Marriage partners in the Dutch royal family


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Lee-Z

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Indeed Pieter was the first 'commoner' to marry into the royal family and he didn't get a title upon marriage (as i understand it because then Q.Juliana was not a fan of titles). To some him being a commoner was already a bit of a shock and in certain circles he was looked down upon a bit in the early years.
Pieter proved himself a very approachable person, very outgoing and easy to talk to. He also has a good sense of humor, also about himself and his own role. Where the dutch royals could at times be pretty stand-off-ish, Pieter has always been very jovial when interacting with the general audience and also journalists. Sometimes so jovial that sometimes it bordered on a little bit 'silly' (it's not the right word, but i can't think of the right one in english).
Also Pieter performed piano concerts with a few well known pianist friends, also on a few tv shows, which made him probably feel even more down to earth to many of the general audience (maybe not so much in the royal family, i think Q.Beatrix was necessarily a fan of this)
In the NL it's quite common to make jokes about or parody celebrities, politicians etc, and we like when the celebs can laugh about that themselves; Pieter with his very recognizable look, with the glasses and the large ears was always easy parodied, and he was not one who minded it at all.
The clips shown a few posts earlier are by very famous dutch comedians, and although at the time it was a tiny bit daring to joke about someone from the royal family, looking back the humor was pretty gentle and without intending harm. Maybe it was even a bit of an honor to be parodied by them, and as said, Pieter was always known to have a good sense of humor.

Over time and also due to several patronages Pieter has done, appreciation for him improved, both to the general audience, but also within the royal family.

maybe an interesting read is this article (in dutch, but i hope you can use an online translator for it) Profiel Pieter van Vollenhoven: doorzetter met grapjes
 
Indeed Pieter was the first 'commoner' to marry into the royal family and he didn't get a title upon marriage (as i understand it because then Q.Juliana was not a fan of titles).
Juliana considered making Pieter a prince of the Netherlands but didn’t because she was worried about setting a precedent. He expressed that he felt it was unfair that his wife and children were princes and princesses but he wasn’t.
 
Juliana considered making Pieter a prince of the Netherlands but didn’t because she was worried about setting a precedent. He expressed that he felt it was unfair that his wife and children were princes and princesses but he wasn’t.
That was a quote from the biography of former olitician Barend Biesheuvel, but in a later reaction Pieter stated he couldn't remember that that happened and didn't think it plausibel that it had Pieter van Vollenhoven - Wikipedia
 
Juliana considered making Pieter a prince of the Netherlands but didn’t because she was worried about setting a precedent. He expressed that he felt it was unfair that his wife and children were princes and princesses but he wasn’t.
That was a quote from the biography of former olitician Barend Biesheuvel, but in a later reaction Pieter stated he couldn't remember that that happened and didn't think it plausibel that it had Pieter van Vollenhoven - Wikipedia
Made a post to clarify what Pieter van Vollenhoven said here:

 
Pieter is always full of praise for his late mother-in-law, who indeed was the only one who supported him. Even his own mother had her reservations due to the difference in rank.

Coincidently I bought the book on Biesheuvel this weekend! It says that it was Juliana who called Biesheuvel on March 14th 1966, a few days after Beatrix' wedding. She wanted to discuss 'difficulties' around the upcoming wedding. Biesheuvel and his cabinet were busy for weeks with the matter. In the cabinet only Defense Minister Piet de Jong (a year later Prime Minister, in the 50/ties he was an aide-de-camp to Juliana) was in favour. The Queen was against, she thought it was oldfashioned and un-Dutch.

Pieter held a plea (the book is not clear when, but I assume at an earlier stage) to prime minister Cals and minister of state Beel, without result. After that he turned to Biesheuvel. Biesheuvel was sympathetic but told him: 'you fell in love with the wrong girl. he did not mind Pieter being a commoner "he was a decent young man from a decent family" but he did admit that he might have felt differently had Pieter married the heiress.

Pieter telephoned Biesheuvel on March 15th (a day after Juliana) and wanted to meet Biesheuvel the same day. They met at the ministery. Biesheuvel noted that until that stage Pieter never thought about a title but because of Beatrix' wedding to Claus he started to think differently. Claus was accepted as a Prince by the people, why wouldn't that be the case for him? 'Claus yes, me not'. Biesheuvel spoke again to Beel and to Juliana but the outcome was not changed, even though the children would be princes.

Note that in 1998 the diary of PM Cals became public. And there it was also said that it was Juliana who stopped the title for Pieter, while he tried to insist on it. In 1998 Pieter wrote a letter where he denied having lobbied for a title, and says that it was twisting facts.

In 1999 Biesheuvel did an interview with a newspaper and mentioned the lack of title for Pieter was 'discrimination'. A word supposedly used by Pieter in 1966 as well.

Biesheuvel and Pieter became friends. At Pieter's 60th birthday Biesheuvel made a speech where he said that Pieter never became a Prince and that Pieter and his wife never wanted that in the first place: 'it was your own decision, after confidential councils with good friends.'

A year later he told Pieter's biographer Dorine Hermans that at one point Pieter and Margriet preferred a title, but not in the pushy and lobbying way as has been described by the Volkskrant. It had to be regarded in the negative light with which Pieter was received at court, and they were wondering how he could keep himself standing in such an environment, doesn't he need to have a certain status for that? Not to be treated as a second rate character? Hermans said that after these revelations -slip of the tongue perhaps- Biesheuvel closed like an oyster, as if he had said too much.

The reality is that he was treated as a second rate character for years and he had a difficult personal time, especially in the 1970s.

For some reason, I am surprised that Pieter van Vollenhoven’s commoner status was such a stigma in the eyes of the royal family and the cabinet. Logically, I suppose there is no reason to be surprised: As of the 1960s, nearly all of the other royal families of Europe either relegated commoner partners to non-dynastic marriages or only welcomed them after much hesitation and controversy.

