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

[An Ard Ri]

Here's a video from a Dutch Royal Christmas in 1954 ,Queen Juliana also reads 2 excerpts from the Gospel of St Luke.

 

[eejm]

I’ve always thought Juliana and Bernhard discovered early on that they worked great as friends but not so much as a couple. I never bought the line that Juliana was deeply in love with him and that Bernhard did not return the favor. I think it was something they both knew and accepted. Even in later years, long after they stopped being a romantic couple, there are photos (candid and professional) in which one is making the other laugh. I think they genuinely enjoyed each other’s company and their four daughters and had a deep friendship.

 

[Marengo]

There was a crisis in the marriage due to his infidelities. Just after the war, when he wanted to bring his mistress on the family ski vacation. Followed by the power struggle at court and with the faith healer Greet Hofmans, when Juliana wanted to divorce him.

They lived in seperate wings of the palace. I am not sure how much of each other they actually saw. His personal assistant Mrs. Cocky Gilles was his confidante. She lived in a bungalow of the Vogelhof estate, next to Soestdijk palace. Margaritha said they had to call her ´aunt´. Bernhard himself denied having had a romantic relationship with her, but he was a pathological liar of course.

The silver wedding was certainly for show. It came not so many years after the Hofmans crisis. And it was to show the public and the world that all was well in the marriage.

 

[eejm]

There was a crisis in the marriage due to his infidelities. Just after the war, when he wanted to bring his mistress on the family ski vacation. Followed by the power struggle at court and with the faith healer Greet Hofmans, when Juliana wanted to divorce him.

They lived in seperate wings of the palace. I am not sure how much of each other they actually saw. His personal assistant Mrs. Cocky Gilles was his confidante. She lived in a bungalow of the Vogelhof estate, next to Soestdijk palace. Margaritha said they had to call her ´aunt´. Bernhard himself denied having had a romantic relationship with her, but he was a pathological liar of course.

The silver wedding was certainly for show. It came not so many years afetr the Hofmans crisis. And it was to show the public and the world that all was well in the marriage.

I know about the Greet Hofmann affair and Bernhard’s infidelities as well that Juliana wanted to divorce Bernhard at least twice. It’s clear the two were not happy as a couple, they knew it. But despite being informally separated, they seemed quite warm toward each other in photos in later years. That’s what makes me think that after they separated they maintained a good friendship. I know Bernhard was a smooth talker (to put it politely), but neither seemed like they were faking a good time, even if they were faking a happy marriage.

 

[Marengo]

She became friendly and understanding towards him. She indulged him, as was basically ordered by the comission Beel. And as did the governments of the day. He repaid that freedom and trust by taking bribes to finance one of his extramarital children. He was a philanderer, a profiteer and a pathalogical liar, but a charming one.

The 2025 book on Hofmans by Han van Bree claims that the image of Hofmans as Rasputin was mainly painted by Bernhard. And it was done because Hofmans made Juliana more confident -something he should have done- and even influenced Wilhelmina in a way that it threatened his position.

Juliana protected him. But was that out of love? Or to protect the monarchy? Not much is written about their marriage after the crisis. But when the archives open I am sure we will get to know more. Note that Juliana's hobby was acting. She may have been a great actress.

 

[Prinsara]

I still think she should have thrown him out for her own well-being. Why she didn’t, if we ever get a clearer answer, other than it’s hard to get free from someone like that, will be interesting. But I didn’t know she liked acting.

I do love her Stuart pile of diamonds on her head. It suits her so well!

 

[Marengo]

Juliana always loved acting and there was an amateur theatre group at Soestdijk. She even had a play written for that group in 1958, by Annie M.G. Schmidt, a very famous author at the time and perhaps the most popular woman of the country after Juliana herself.

Schmidt wrote the comedy 'Vrouwen om Dr. Deninga' [Women around Dr.Deninga]. About man who commited adultery which led to a range of lies and misunderstandings. Juliana and friends played his wife, mistress, secretary, mother and a family friend.

 

[eejm]

Juliana always loved acting and there was an amateur theatre group at Soestdijk. She even had a play written for that group in 1958, by Annie M.G. Schmidt, a very famous author at the time and perhaps the most popular woman of the country after Juliana herself.

Schmidt wrote 'Vrouwen om Dr. Deninga' [Women around Dr.Deninga]. About man who commited adultery which led to a range of lies and misunderstandings. Juliana and friends played his wife, mistress, secretary, mother and a family friend.

Art imitating life!

 

[Marengo]

I have been going through the Juliana biography of Jolande Withuis. I have no time to read all right now, but about the later years there is a paragraph on pages 734-736 which deals with their marriage in these years and which shows how toxic Bernhard was.

