Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld Marriage and children Was he married? they were married at The Hague on 7 January 1937. Who was he married to? Princess Juliana Did they have any children? Prince Bernhard was father of six children, Did either him or Juliana have children outside of the marriage? He had two illegitimate daughters. Where they conceived before his marriage to Princess Juliana? The first is Alicia von Bielefeld (born 21 June 1952), Who was the second daughter? Prince Bernhard's sixth daughter, Alexia Grinda (a.k.a. Alexia Lejeune or Alexia Grinda-Lejeune, born in Paris on 10 July 1967 Who was her mother? Alexia Grinda-Lejeune, born in Paris on 10 July 1967), is his child by the French socialite and fashion model Helene Grinda. Was he involved with the two illegitimate daughters? I don't know. Are there any other interesting aspects about this article? Juliana's mother, Queen Wilhelmina, had spent most of the 1930s looking for a suitable husband for Juliana.
Was Juliana's mother pleased with Bernhard?
Was Juliana's mother pleased with Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld?
Bernhard met then-Princess Juliana at the 1936 Winter Olympics at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Juliana's mother, Queen Wilhelmina, had spent most of the 1930s looking for a suitable husband for Juliana. As a Protestant of royal rank (the Lippe-Biesterfelds were a sovereign house in the German Empire), Bernhard was acceptable for the devoutly religious Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina left nothing to chance, and had her lawyers draft a very detailed prenuptial agreement that specified exactly what Bernhard could and could not do. The couple's engagement was announced on 8 September 1936, and they were married at The Hague on 7 January 1937. Earlier, Bernhard had been granted Dutch citizenship, and changed the spelling of his names from German to Dutch. Previously styled as Serene Highness, he became a Royal Highness by Dutch Law. His appropriateness as consort of the future Queen would later become a matter of some public debate.  Prince Bernhard was father of six children, four of them with Queen Juliana. The eldest daughter is Princess Beatrix, former Queen of the Netherlands, (1938). His other daughters with Juliana are Irene (1939), Margriet (1943) and Christina (1947).  He had two illegitimate daughters. The first is Alicia von Bielefeld (born 21 June 1952), whose mother has not been identified. She is a landscape architect and lives in the United States. Prince Bernhard's sixth daughter, Alexia Grinda (a.k.a. Alexia Lejeune or Alexia Grinda-Lejeune, born in Paris on 10 July 1967), is his child by the French socialite and fashion model Helene Grinda. Although rumours about these two children had already spread, it was made official after his death. In December 2008, Dutch historian Cees Fasseur claimed that former British Conservative Cabinet Minister Jonathan Aitken was the result of a wartime affair between Prince Bernhard and Aitken's mother, previously Penelope Maffey. CANNOTANSWER
Bernhard was acceptable for the devoutly religious Wilhelmina.
Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (later Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, ; 29 June 1911 – 1 December 2004) was a German-born nobleman who was the consort to Queen Juliana of the Netherlands; they were the parents of four children, including Beatrix, who was Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 to 2013.

He belonged to the princely House of Lippe and was a nephew of the Principality of Lippe's last sovereign Leopold IV. From birth he held the title Count of Biesterfeld; his uncle raised him to princely rank with the style of Serene Highness in 1916. He studied law and worked as an executive secretary at the Paris office of IG Farben. In 1937 he married Princess Juliana of the Netherlands and was immediately given the title Prince of the Netherlands with the style of Royal Highness. Upon his wife's accession to the throne in 1948, he became the prince consort of the Netherlands.

Although his private life was rather controversial, Prince Bernhard was still generally regarded as a popular figure by the majority of the Dutch for his performance as a combat pilot and his activities as a liaison officer and personal aide to Queen Wilhelmina during World War II, and for his work during post-war reconstruction. During World War II, he was part of the London-based Allied war planning councils. He saw active service as a Wing Commander (RAF), flying both fighter and bomber planes into combat. He was a Dutch general and Supreme Commander of the Dutch Armed forces, involved in negotiating the terms of surrender of the German Army in the Netherlands. For proven bravery, leadership and loyalty during his wartime efforts, he was appointed a Commander of the Military William Order, the Netherlands' oldest and highest honour. After the war he was made Honorary Air Marshal of the Royal Air Force by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. In 1969, Bernhard was awarded the Grand Cross (Special Class) of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Bernhard helped found the World Wildlife Fund (later renamed World Wide Fund for Nature), becoming its first president in 1961. In 1970, along with Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and other associates, he established the WWF's financial endowment "The 1001: A Nature Trust". In 1954, he was a co-founder of the international Bilderberg Group, which has met annually since then to discuss corporate globalisation and other issues concerning Europe and North America. He was forced to step down from both groups after being involved in the Lockheed Bribery Scandal in 1976.