I suppose I thought the Netherlands was always more relaxed about consorts’ family background because Princess Juliana and Princess Beatrix both married spouses with humbler (albeit still noble) family backgrounds compared to most other European heirs to thrones in their respective generations.
 
For some reason, I am surprised that Pieter van Vollenhoven’s commoner status was such a stigma in the eyes of the royal family and the cabinet. Logically, I suppose there is no reason to be surprised: As of the 1960s, nearly all of the other royal families of Europe either relegated commoner partners to non-dynastic marriages or only welcomed them after much hesitation and controversy.

I suppose I thought the Netherlands was always more relaxed about consorts’ family background because Princess Juliana and Princess Beatrix both married spouses with humbler (albeit still noble) family backgrounds compared to most other European heirs to thrones in their respective generations.
That's true of Juliana's generation, perhaps, but not Beatrix's. The heirs in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Belgium all married people with much humbler, non-royal backgrounds in the 60s and 70s. (By 1981, it was true in the UK and Luxembourg, too.)
 
For some reason, I am surprised that Pieter van Vollenhoven’s commoner status was such a stigma in the eyes of the royal family and the cabinet. Logically, I suppose there is no reason to be surprised: As of the 1960s, nearly all of the other royal families of Europe either relegated commoner partners to non-dynastic marriages or only welcomed them after much hesitation and controversy.

I suppose I thought the Netherlands was always more relaxed about consorts’ family background because Princess Juliana and Princess Beatrix both married spouses with humbler (albeit still noble) family backgrounds compared to most other European heirs to thrones in their respective generations.
I suppose they didn't see minor royals and nobles as the same as commoners. I believe that the same thing occurred in Denmark when it was fine for the future queen to marry a minor French aristocrat but marrying a commoner would still cost you your title. Wilhelmina also married a German aristocrat.
 
I suppose they didn't see minor royals and nobles as the same as commoners. I believe that the same thing occurred in Denmark when it was fine for the future queen to marry a minor French aristocrat but marrying a commoner would still cost you your title. Wilhelmina also married a German aristocrat.

True. And Belgium in the 1990s also seemed to draw the line in the same place (Crown Prince Philippe was reportedly discouraged by his family from marrying a commoner girlfriend of his, but in 1999 he married a woman from the very lowest rank of the Belgian nobility without trouble).

And I believe @Somebody pointed out that the Dutch Royal House has been slower to accept spouses from truly ordinary families compared to other European royal houses (Daniel of Sweden, Mette-Marit of Norway, et al), so my initial "the Dutch are more relaxed" impression doesn't truly capture the situation.

That's true of Juliana's generation, perhaps, but not Beatrix's. The heirs in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Belgium all married people with much humbler, non-royal backgrounds in the 60s and 70s. (By 1981, it was true in the UK and Luxembourg, too.)

It is true that Beatrix's generation as a whole turned towards consorts with humbler non-royal family backgrounds, but Beatrix's husband was still of relatively low social status by the norms of his generation of European consorts; Henri (Denmark) and Paola (Belgium) legally were untitled commoners (as was Claus) but were socially known as Count and Princess respectively. Only Silvia (Sweden) and Sonja (Norway) came from (wealthy) commoner families which made no pretense to nobility, and in both cases monarchs were initially unwilling to approve them as dynastic spouses.


Returning to Pieter van Vollenhoven, I wonder if the resistance and lack of acceptance he received from the establishment helped to form his humble, unpretentious, likeable attitude towards the general public.
 
True. And Belgium in the 1990s also seemed to draw the line in the same place (Crown Prince Philippe was reportedly discouraged by his family from marrying a commoner girlfriend of his, but in 1999 he married a woman from the very lowest rank of the Belgian nobility without trouble).

And I believe @Somebody pointed out that the Dutch Royal House has been slower to accept spouses from truly ordinary families compared to other European royal houses (Daniel of Sweden, Mette-Marit of Norway, et al), so my initial "the Dutch are more relaxed" impression doesn't truly capture the situation.



It is true that Beatrix's generation as a whole turned towards consorts with humbler non-royal family backgrounds, but Beatrix's husband was still of relatively low social status by the norms of his generation of European consorts; Henri (Denmark) and Paola (Belgium) legally were untitled commoners (as was Claus) but were socially known as Count and Princess respectively. Only Silvia (Sweden) and Sonja (Norway) came from (wealthy) commoner families which made no pretense to nobility, and in both cases monarchs were initially unwilling to approve them as dynastic spouses.


Returning to Pieter van Vollenhoven, I wonder if the resistance and lack of acceptance he received from the establishment helped to form his humble, unpretentious, likeable attitude towards the general public.
Did Sonja come from a wealthy family? Her father was a clothing merchant so I can't imagine her family had much money. It took a while for Spain to even consider marriages to aristocrats dynastic; both of Juan Carlos' sisters surrendered their succession rights to marry their aristocratic boyfriends. I'm not sure if marriages to aristocrats and commoners were declared dynastic at the same time but Elena married an aristocrat, Cristina married a professional athlete with no noble background, and Felipe married a journalist (the least prestigious of the three spouses) around the same time with all three marriages being considered dynastic.
 
Did Sonja come from a wealthy family? Her father was a clothing merchant so I can't imagine her family had much money.
Her family owned a large store in Oslo with their name on it. They may not have been aristocrats (not that those exist in Norway) but they were certainly comfortable. Sonja went to finishing school in Switzerland and studied abroad elsewhere.

But this has absolutely nothing to do with the Netherlands or the thread?
 
