in her grand duchy and went on inspection. On her arrival at the church she remained seated in her carriage and ordered her lady-in-waiting to inspect the building as 'a member of the house of Orange can not enter a catholic church'.
But also in the 60-ties, when Irene converted to papism there were many protets from angry protestants and many 'Princess Irene schools/streets' received different names.