Withuis says that between 1987 and 1997 Juliana's memory slowly declined. Bernhard could not handle that. When she would ask him something twice he would react rudely or impatiently, after which she started crying. In the late 80-ties she did a test for dementia in Utrecht. She passed the test easily, which she saw as a great triumph.

In the early nineties they still had lunch together once in a while, usually with companions at the table to ease the tensions at the table. Welmet Hudig-Semeijns de Vries van Doesburgh, a vicar who later led the funeral of Juliana remembers: "Bernhard could be very charming. But towards Juliana he was disrespectful. Not that there were scenes. His efforts to undermine her were more subtle. Simmering, icy but crippling. He was insulting and disparaging and fed her feeling of inferiority. [...] he sucked you into his camp. When she made an error or forgot something he would look of you with a gaze that said: see how forgetful she is? As if he was collecting evidence against her."

A lackey who worked at Soestdijk in these years told Withuis: She was treated badly by Bernhard and was not a happy human being. The things she accepted from him!

A friend, Dineke Kohnstamm, thought the atmosphere at the palace was unbearable and refused to come at a certain point. Juliana and her would continue to meet in the house of a mutual friend in Wassenaar.

Journalist Rob Knijff remembers a ceremony for the order of the Golden Ark in 1994. It was an order founded by Bernhard. After he handed over the insignia, Juliana tried to rearrange the sash of somebody, with the words 'this is something we women are better at than you men'. Bernhard got irritated for Juliana's interference and said in front of twenty people: 'Now you have to stop this, otherwise you will go to the other room'.

The nursing staff was not ideal either. Apparently it was a snake pit and power struggle as they were all thinking about strategies to spend as much time with her as possible. Th prince played his part too, he had his favourites and people he disliked and sent away. A yoga-friend of his wife, who massaged Juliana's feet which Juliana greatly enjoyed, was sent away f.e.

And all the time Cocky Gilles was with Bernhard most of the day. Juliana described her as 'his slave' or 'his dog'.

Withuis says that Bernhard still was her great love. Her room was filled with photos of him. And sometimes she fell asleep with his photo against her chest.

Page 737 says: The last years were very heavy. Juliana received care constantly. There were seldom any visitors. She almost didn't recognise anyone, she was uninhibited, her anger was given free reign. bernhard didn't want to see her anymore and he forbade her to visit him. She didn't listen to that. The vicar Welmet Hudig-Semeijns de Vries van Doesburgh, came to have lunch with her one time, when Juliana already did not recognise her. After lunch she walked with Juliana, to bring her to her room. They passed the 'games room' where Bernhard had his lunch. Juliana wanted to knock on her husband's door. Hudig warned her: 'I wouldn't do that'. Juliana, naughty, did. Bernhard's reaction was angry. Via his telephoniste he sent Hudig a recorded message: Hudig would not be welcome in the palace anymore if she would overstep the house rules another time. During the funeral survice Hudig did not mention condolances to Bernhard.

-
On p. 197 it seems that bernhards nasty streak started early. During their honeymoon they were spotted in a casino in Monte Carlo. A Dutch visiter who happened to be there noted: Bernhard is angry when he loses, because he has no talent for it. At the Grande Table Juliana approached him, be he is most disagreable [alleronhebbelijkst] to her à la barbe du public [in front of the public]. She is terribly affectionate to him and returns every time, later at a rulette table, and she brushes his suit. But he doesn't notice her and only talks to other women [...]. He may be a prince, but a gentleman he is not. Everybody here knows them, and looks at him.

Note that at the time gambling was forbidden by law in the Netherlands. When this was mentioned to Juliana she said that her husband knew what was best for her. She claimed to like his mundaine friends. But Withuis states that they did not help the inexperienced princess to stylishly free herself from protocol, but they strengthened a lack of restraint, something she had troubles with already. Bernhard found this repulsive [I am not sure if this is a reference to alcohol use, but it could be].

Bernhard tried to change her to be more to his own liking. During the honeymoon they visited Paris for new clothing. Bernhards 'aunt' Alene Tew, had sent for an American dietist; Juliana lost 12 kilos. Pss Armgard had convinved Juliana to remove a few pimples on her chin, something Wilhelmina had always opposed due to the danger of infections. When Juliana returned from her long honeymoon Wilhelmina supposedly did not recognise her at first.

Two weeks after Beatrix was born Bernhard went abroad. Oficially to recover from a car accident he suffered a few weeks earlier. But an American newspaper published a photo of the Prince in Cannes, with in his arm another woman.

Note that Withuis also refers to Juliana's theatrical behavior and her mood swings.

 

[An Ard Ri]

I've never heard of a Copper Jubilee before but it seems the Queen celebrated her Copper (12.5 years) Jubilee in March 1960!
Queen Juliana’s Copper Jubilee, 1960