And I believe @Somebody pointed out that the Dutch Royal House has been slower to accept spouses from truly ordinary families compared to other European royal houses (Daniel of Sweden, Mette-Marit of Norway, et al), so my initial "the Dutch are more relaxed" impression doesn't truly capture the situation.
This indeed applies to the 'heir to the throne' (by at least queen Beatrix); as evidenced by Pieter van Vollenhoven's entrance into the royal family and the brides of all other princes in the next generation; a 'Dutch commoner' was considered acceptable. However, queen Beatrix wanted to ensure some 'distance' between the future queen and the 'general Dutch public'.

For context: Pieter van Vollenhoven was from a non-noble background but the 'Van Vollenhoven'-family was considered part of the Dutch patriciate. The website dedicated to the Patriciate describes this group as "In the Netherlands' Patriciate, better known as the 'Blue Book', genealogies are included of families that have played a prominent role in Dutch society over the past 150 years (or longer) and whose members are still in the foreground."

Also in the next generation, several princes married non-noble brides from prominent families, for example Laurentien Brinkhorst (her father was among other things a prominent member of the Dutch political party D'66, multiple-times Minister and once vice-prime minister), Marilène van den Broek (her father was Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Commissioner and was until his recent death a Minister of State* - the family can also be found in the 'Blue Book') and Annemarie Gualtherie van Weezel (her father had several positions in Dutch politics and diplomacy); but her grandparents on both sides also were prominent members of society).

* Minister of State is an honorary title awarded to few former politicians for their services to public service.
 
It was WIlhelmina herself who later in life came to the conclusion that a marriage to Dutch commoners would be best - somehow to be 'one with the people'. She writes about this in her autobiography. She even preferred a non-noble as it may otherwise lead to petty squables between aristocratic families. This thought was supposedly shared by Juliana and Margriet.

Claus was from the lower aristocracy - his grandfather was the head forester at the court of Mecklenburg. In that light I never understood Beatrix thinking Pieter's background, from a very decent patrician family- was so much worse. The Van Vollenhovens delivered a mayor of Rotterdam, a mayor of Amsterdam, several members of parlament and the diplomat Maurits van Vollenhoven married a Spanish Bourbon (daughter of the duke of Durcal). Prof. Cornelius van Vollenhoven taught Juliana at the University of Leiden. Some added other last names to theirs or acquired a Lordship. The Von Amsbergs owned a few farms in Mecklenburg and were only ennobled not that long before.

Also Princess Armgard, the mother of Bernhard, was against the marriage to a commoner. While she herself lived with a Russian refugee colonel Pantchoulidzew for decades and was married morganatically to Bernhards father.

But apart from him not being noble there were other factors making it easier to sideline Pieter. First of all he was Dutch. And that made it much easier for people at court but also in the country to measure him up, to place his accent, his family etc. And compared to the nobles working at the court, he/his family was indeed of lower social status. And secondly while Claus was a diplomat, a gentleman moving in the higher social circles (a friend of Prince Richard of Berleburg and Beatrix and Claus met at a party organised by Beatrix cousin count Oeynhausen) and married into the family when he was around 40 and with a career, this was not the case for Pieter. Pieter was less 'presentable': young, green, 'a typical student from Leiden with too much bravado to hide his insecurity' said Biesheuvel. He came fresh from university, had no carreer yet.

They simply didn't know what to do with him. And at court I don't know if they ever warmed up to him. And this dislike was brought over to his sons, all of which were considered a bit 'too light'. The press interest in Maurits and Marilene [he was the first one to get married] was a source of irritation in the Hague. Pss Margarita in her infamous interviews with her first husband also confirmed that impression. I was in the Museum van Loon - the canal house of Mrs Martine van Loon-Labouchere, by then still grand mistress of the court- on a visit a long time ago where a tourguide started ranting about having a princess named 'Anita' (a name sometimes indicating a lower social status, even though her family is perfectly respectable).

I remember a documentary about Beatrix where a lady-in-waiting was praising the good manners of Beatrix' sons while referring to *some* popular others who didn't bother to shake her hand at a new year´s reception. From the context it was clear she meant Maurits and Marilene. I don't disagree completely: we don't need to see princes behind DJ tables and I do find these people from Amsterdam heading to Ibiza not very chique either, but what does it matter? And now the most vulgar of all of them is the granddaughter of the very posh Beatrix and the even posher Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst, -not a Van Vollenhoven- which is a great joke.

The only working class person married into the RF is Annete Sekreve, and she seems to have done so with ease. All the others are indeed upper middle class or in the case of the Brenninkmeijers: upper class. Personally I would expect a hypothetical Daniel Westling II marrying the heiress would be popular but he could also count on a lifetime of petty and snide remarks about accent, lack of university degree etc.

--
I am going through the biography of Foreign minister -and later NATO secretary general- Joseph Luns, himself married to a baroness van Heemstra. It says that in 1964 Prime Minister Marijnen told him that Juliana had informed him that 'Margriet regarded herself as engaged to the law-student from Leiden, PvV'. Marijnen thought that such a 'morganatic marriage' would be a danger to the monarchy and such children would not be accepted as heirs to the throne in the case of Beatrix being unable to have children. Luns -of course- agreed completely, though he also anticipated that parlament 'from a wrongly interperted egalitarian-principle' would approve of such a marriage, but that this would not prevent 'a later negative attitude of the Dutch population'. Luns urgently advised Marijnen to convice the young man to retreat for the sake of the royal house. He recruited the help of former minister Beerman (like the Van Vollenhovens also from a patrician family from/near Rotterdam) to convince the parents to end this 'completely undesirable idylle'.

Earlier Luns had complained to Bernhard himself that Queen and prince acted completely unprofessionally in finding a partner for their eldest daughter. Beatrix socialising with 'enthusiastic and idealistic young people with all sorts of progessive plans and with quastionable backgrounds and long hair' did not help and Beatrix needed to get in touch with foreigners of equal standing (he used the German 'ebenbürtig'). Note that the group included Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst, Laurentien's father. In the mean time he talked to cardinal Alfrink how the Vatican would regard a catholic marriage where the children would be raised as protestants - in case that like her sister, Beatrix would meet a catholic Prince.