Early life 
Bernhard was born Bernhard Leopold Friedrich Eberhard Julius Kurt Karl Gottfried Peter, Count of Biesterfeld in Jena, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, German Empire on 29 June 1911, the elder son of Prince Bernhard of Lippe and his wife, Baroness Armgard von Sierstorpff-Cramm. He was a grandson of Ernest, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld, who was regent of the Principality of Lippe until 1904. He was also a nephew of the principality's last sovereign, Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe.

Because his parents' marriage did not conform with the marriage laws of the House of Lippe, it was initially deemed morganatic, so Bernhard was granted only the title of Count of Biesterfeld at birth. He and his brother could succeed to the Lippian throne only if the entire reigning House became extinct. In 1916, his uncle Leopold IV as reigning Prince raised Bernhard and his mother to Prince and Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, thereby retroactively according his parents' marriage dynastic status. The suffix Biesterfeld was revived to mark the beginning of a new cadet line of the House of Lippe.

After World War I, Bernhard's family lost their German Principality and the revenue that had accompanied it. But the family was still reasonably well-off. Bernhard spent his early years at Reckenwalde castle (Wojnowo, Poland), the family's new estate in East Brandenburg, thirty kilometres east of the River Oder. He was taught privately and received his early education at home. When he was twelve, he was sent to board at the Gymnasium in Züllichau (Sulechów). Several years later he was sent to board at a Gymnasium in Berlin, from which he graduated in 1929.

Bernhard suffered from poor health as a boy. Doctors predicted that he would not live very long. This prediction might have inspired Bernhard's reckless driving and the risks that he took in the Second World War and thereafter. The prince wrecked several cars and planes in his lifetime.

Bernhard studied law at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland and in Berlin. In the latter city, he also acquired a taste for fast cars, horse riding, and big-game hunting safaris. He was nearly killed in a boating accident and an aeroplane crash. He suffered a broken neck and crushed ribs in a 160 km/h (100 mph) car crash in 1938.

While at university, Bernhard joined the Nazi Party. He also enrolled in the Sturmabteilung (SA), which he left in December 1934 when he graduated and went to work for IG Farben. The Prince later denied that he had belonged to SA, to the Reiter-SS (SS Cavalry Corps), and to the NSKK, but these are well-documented memberships. While he was not a fierce champion of democracy, the Prince was never known to hold any radical political views or express any racist sentiments, although he admitted that he briefly had sympathised with Adolf Hitler's regime.

The Prince eventually went to work for the German chemical giant IG Farben in the early 1930s, then the world's fourth-largest company. (It survives today as BASF, AGFA, and Bayer). He joined the statistics department of IG Farben's Berlin N.W. 7 department, the key Nazi overseas espionage center (known as VOWI) that evolved into the economic intelligence arm of the Wehrmacht. He lodged with Count Paul von Kotzebue (1884-1966), an exiled Russian nobleman of German descent, and his wife Allene Tew, who was born in the United States. After training, Bernhard became secretary in 1935 to the board of directors at the Paris office.

Marriage and children

Bernhard met then-Princess Juliana at the 1936 Winter Olympics at Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Juliana's mother, Queen Wilhelmina, had spent most of the 1930s looking for a suitable husband for Juliana. As a Protestant of royal rank (the Lippes were a sovereign house in the German Empire), Bernhard was deemed acceptable for the devoutly religious Wilhelmina. They were distantly related, 7th cousins in particular, both descending from Lebrecht, Prince of Anhalt-Zeitz-Hoym. Wilhelmina left nothing to chance, and had her lawyers draft a very detailed prenuptial agreement that specified exactly what Bernhard could and could not do. The couple's engagement was announced on 8 September 1936, and they were married at The Hague on 7 January 1937. Earlier, Bernhard had been granted Dutch citizenship and changed the spelling of his names from German to Dutch. Previously styled as Serene Highness, he became a Royal Highness by Dutch law. His appropriateness as consort of the future Queen would later become a matter of some public debate.

