Mecklenburg-Schwerin

I'm here

I must say I'm really amazed, you are so interested in Dutch royals .As a matter of fact I'm not so into the Oranges, elsewhere the grass is always greener. Although this is a very interesting question and I could learn from this subject too.

I'm glad to be of any help, of course. As it's already very late I'll keep this one short and come back later on this subject -have to do some research also.

What I know and remember that Prince Henry/Hendrik must have been a lonely man, totally overwelmed by his strong wife Wilhemina. Yes she's our all time Queen, adored by the Dutch then and now. I don't have the impression our people dislike Prince Hendrik nowadays, he seemed to be forgotten, I never saw any articles about him. Still, Wilhelmina is very much alive  in the hearts of older people who can remember her. Come to think of it, she's always mentioned alone or with her daughter Juliana as if the Prince never existed.

I'll certainly wil come back on this.

Anna

Thanks Anna! It would be very interesting to hear more from you about your royal family's history & your view of them all  

(And thanks for staying up to answer...you should be in bed if you're going to work tomorrow & not on holiday as we are   )

Isn't it unusual for there to be three Queens (& daughters of their predecessor) succeeding each other: Wilhelmina, Juliana & Beatrix.
I do not imagine there has ever been a similar situation anywhere in Europe??

I can't think of any in recent memory at least. Wilhelmina was actually the first Queen of the Netherlands and until Beatrix's son succeeds to the throne, they have been ruled by Queens ever since. You could even think of it as 4 Queens since Wilhelmina's mother Emma served as regent for over a decade until QW was of age.

And all in all, in the last century Holland has been a peaceful country, has it not...is that significant?  

You can almost speak of girl-power.

We Dutch are curious what Prince Willem-Alexander's approach will be after taking over from his mother. I'm sure it will be totally different, as we have also a Queen on his side-"Maxima". She's totally accepted and loved by everyone of us. So their start as King and Queen will be a good one.
But then again after King Willem-Alexander ( I don't know if he's gonna change his name)  it's back to Queens again-"Queen Amalia" the child doesn't even know
Although Princess Maxima is expecting her second child and might this be a boy, Princess Amalia is going to rule.
And I'm sure by that time we still have a monarchy in Holland. Maybe different but still.

Anna

Anna, I know virtually nothing about the Dutch Royal Family.  
Does Willem Alexander have brothers & sisters &, if so, do they also live very regally or is the family 'narrowed down'?
Do you have much pageantry (as in Britain's 'Trooping of the Colour' & changing of the Guard)? And is the Queen accessible to the people?
Do the children attend ordinary schools? Do you SEE them just out and about?
Sorry for so many questions; I'm just trying to picture it  
You see you write fondly of your RF as Kmerov writes of the Danish RF....is it only Britain that has gone wrong  :-/  And since we obviously have I think we should look at the models of our European neighbours.

I'll start with the family of our present Queen Beatrix:

Queen Beatrix- jan 31st 1938 - married: march 10th 1966, Claus von Amsberg-:sept 6th 1926/ oct 6th 2002 .

Three sons:
Heir Prince Willem-Alexander -apr 27th 1967
married:Maxima Zorrequieta-may 17th 1971 (Buenos Aires-Argentina)-common.
One daughter-heiress Princess Amalia ( Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria ) - dec 7th 2003
Second child on its way.

Second son:
Prince Friso-sept 25th 1968 - married: Mabel Wisse Smit-aug 11th 1968- common.
One daughter: March 26th 2005 London, only five days old, Luana ( Emma Luana Ninette Sophie ), Dutchess of Orange-Nassau, Lady of Amsberg.

Note:Because of difficulties with Mabel's past, Prince Friso is no longer an official member of the royal family. He renouced his rights as third- after Amalia-  in line.
The couple lives and works in London.

Third son:
Prince Constantijn- oct 11th 1969 - married: Petra Laurentien Brinkhorst-known as Laurentien - may 25th 1966
Two children: Daughter Eloise (Eloise Sophie Beatrix Laurence ) Countess of Orange-Nassau, Lady of Amsberg) -june 8th 2002
Son: Claus-Casimir (Claus-Casimir Bernhard Marius Max ) Count of Orange-Nassau Esquire of  Amsberg)- march 21th 2004
The couple works and lives in Brussels Belgium.