Luns advised Bernhard to make a list of candidates between 28 and 37, starting in the UK. He suggested via ambassador Van Rooijen -also well known at the court) to approach the private secretary of Queen Elizabeth II. The prince agreed, Van Rooijen started working and early 1965 several dinners were organised. This was not a success, Beatrix though the English were 'too aloof and cold'. At a dinner in Germany she would later meet Claus, who was invited to make up numbers, and who was not supposed to be the one that would actually be chosen over more high ranking candidates [including Prince Richard of Berleburg]. Beatrix herself said that she had met Claus already before this dinner party [at another one] and was already in love with him.

Note that in her Beatrix biography Jutta Chorus says that Juliana advised her daughter in 1962 already to look for a partner ´in Anglo-Saxon circles´, so the Luns biography may have some dates wrong. Huub Oosterhuis [family friend] said: 'she didn't like that at all, those cold English, that distant and closed British aristocracy. She thought Germans were warmer, more European and closerby' [I assume he meant mental proximity]. Although Margriet is not referred to in the book, Chorus points out that Beatrix was simply madly in love, which perhaps made her overlook some objections she may have had earlier for her sister.

Luns was also against Claus: low nobility and -faulty- enquiries told him that Claus was 'a typical snob, arrogant, vain and chasing women'. Supposedly he had had a relationship 'with the much older and mundaine comtesse de Riberg and at the moment with a secretary of the Swedish embassy'. Luns realised his point-of-view was not modern but he maintained that for the Dutch population 'any prince would be better than the best count. And any count would be better than the best baron etc'. He was very irritated that the ministers had 'weak backbones' and bowed to the 'not very dynastic preferences of Queen Juliana'. Supposedly Beatrix loathed Luns for the rest of his life, he was never made a minister of State, while he would have been the most obvious candidate for such a position.
 
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It was WIlhelmina herself who later in life came to the conclusion that a marriage to Dutch commoners would be best - somehow to be 'one with the people'. She writes about this in her autobiography. She even preferred a non-noble as it may otherwise lead to petty squables between aristocratic families. This thought was supposedly shared by Juliana and Margriet.

Claus was from the lower aristocracy - his grandfather was the head forester at the court of Mecklenburg. In that light I never understood Beatrix thinking Pieter's background, from a very decent patrician family- was so much worse. The Van Vollenhovens delivered a mayor of Rotterdam, a mayor of Amsterdam, several members of parlament and the diplomat Maurits van Vollenhoven married a Spanish Bourbon (daughter of the duke of Durcal). Prof. Cornelius van Vollenhoven taught Juliana at the University of Leiden. Some added other last names to theirs or acquired a Lordship. The Von Amsbergs owned a few farms in Mecklenburg and were only ennobled not that long before.

Also Princess Armgard, the mother of Bernhard, was against the marriage to a commoner. While she herself lived with a Russian refugee colonel Pantchoulidzew for decades and was married morganatically to Bernhards father.

But apart from him not being noble there were other factors making it easier to sideline Pieter. First of all he was Dutch. And that made it much easier for people at court but also in the country to measure him up, to place his accent, his family etc. And compared to the nobles working at the court, he/his family was indeed of lower social status. And secondly while Claus was a diplomat, a gentleman moving in the higher social circles (a friend of Prince Richard of Berleburg and Beatrix and Claus met at a party organised by Beatrix cousin count Oeynhausen) and married into the family when he was around 40 and with a career, this was not the case for Pieter. Pieter was less 'presentable': young, green, 'a typical student from Leiden with too much bravado to hide his insecurity' said Biesheuvel. He came fresh from university, had no carreer yet.

They simply didn't know what to do with him. And at court I don't know if they ever warmed up to him. And this dislike was brought over to his sons, all of which were considered a bit 'too light'. The press interest in Maurits and Marilene [he was the first one to get married] was a source of irritation in the Hague. Pss Margarita in her infamous interviews with her first husband also confirmed that impression. I was in the Museum van Loon - the canal house of Mrs Martine van Loon-Labouchere, by then still grand mistress of the court- on a visit a long time ago where a tourguide started ranting about having a princess named 'Anita' (a name sometimes indicating a lower social status, even though her family is perfectly respectable).

I remember a documentary about Beatrix where a lady-in-waiting was praising the good manners of Beatrix' sons while referring to *some* popular others who didn't bother to shake her hand at a new year´s reception. From the context it was clear she meant Maurits and Marilene. I don't disagree completely: we don't need to see princes behind DJ tables and I do find these people from Amsterdam heading to Ibiza not very chique either, but what does it matter? And now the most vulgar of all of them is the granddaughter of the very posh Beatrix and the even posher Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst, -not a Van Vollenhoven- which is a great joke.

The only working class person married into the RF is Annete Sekreve, and she seems to have done so with ease. All the others are indeed upper middle class or in the case of the Brenninkmeijers: upper class. Personally I would expect a hypothetical Daniel Westling II marrying the heiress would be popular but he could also count on a lifetime of petty and snide remarks about accent, lack of university degree etc.

--
I am going through the biography of Foreign minister -and later NATO secretary general- Joseph Luns, himself married to a baroness van Heemstra. It says that in 1964 Prime Minister Marijnen told him that Juliana had informed him that 'Margriet regarded herself as engaged to the law-student from Leiden, PvV'. Marijnen thought that such a 'morganatic marriage' would be a danger to the monarchy and such children would not be accepted as heirs to the throne in the case of Beatrix being unable to have children. Luns -of course- agreed completely, though he also anticipated that parlament 'from a wrongly interperted egalitarian-principle' would approve of such a marriage, but that this would not prevent 'a later negative attitude of the Dutch population'. Luns urgently advised Marijnen to convice the young man to retreat for the sake of the royal house. He recruited the help of former minister Beerman (like the Van Vollenhovens also from a patrician family from/near Rotterdam) to convince the parents to end this 'completely undesirable idylle'.

