Queen Wilhelmina (1880-1962)

[Helena]

One of the most extraordinairy dutch women ever is Queen Wilhelmina, grand mother of Queen Beatrix......in 1888, after the death of her father, half-brothers and uncles the hope of the dutch nation rested on this 8 yo queen...after 58 years she abdicated in 1948, and was populairy known as 'mother of the fatherland' (The famous William the Silent -who was her example- was called Father of the fatherland...so a very special name!) I shall post some pics of her life, I try to do that in chronological order & I hope that you are also interested in this very special lady (and not ponly in the red suits of Maxima ;-) ...I shall not name the sources of theese pictures as I performed a search in google..and later in Corbis & I could not save the captions...so here we go...the first one, Wilhelmina (or 'Wimpie'as her parents affectionately called her, with a pony

 

[Helena]

.as a girl, with hair down

 

[Helena]

in 1888, in mourning for her fatehr King Willem III with her mother, Queen/ regentes Emma,

 

[Helena]

on a horse

 

[Helena]

1897

 

[Helena]

the year of her inhauguration, 1898

 

[Helena]

this painting is exhibited at her favorite palace, now museam 'het loo' ...favorite retreat of stadfholder/king Willem III and Queen Mary II

 

[Helena]

a very romantic picture...engaged with Duke Hendrik of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

 

[Helena]

wedding ceremony in 1901

 

[Helena]

queen wilhelmina in the first decade of the 20th century

 

[Helena]

with her pride and joy...Juliana (Jula) and her husband

 

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with Juliana...during WWI

 

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another official portrait

 

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official visit to Groningen

 

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first radio broadcast to the dutch east indies

 

[Helena]

a young wilhelmina and the other one...with her daughter Juliana (the original painting also shows her mother Emma

 

[Helena]

her daughter marriews prince bernhard zu lippe-biesterfeld

 

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a pre-wedding concert...german relatives with a nazzi-salute...Wilhelmina and Juliana are looking horrified

 

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1938...40 years on the throne...she already had thoughts about abdicating but her ministers persuaded to postpone this due to the destabilized situation in europe

 

[Helena]

book cover..wilhelmina in war-time

 

[Helena]

a picture of wilhelmina in england..

 

[hrhcp]

I enjoy your presentation, Helena.
History has a way of coming alive with me, when I see pcitures.

Helena  Posted: Nov 6th, 2003 - 4:37 pm

her daughter marriews prince bernhard zu lippe-biesterfeld

Who is the other lady in this picture ?
Where is Wilhelmina's husband ? Prince Henrik ?

Also, was Juliana the only child ?

 

[Helena]

wilhelmina holds a speech in war time...her ministers often tried to persauade her not to use such strong words...but Wilhelmina did not listen and told the dutch nation all about the 'moffen'....she helped the moral of the dutch and became the symbol of resistance (and she was also called mother of the resistance-movement or mother of the fatherland during these years)

 

[Helena]

Who is the other lady in this picture ?
Where is Wilhelmina's husband ?

her husband (and her mother) died in 1933.....the other lady is bernhards mother...Princess Armgard (who went under the nickname 'Tolle Lola' as she was a party girl to put it nicely.....two total different personalities

 

[Helena]

in the US..during the war..she cared less and less for clothes (she did not care much for ythem before the war either...untill her marriagae for example Juliana was forbidden to wear make up...when she had to appear on television and somebody asked the princess if she would use some make-up,m the queen replied sharply: 'the princess will appear as God and I have made her!') ..the queen wears a daisy....symbol of the resistance..and her grand daughter was named after this flower (Margriet)

 

[Helena]

an emotional moment...a frail Wilhelmina crosses the dutch/ belgian border in 1944.....with tears in her eyes..and in the eyes of most of the on-lookers as well...

 

[Helena]

in the US with the 'Roosevelts'..Wilhelmina was the first foreign head of state to speak to the parlaiment.....and FDR insisted that he should stand up, out of his wheelchair for 'his' queen

 

[Helena]

after the qqueen returned she refused to live in her palaces, because the germans had lived there as well, she renamed the japanese porcelain the chinese porcelain, she broke of contact with many german relations etc etc...and she wanted to break out of the 'golden cage'....so we see her on a bike......her ministers could persuade her that the people did not wwant her to live in a mere villa...so after a few months she returned to the palaces...

 

[Helena]

the queen abdicated in 1948.......the pictures I tried to post about this (and many others....were with an error , so I could not post them :-( ...here a nice painting of an old Wilhelmina

 

[Helena]

her funeral, in white