The last two sons and their wives have normal (well better than I )jobs in London and Brussels.
When the Princes were little they went to ordinary schools and later universities.

We don't know such things as "Colouring the troops" We have no troops like that Tho we have one special day, QUEENS DAY and its a real traditon on april 30th every year. The whole nation is having a day off to celebrate the queens birhtday.
It all began with the birthday of the late Queen Juliana-on april 30th. She invited all people on Soestdijk Palace. The whole royal family watched the procession from the steps- the little princes helped with collecting the flowers and presents. Later the family mingled amongst the people to talk and watched children perform or sing songs.No crush-barries were used or people held away from the queen.
As in honour of her mother Juliana, we still celebrate Queens Beatríx's birthday ( 31th jan) on april 30th. Now the family choose a particular town to visit and mingle with all the people. You can see Maxima take part in some dance group, we saw the late Prince Claus riding a bike and inviting a young girl to jump up behind. It also happens someone spontaniously kissed the Queen.
All this is possible.

As for the children of the Queens sisters- some live abroad. But the children of her second sister Princess Margriet have normal jobs-live in normal streets like Amsterdam and their children goes to public schools.

More to come but I'm tired

Here's a link if you want to see photos as I cannot post them. It's available in English
http://www.koninklijkhuis.nl/welkom.html

Goodnight,

Anna









                 

Oh, thank you anna...that's really kind of you to write it all. I need to read it properly & will do & then probably ask more questions...THANK YOU   Good night!

the Dutch have had their share of marital controversies. When Juliana (the only heir to the throne) married it was marred by her husband Bernard's relatives, many of whom were ardent Nazi supporters. There's a photo in Royalty Between the Wars of a pre-wedding celebration where many are giving the Nazi salute. I believe many were prohibited from coming. It must've made for an uncomfortable position for her consort during WW2.

Then their eldest daughter, Beatrix (the current Queen) also married a German. He was involved in some monetary scandals in the 1960s. He and Bearix seemed very happy though and he was greatly mourned when he died just a few months ago.

Maxima (who according to other messages boards is VERY popular) was a rather controversial choice because her father is considered by some to be an egregious human rights violater because of his role in the Argentinian government. I think he was banned from the wedding. Maxima isn't held to blame for this at all but it did cause some hand-wringing at the time.

Mabel's past included a connection with drug dealing or the mob, doesn't it? THAT kept the Dutch Royals message boards hopping. Things seemed to have settled down and they recently had their first child, a girl named Emma Luana Ninette Sophie (apparently to be called Luana).

There have been other controversies I think with lesser members of the family.

Despite this, the Dutch monarchy seems stable and popular and able to weather their marital storms.

The last two sons and their wives have normal (well better than I )jobs in London and Brussels.
When the Princes were little they went to ordinary schools and later universities.

As for the children of the Queens sisters- some live abroad. But the children of her second sister Princess Margriet have normal jobs-live in normal streets like Amsterdam and their children goes to public schools.                 

This seems such a good idea. People must appreciate that beyond the immediate RF there is little needto maintain the others when they are capable of fending for themselves. Also, by involving themselves with ordinary people, your RF surely have a better understanding of their 'subjects.'

We don't know such things as "Colouring the troops"      

I'm sorry it just sounded funny - as though the Queen sits with a crayon colouring in toy soldiers!!  
(In England 'Trooping the Colour' involves carrying a regimental banner ('the colour') in front of the regiment (I think?) The Queen does it on horseback (or at least she used to until recent years.)