Earlier Luns had complained to Bernhard himself that Queen and prince acted completely unprofessionally in finding a partner for their eldest daughter. Beatrix socialising with 'enthusiastic and idealistic young people with all sorts of progessive plans and with quastionable backgrounds and long hair' did not help and Beatrix needed to get in touch with foreigners of equal standing (he used the German 'ebenbürtig'). Note that the group included Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst, Laurentien's father. In the mean time he talked to cardinal Alfrink how the Vatican would regard a catholic marriage where the children would be raised as protestants - in case that like her sister, Beatrix would meet a catholic Prince.

Luns advised Bernhard to make a list of candidates between 28 and 37, starting in the UK. He suggested via ambassador Van Rooijen -also well known at the court) to approach the private secretary of Queen Elizabeth II. The prince agreed, Van Rooijen started working and early 1965 several dinners were organised. This was not a success, Beatrix though the English were 'too aloof and cold'. At a dinner in Germany she would later meet Claus, who was invited to make up numbers, and who was not supposed to be the one that would actually be chosen over more high ranking candidates [including Prince Richard of Berleburg]. Beatrix herself said that she had met Claus already before this dinner party [at another one] and was already in love with him.

Note that in her Beatrix biography Jutta Chorus says that Juliana advised her daughter in 1962 already to look for a partner ´in Anglo-Saxon circles´, so the Luns biography may have some dates wrong. Huub Oosterhuis [family friend] said: 'she didn't like that at all, those cold English, that distant and closed British aristocracy. She thought Germans were warmer, more European and closerby' [I assume he meant mental proximity]. Although Margriet is not referred to in the book, Chorus points out that Beatrix was simply madly in love, which perhaps made her overlook some objections she may have had earlier for her sister.

Luns was also against Claus: low nobility and -faulty- enquiries told him that Claus was 'a typical snob, arrogant, vain and chasing women'. Supposedly he had had a relationship 'with the much older and mundaine comtesse de Riberg and at the moment with a secretary of the Swedish embassy'. Luns realised his point-of-view was not modern but he maintained that for the Dutch population 'any prince would be better than the best count. And any count would be better than the best baron etc'. He was very irritated that the ministers had 'weak backbones' and bowed to the 'not very dynastic preferences of Queen Juliana'. Supposedly Beatrix loathed Luns for the rest of his life, he was never made a minister of State, while he would have been the most obvious candidate for such a position.
Very interesting!

I wonder if the fact that Claus and Beatrix are distant cousins helped his case. I seem to recall reading that they are fourth or fifth cousins through noble families on Claus's mother's side.
 
Unlikely, I doubt that would have worked in his favor in any way. Moreover, marrying a German was at that time in the perception of most likely more problematic than him being of the lower aristocracy.
 
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Unlikely, I doubt that would have worked in his favor in any way. Moreover, marrying a German was at that time in the perception of most likely more problematic than him being of the lower aristocracy.
I was referring to Marengo's comments about nobles, not Claus's nationality. With a noble background on his mother's side -- that he shared with Beatrix -- and untitled nobility on his father's side, he wasn't a nobody.
 
I was referring to Marengo's comments about nobles, not Claus's nationality. With a noble background on his mother's side -- that he shared with Beatrix -- and untitled nobility on his father's side, he wasn't a nobody.
I understand - but him being far-far-away related was irrelevant to the Dutch; him being a minor noble was probably a concern for some but not for others; him being a German on the other hand was a prominent issue and problem for the large majority of the population.
 
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Grateful thanks for Marengo long and interesting posts. I learned a lot and remember a lot .. Well done !
 
It was WIlhelmina herself who later in life came to the conclusion that a marriage to Dutch commoners would be best - somehow to be 'one with the people'. She writes about this in her autobiography. She even preferred a non-noble as it may otherwise lead to petty squables between aristocratic families. This thought was supposedly shared by Juliana and Margriet.

Claus was from the lower aristocracy - his grandfather was the head forester at the court of Mecklenburg. In that light I never understood Beatrix thinking Pieter's background, from a very decent patrician family- was so much worse. The Van Vollenhovens delivered a mayor of Rotterdam, a mayor of Amsterdam, several members of parlament and the diplomat Maurits van Vollenhoven married a Spanish Bourbon (daughter of the duke of Durcal). Prof. Cornelius van Vollenhoven taught Juliana at the University of Leiden. Some added other last names to theirs or acquired a Lordship. The Von Amsbergs owned a few farms in Mecklenburg and were only ennobled not that long before.

Also Princess Armgard, the mother of Bernhard, was against the marriage to a commoner. While she herself lived with a Russian refugee colonel Pantchoulidzew for decades and was married morganatically to Bernhards father.

But apart from him not being noble there were other factors making it easier to sideline Pieter. First of all he was Dutch. And that made it much easier for people at court but also in the country to measure him up, to place his accent, his family etc. And compared to the nobles working at the court, he/his family was indeed of lower social status. And secondly while Claus was a diplomat, a gentleman moving in the higher social circles (a friend of Prince Richard of Berleburg and Beatrix and Claus met at a party organised by Beatrix cousin count Oeynhausen) and married into the family when he was around 40 and with a career, this was not the case for Pieter. Pieter was less 'presentable': young, green, 'a typical student from Leiden with too much bravado to hide his insecurity' said Biesheuvel. He came fresh from university, had no carreer yet.

