November 1890,10 year young Wilhelmina,Queen,she is in mourning since her father just died.
The most horrendous experience for the young girl.Not only because she lost her father,but
because tüchtige mommy Queen Emma,made her sit next to the corps of her father.The sight
of the dead body traumatised the young Queen for quite a time.On the very same day Emma
had all of the young Queens dolls removed from the playroom;"You are a grown-up now.a Queen"
and Queens don't play with dolls.That really had Wilhelmina in dispair as she was so used to
talking to her dolls,and telling all,by lack of children her own age to play with besides the few
that were painstakingly selected to come to the Palace every now and then,but,they had to
address the young Queen with "Majesty".Imagine,what fun....She had a most horrendous education,
Poor dear Mr.Gediking,her teacher was dismissed by her mother as she was Queen now and needed
her education to speed up,with her mother sitting behind her and commenting on all.We would have
her stashed away early in a mental institution these days,but Emma was really a tough cooky
on her only child.Maybe also forced by what she had witnessed while the King was still alive.
The Monarchy had become so invisible & unpopular that first thing Emma did was to take Wilhelmina
along all over the country on official visits,goodwill tours.That worked in favour of the Monarchy indeed
as people could relate to the members of the Royal House,there only were two of them,a situation that
repeated itself again in 1934 as both Emma and Hendrik died and left Wilhelmina and Juliana.
Un-imagineable these days with the huge Family it is today,48 of the extended family in total.
If only poor Wilhelmina had had a quarter of that amount around,her life would have been so
much more pleasant.