Tho we have one special day, QUEENS DAY and its a real traditon on april 30th every year. The whole nation is having a day off to celebrate the queens birhtday.
It all began with the birthday of the late Queen Juliana-on april 30th. She invited all people on Soestdijk Palace. The whole royal family watched the procession from the steps- the little princes helped with collecting the flowers and presents. Later the family mingled amongst the people to talk and watched children perform or sing songs.No crush-barries were used or people held away from the queen.
As in honour of her mother Juliana, we still celebrate Queens Beatríx's birthday ( 31th jan) on april 30th. Now the family choose a particular town to visit and mingle with all the people. You can see Maxima take part in some dance group, we saw the late Prince Claus riding a bike and inviting a young girl to jump up behind. It also happens someone spontaniously kissed the Queen.
All this is possible.                

This is really excellent, isn't it. It is little wonder the Queen is viewed so affectionately by the people if she is so accessible to them.
Thank you for posting this Anna!  

Thank you for the further information, grandduchessella. They certain do seem to have their share of scandals then. But perhaps because (as Anna's post shows) they behave more humanly the people are more willing to accept their human frailty. If a monarchy sets itself up as some how superior to the rest of humanity, I suppose it can only except ridicule & criticism when the human weaknesses before so very apparent.

(Well, come the revolution, I shall have to choose between Denmark & Holland.   )

Does anybody have pictures/portraits of Prince Heinrich's parents?

One daughter-heiress Princess Amalia ( Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria ) - dec 7th 2003
Second child on its way.              

future Queen of the Netherlands. Very cute.  

the Dutch have had their share of marital controversies. When Juliana (the only heir to the throne) married it was marred by her husband Bernard's relatives, many of whom were ardent Nazi supporters. There's a photo in Royalty Between the Wars of a pre-wedding celebration where many are giving the Nazi salute. I believe many were prohibited from coming. It must've made for an uncomfortable position for her consort during WW2..

Don't forget the "Greet Hofmans affaire" She was a faith healer who had great influence over Juliana, due to the Eye-ilness of the little Princess Marijke ( now know as Pr.Christina). Mrs. Hofman became an important advicer to Juliana. It is said pacifist ideas of Juliana were encouraged by Mrs. Hofman. She was held responsable
Juliana and Bernhard nearly divorced. The story goes Berhard wanted to put his wife away in some institution.
The papers wrote about "The Queen and Rasputin".

Then their eldest daughter, Beatrix (the current Queen) also married a German. He was involved in some monetary scandals in the 1960s. He and Bearix seemed very happy though and he was greatly mourned when he died just a few months ago...

Claus von Amsberg a German diplomat had indeed a hard time becoming engaged to Beatrix. - All young men who wished to enter university just after the war had to be cleared by a denazification court established by the Allies, and Prince Claus was no exception. Like most secondary school pupils he was automatically a member of the Nazi youth organisations Jungvolk and Hitlerjugend. He was fully cleared by the court.-
The public opinion was "not a German again" WWII wasn't forgotten, the people protested. But through his blissful marriage, his devotion to the Netherlands being a hard worker, made him through the years one of the most respected and loved member of the RF.

Maxima (who according to other messages boards is VERY popular) was a rather controversial choice because her father is considered by some to be an egregious human rights violater because of his role in the Argentinian government. I think he was banned from the wedding. Maxima isn't held to blame for this at all but it did cause some hand-wringing at the time...

The Dutch had different opionions on this matter, a daughter shouldn't be held to blame what her father did, others said she must have known and make a statement, which she did.

Mabel's past included a connection with drug dealing or the mob, doesn't it? THAT kept the Dutch Royals message boards hopping. Things seemed to have settled down and they recently had their first child, a girl named Emma Luana Ninette Sophie (apparently to be called Luana)...

Yes, "Mabelgate" kept us Dutch hopping She had contacts and a supposed love affaire with a so called Drugsbaron, which she denied. Also Prince Friso being gay caused a lot of rumors in our little country, well they all survived.

There have been other controversies I think with lesser members of the family...

Yes, there have been a few and caused  great commotion. Also after Prince Bernhards death, about his two illegemate daughters in the USA and France.

Despite this, the Dutch monarchy seems stable and popular and able to weather their marital storms.

We have had sly foxes in our RF, I guess the Dutch think "Live and let Live".

Anna