They simply didn't know what to do with him. And at court I don't know if they ever warmed up to him. And this dislike was brought over to his sons, all of which were considered a bit 'too light'. The press interest in Maurits and Marilene [he was the first one to get married] was a source of irritation in the Hague. Pss Margarita in her infamous interviews with her first husband also confirmed that impression. I was in the Museum van Loon - the canal house of Mrs Martine van Loon-Labouchere, by then still grand mistress of the court- on a visit a long time ago where a tourguide started ranting about having a princess named 'Anita' (a name sometimes indicating a lower social status, even though her family is perfectly respectable).

I remember a documentary about Beatrix where a lady-in-waiting was praising the good manners of Beatrix' sons while referring to *some* popular others who didn't bother to shake her hand at a new year´s reception. From the context it was clear she meant Maurits and Marilene. I don't disagree completely: we don't need to see princes behind DJ tables and I do find these people from Amsterdam heading to Ibiza not very chique either, but what does it matter? And now the most vulgar of all of them is the granddaughter of the very posh Beatrix and the even posher Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst, -not a Van Vollenhoven- which is a great joke.

The only working class person married into the RF is Annete Sekreve, and she seems to have done so with ease. All the others are indeed upper middle class or in the case of the Brenninkmeijers: upper class. Personally I would expect a hypothetical Daniel Westling II marrying the heiress would be popular but he could also count on a lifetime of petty and snide remarks about accent, lack of university degree etc.

--
I am going through the biography of Foreign minister -and later NATO secretary general- Joseph Luns, himself married to a baroness van Heemstra. It says that in 1964 Prime Minister Marijnen told him that Juliana had informed him that 'Margriet regarded herself as engaged to the law-student from Leiden, PvV'. Marijnen thought that such a 'morganatic marriage' would be a danger to the monarchy and such children would not be accepted as heirs to the throne in the case of Beatrix being unable to have children. Luns -of course- agreed completely, though he also anticipated that parlament 'from a wrongly interperted egalitarian-principle' would approve of such a marriage, but that this would not prevent 'a later negative attitude of the Dutch population'. Luns urgently advised Marijnen to convice the young man to retreat for the sake of the royal house. He recruited the help of former minister Beerman (like the Van Vollenhovens also from a patrician family from/near Rotterdam) to convince the parents to end this 'completely undesirable idylle'.

Earlier Luns had complained to Bernhard himself that Queen and prince acted completely unprofessionally in finding a partner for their eldest daughter. Beatrix socialising with 'enthusiastic and idealistic young people with all sorts of progessive plans and with quastionable backgrounds and long hair' did not help and Beatrix needed to get in touch with foreigners of equal standing (he used the German 'ebenbürtig'). Note that the group included Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst, Laurentien's father. In the mean time he talked to cardinal Alfrink how the Vatican would regard a catholic marriage where the children would be raised as protestants - in case that like her sister, Beatrix would meet a catholic Prince.

Luns advised Bernhard to make a list of candidates between 28 and 37, starting in the UK. He suggested via ambassador Van Rooijen -also well known at the court) to approach the private secretary of Queen Elizabeth II. The prince agreed, Van Rooijen started working and early 1965 several dinners were organised. This was not a success, Beatrix though the English were 'too aloof and cold'. At a dinner in Germany she would later meet Claus, who was invited to make up numbers, and who was not supposed to be the one that would actually be chosen over more high ranking candidates [including Prince Richard of Berleburg]. Beatrix herself said that she had met Claus already before this dinner party [at another one] and was already in love with him.

Note that in her Beatrix biography Jutta Chorus says that Juliana advised her daughter in 1962 already to look for a partner ´in Anglo-Saxon circles´, so the Luns biography may have some dates wrong. Huub Oosterhuis [family friend] said: 'she didn't like that at all, those cold English, that distant and closed British aristocracy. She thought Germans were warmer, more European and closerby' [I assume he meant mental proximity]. Although Margriet is not referred to in the book, Chorus points out that Beatrix was simply madly in love, which perhaps made her overlook some objections she may have had earlier for her sister.

Luns was also against Claus: low nobility and -faulty- enquiries told him that Claus was 'a typical snob, arrogant, vain and chasing women'. Supposedly he had had a relationship 'with the much older and mundaine comtesse de Riberg and at the moment with a secretary of the Swedish embassy'. Luns realised his point-of-view was not modern but he maintained that for the Dutch population 'any prince would be better than the best count. And any count would be better than the best baron etc'. He was very irritated that the ministers had 'weak backbones' and bowed to the 'not very dynastic preferences of Queen Juliana'. Supposedly Beatrix loathed Luns for the rest of his life, he was never made a minister of State, while he would have been the most obvious candidate for such a position.

Thank you for this engagingly written deep exploration of 20th-century marriage standards in the royal house. And for sharing so much information from Dutch sources which most of us outside the Netherlands would otherwise never see.


It was WIlhelmina herself who later in life came to the conclusion that a marriage to Dutch commoners would be best - somehow to be 'one with the people'. She writes about this in her autobiography. She even preferred a non-noble as it may otherwise lead to petty squables between aristocratic families. This thought was supposedly shared by Juliana and Margriet.

I wonder if the complications that Wilhelmina’s and Juliana’s noble-born consorts brought to their marriages and/or the monarchy, compared to Margriet’s successful choice, influenced their eventual opinons.

Alternatively, perhaps the feared and actual German occupations of the World Wars crystallized the importance of Dutch identity in their minds? Wilhelmina’s reign also saw the laws of succession to the throne amended to keep the German relatives off the Dutch throne, and then there were the anti-German protests at Beatrix’s wedding.


Claus was from the lower aristocracy - his grandfather was the head forester at the court of Mecklenburg. In that light I never understood Beatrix thinking Pieter's background, from a very decent patrician family- was so much worse. The Van Vollenhovens delivered a mayor of Rotterdam, a mayor of Amsterdam, several members of parlament and the diplomat Maurits van Vollenhoven married a Spanish Bourbon (daughter of the duke of Durcal). Prof. Cornelius van Vollenhoven taught Juliana at the University of Leiden. Some added other last names to theirs or acquired a Lordship. The Von Amsbergs owned a few farms in Mecklenburg and were only ennobled not that long before.

