IKANED

This ancient Germanic royal family lineage can be traced back to the 13th century.

Its most significant member, as far as the history of the Netherlands is concerned, was William the Silent, the Prince of Orange, who rose to political power at the end of the 16th century with the object of removing the Spanish occupiers. His efforts led to the establishment of an independent Dutch State after the Eighty Years War (1568-1648).

Beatrix has survived and has managed to keep the monarchy popular ... despite a host of political and personal issues

Recent past—abdication of Juliana for Beatrix

Queen Juliana was a very popular monarch who tended to shy away from the special privileges normally reserved for royalty. She rode around on a bicycle and frequently stopped to talk to the ‘ordinary’ people. She worked tirelessly for the Dutch Red Cross and assisted in the organisation of relief after WW2. Then, after the great storm and floods of 1953, she physically helped bring food and clothing to her stricken subjects. This permanently etched her place in the hearts of the Dutch.

Juliana, mother of the present monarch, Beatrix, had married a German (Prince Bernhard) which caused many eyebrows to be raised at the time as he had been a member of the Nazi party before WW2. However, he became a hero figure to the Dutch for his work as a fighter pilot during the war itself and led Juliana and their children to exile in England, from where they went on to spend the war in Canada. Bernhard then joined the RAF, later also helping to organise the Dutch Resistance movement.

Despite all this, sinister questions surround to this day his alleged part in the elimination of Resistance members with a communist allegiance immediately after the cessation of hostilities. His maverick lifestyle thereafter also would lead to further embarrassments, such as a reputation for womanising and resultant illegitimate daughters who later publicly made claim to part of his inheritance. Another low point was the Lockheed scandal in the late 1970’s when he pocketed a million-dollar bribe for ensuring that the Dutch government would choose Lockheed planes for their military needs. Perhaps this contributed to Juliana’s decision, at the age of 71, to abdicate in favour of her eldest daughter Beatrix (although abdications are not unusual in Dutch successions).

Queen Beatrix—the current monarch

Queen Beatrix was enthroned in 1980 after the abdication. Beatrix has survived and has managed to keep the monarchy popular with her subjects despite a host of political and personal issues. In the 1960’s, The German occupation of Holland during WW2 was still fresh in the Dutch consciousness and her German father Prince Bernhard had acquired a reputation for recklessness; perhaps unsurprisingly, there was a general anti-German sentiment in Holland. Despite all this, Beatrix chose in 1966 to marry a German diplomat, Claus van Amsberg, who had once been a member of the Hitler Youth and the Wehrmacht. The union was seen as an insult to the Dutch by those who had survived the horrific German occupation during WW2. A specially formed government committee eventually declared that the marriage could go ahead and Claus, despite poor mental and physical health, later became well loved by the Dutch. He died in 2002.

Mother of three children (Willem-Alexander b.1967, Johan-Friso b.1968 and Constantijn b.1969), Beatrix has been a professional monarch with a friendly image, doing her stately duties with gravitas but never missing out on the chance of a friendly talk with bystanders during walkabouts. She has been a ‘safe pair of hands’ for the monarchy during her reign.