Also Princess Armgard, the mother of Bernhard, was against the marriage to a commoner. While she herself lived with a Russian refugee colonel Pantchoulidzew for decades and was married morganatically to Bernhards father.

Well illustrated. Wasn’t it common knowledge that untitled nobility created during the 19th century were, frankly, thick on the ground in Germany and certainly seen as parvenus unsuitable to marry into the German reigning families? A family of the German bourgeoisie with the Van Vollenhovens’ profile would perhaps have ended up ennobled as a “von”.


But apart from him not being noble there were other factors making it easier to sideline Pieter. First of all he was Dutch. And that made it much easier for people at court but also in the country to measure him up, to place his accent, his family etc. And compared to the nobles working at the court, he/his family was indeed of lower social status.

Personally I would expect a hypothetical Daniel Westling II marrying the heiress would be popular but he could also count on a lifetime of petty and snide remarks about accent, lack of university degree etc.

Very interesting indeed. When I read that Queen Margrethe II of Denmark discouraged her sons from marrying Danish commoners (but was happy to have them marry foreign commoners, so it was not an issue of tradition or classism) I was baffled. But you illustrate well the benefits of that approach. It is indeed easier to present an incoming consort in the best possible light when the country is not filled with people who feel that they already know his “type” (and some who know him personally).


And secondly while Claus was a diplomat, a gentleman moving in the higher social circles (a friend of Prince Richard of Berleburg and Beatrix and Claus met at a party organised by Beatrix cousin count Oeynhausen) and married into the family when he was around 40 and with a career, this was not the case for Pieter. Pieter was less 'presentable': young, green, 'a typical student from Leiden with too much bravado to hide his insecurity' said Biesheuvel. He came fresh from university, had no carreer yet.
They simply didn't know what to do with him.

Here the couple were perhaps disadvantaged by their genders. Female consorts in 20th- and 21st-century Europe seem not to have had inexperience or immaturity held against them, provided they were pretty and charming (cf. Lady Diana Spencer, age 20). But it sounds that more savoir-faire was expected of Pieter van Vollenhoven and he could not rely on pure personality and style to be taken seriously.


And at court I don't know if they ever warmed up to him. And this dislike was brought over to his sons, all of which were considered a bit 'too light'. The press interest in Maurits and Marilene [he was the first one to get married] was a source of irritation in the Hague. Pss Margarita in her infamous interviews with her first husband also confirmed that impression. I was in the Museum van Loon - the canal house of Mrs Martine van Loon-Labouchere, by then still grand mistress of the court- on a visit a long time ago where a tourguide started ranting about having a princess named 'Anita' (a name sometimes indicating a lower social status, even though her family is perfectly respectable).

I remember a documentary about Beatrix where a lady-in-waiting was praising the good manners of Beatrix' sons while referring to *some* popular others who didn't bother to shake her hand at a new year´s reception. From the context it was clear she meant Maurits and Marilene. I don't disagree completely: we don't need to see princes behind DJ tables and I do find these people from Amsterdam heading to Ibiza not very chique either, but what does it matter? And now the most vulgar of all of them is the granddaughter of the very posh Beatrix and the even posher Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst, -not a Van Vollenhoven- which is a great joke.

Goodness. Yes, from the vantage point of 2025, a time when the Orange-Nassau van Vollenhovens were collectively considered déclassé seems long ago.


The only working class person married into the RF is Annete Sekreve, and she seems to have done so with ease. All the others are indeed upper middle class or in the case of the Brenninkmeijers: upper class.

Interesting! By the way, does that have anything to do why Annette’s mother is the only mother-in-law of the Orange-Nassau van Vollenhoven princes to be styled on the royal website by her own name (de Haan) and not a hyphenated name (van den Broek-van Schendel, etc.)?
 
I wonder if the complications that Wilhelmina’s and Juliana’s noble-born consorts brought to their marriages and/or the monarchy, compared to Margriet’s successful choice, influenced their eventual opinons.

Alternatively, perhaps the feared and actual German occupations of the World Wars crystallized the importance of Dutch identity in their minds? Wilhelmina’s reign also saw the laws of succession to the throne amended to keep the German relatives off the Dutch throne, and then there were the anti-German protests at Beatrix’s wedding.
Wilhelmina passed away before her granddaughters got married, so it will not have influenced her opinion. Princess Margriet met Pieter about 6 months after her death (and Beatrix met Claus even later).

Interesting! By the way, does that have anything to do why Annette’s mother is the only mother-in-law of the Orange-Nassau van Vollenhoven princes to be styled on the royal website by her own name (de Haan) and not a hyphenated name (van den Broek-van Schendel, etc.)?
No, the reason she is styled by her own name, is that Annette's parents are divorced (their divorce took place before her marriage with Bernhard).

If you like to dive into her family background: this 'kwartierstaat' was published at the time of their marriage.
 
I am going through the biography of Foreign minister -and later NATO secretary general- Joseph Luns, himself married to a baroness van Heemstra. It says that in 1964 Prime Minister Marijnen told him that Juliana had informed him that 'Margriet regarded herself as engaged to the law-student from Leiden, PvV'. Marijnen thought that such a 'morganatic marriage' would be a danger to the monarchy and such children would not be accepted as heirs to the throne in the case of Beatrix being unable to have children. Luns -of course- agreed completely, though he also anticipated that parlament 'from a wrongly interperted egalitarian-principle' would approve of such a marriage, but that this would not prevent 'a later negative attitude of the Dutch population'. Luns urgently advised Marijnen to convice the young man to retreat for the sake of the royal house. He recruited the help of former minister Beerman (like the Van Vollenhovens also from a patrician family from/near Rotterdam) to convince the parents to end this 'completely undesirable idylle'.

Interesting. I wonder how right their prognostications were in the short term. Observing what has happened in other monarchies, I think Marijnen and Luns were correct to contemplate that (1) parliamentary support does not always translate to popular support, and (2) even “commoner” members of the general public sometimes – arguably hypocritically – view some royals as “too common”.


Earlier Luns had complained to Bernhard himself that Queen and prince acted completely unprofessionally in finding a partner for their eldest daughter. Beatrix socialising with 'enthusiastic and idealistic young people with all sorts of progessive plans and with quastionable backgrounds and long hair' did not help and Beatrix needed to get in touch with foreigners of equal standing (he used the German 'ebenbürtig'). Note that the group included Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst, Laurentien's father. In the mean time he talked to cardinal Alfrink how the Vatican would regard a catholic marriage where the children would be raised as protestants - in case that like her sister, Beatrix would meet a catholic Prince.

Again, this is intriguing, especially as to how the foreign minister and the prince consort were close enough for the foreign minister to venture such personal criticisms. Rather funny that Laurentien’s father (who you mentioned is now seen as posher than posh) was perceived by Luns as one of the hippies.


Luns advised Bernhard to make a list of candidates between 28 and 37, starting in the UK. He suggested via ambassador Van Rooijen -also well known at the court) to approach the private secretary of Queen Elizabeth II. The prince agreed, Van Rooijen started working and early 1965 several dinners were organised. This was not a success, Beatrix though the English were 'too aloof and cold'. At a dinner in Germany she would later meet Claus, who was invited to make up numbers, and who was not supposed to be the one that would actually be chosen over more high ranking candidates [including Prince Richard of Berleburg]. Beatrix herself said that she had met Claus already before this dinner party [at another one] and was already in love with him.

Note that in her Beatrix biography Jutta Chorus says that Juliana advised her daughter in 1962 already to look for a partner ´in Anglo-Saxon circles´, so the Luns biography may have some dates wrong. Huub Oosterhuis [family friend] said: 'she didn't like that at all, those cold English, that distant and closed British aristocracy. She thought Germans were warmer, more European and closerby' [I assume he meant mental proximity]. Although Margriet is not referred to in the book, Chorus points out that Beatrix was simply madly in love, which perhaps made her overlook some objections she may have had earlier for her sister.

Whether it was 1962 or 1965, it seems Luns preferred Beatrix to marry an older man.

Interesting indeed, that as late as the 1960s, European royal courts and governments still cooperated with one another in old-fashioned marriage-making.

I wonder why Foreign Minister Luns and Queen Juliana preferred a British consort. Naturally a break with the historical pattern of German consorts would have been w after World War Two, but why British in particular?

Given the anti-German antipathy at the time, I would have thought Prince Richard zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg would have also been crossed off the list of potential matches. Especially as he owned a huge estate in Germany which he could not legally divest himself of.


Luns was also against Claus: low nobility and -faulty- enquiries told him that Claus was 'a typical snob, arrogant, vain and chasing women'. Supposedly he had had a relationship 'with the much older and mundaine comtesse de Riberg and at the moment with a secretary of the Swedish embassy'. Luns realised his point-of-view was not modern but he maintained that for the Dutch population 'any prince would be better than the best count. And any count would be better than the best baron etc'. He was very irritated that the ministers had 'weak backbones' and bowed to the 'not very dynastic preferences of Queen Juliana'. Supposedly Beatrix loathed Luns for the rest of his life, he was never made a minister of State, while he would have been the most obvious candidate for such a position.

I hope it’s not true that Queen Beatrix blocked a political appointment over a personal grudge, but I suppose we’ll never know for sure.
 
This indeed applies to the 'heir to the throne' (by at least queen Beatrix); as evidenced by Pieter van Vollenhoven's entrance into the royal family and the brides of all other princes in the next generation; a 'Dutch commoner' was considered acceptable. However, queen Beatrix wanted to ensure some 'distance' between the future queen and the 'general Dutch public'.

Interesting, as Máxima being Argentine did ensure more “distance” compared to the Dutch commoner brides of the other princes, despite the other problems it caused.
I wonder if that was why Queen Beatrix allegedly opposed Willem-Alexander marrying Emily Bremers.

[Claus] being a minor noble was probably a concern for some but not for others; him being a German on the other hand was a prominent issue and problem for the large majority of the population.

The “minor” part or the “noble” part?

For context: Pieter van Vollenhoven was from a non-noble background but the 'Van Vollenhoven'-family was considered part of the Dutch patriciate. The website dedicated to the Patriciate describes this group as "In the Netherlands' Patriciate, better known as the 'Blue Book', genealogies are included of families that have played a prominent role in Dutch society over the past 150 years (or longer) and whose members are still in the foreground."

Also in the next generation, several princes married non-noble brides from prominent families, for example Laurentien Brinkhorst (her father was among other things a prominent member of the Dutch political party D'66, multiple-times Minister and once vice-prime minister), Marilène van den Broek (her father was Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Commissioner and was until his recent death a Minister of State* - the family can also be found in the 'Blue Book') and Annemarie Gualtherie van Weezel (her father had several positions in Dutch politics and diplomacy); but her grandparents on both sides also were prominent members of society).

* Minister of State is an honorary title awarded to few former politicians for their services to public service.

Thank you for the information. It really seems that the commoners who have married into the Royal House and Family are much more elite, and politically connected, even in comparison to the commoners who have married into other European royal families (who still largely come from wealthy families and/or celebrity circles).

No, the reason she is styled by her own name, is that Annette's parents are divorced (their divorce took place before her marriage with Bernhard).

If you like to dive into her family background: this 'kwartierstaat' was published at the time of their marriage.

Good article. Thank you for the informative links and posts. :flowers:
 
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