Prince Bernhard fathered six children, four of them with Queen Juliana. The eldest daughter is Beatrix, (born 1938), who later became Queen of the Netherlands. His other daughters with Juliana are Irene (born 1939), Margriet (born 1943) and Christina (1947–2019).

He had two "natural", or illegitimate, daughters. The first is Alicia von Bielefeld (born in San Francisco on 21 June 1952), whose mother has been identified as Alicia Webber, a 19 years old German national, illegitimate daughter of German aviator and test pilot Hanna Reitsch. Von Bielefeld has become a landscape architect and lives in the United States. His sixth daughter, Alexia Grinda (a.k.a. Alexia Lejeune or Alexia Grinda-Lejeune, born in Paris on 10 July 1967), is his child by Hélène Grinda, a French socialite and fashion model. Although rumours about these two children were already widespread, their status as his daughters was made official after his death. In December 2008, Dutch historian Cees Fasseur claimed that Jonathan Aitken, former British Conservative Cabinet Minister, was also a child of Prince Bernhard, the result of his wartime affair with Penelope Maffey.

Attitudes to Nazi Germany 
Prince Bernhard was a member of the "Reiter-SS", a mounted unit of the SS and had joined the Nazi party before the war. He later also joined the National Socialist Motor Corps.

Various members of his family and friends were aligned with the Nazis prior to the Second World War, and a number of them attended the royal wedding. Protocol demanded that the prospective Prince-Consort be invited to an audience with his head of state, who at the time was Adolf Hitler. Hitler gave an account of the conversation he had with Bernhard in his Tischgespräche (Table Conversations). This book was a collection of monologues, remarks, and speeches Hitler gave during lunch or dinner to those he had invited.

The Prince's brother, Prince Aschwin of Lippe-Biesterfeld, was an officer in the German Army. Although the secret services on both sides were interested in this peculiar pair of brothers, no improper contacts or leaks of information were ever discovered. He cut off relations with those members of his family who were enthusiastic Nazis. As a sign of his "Dutchness", near the end of the war, he spoke only Dutch when negotiating the surrender of German forces in the Netherlands.

Second World War

At the outset of the Second World War, during the German invasion of the Netherlands, the Prince, carrying a machine gun, organised the palace guards into a combat group and shot at German warplanes. The Royal family fled the Netherlands and took refuge in England. Disagreeing with Queen Wilhelmina's decision to leave the Kingdom, the young Prince Consort, aged 28, is said at first to have refused to go and to have wanted to oppose the Nazi occupation from within the country. However, in the end, he agreed to join his wife and became head of the Royal Military Mission based in London. His wife Princess Juliana and their children continued on to Canada, where they remained until the end of the war.

In England, Prince Bernhard asked to work in British Intelligence. The War Admiralty, and later General Eisenhower's Allied Command offices, did not trust him enough to allow him access to sensitive intelligence information. On the recommendation of Bernhard's friend and admirer King George VI, however, who was also of German aristocratic descent through his mother Mary of Teck and his great-grandfather Prince Albert, and after Bernhard was personally screened by British intelligence officer Ian Fleming at the behest of Churchill, he was later given work to do in the Allied War Planning Councils.

"For Bernhard, the Prince of the Netherlands, the war was a frustrating business. Born a German, he had married Queen Wilhelmina's only child, Princess Juliana, and in due time made a conscious and meaningful transition of loyalties to his new homeland. Because of this, and in view of the doubts his background initially evoked among some Britons, he longed more than anyone for a chance to get at Holland's aggressors." Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema aka "Soldier of Orange", decorated war hero.

On 25 June 1940, three days after France fell to the German war machine, Bernhard spoke on the Overseas Service of the BBC. He called Hitler a German tyrant and expressed his confidence that Britain would defeat the Third Reich.

In 1940, Flight Lieutenant Murray Payne gave the prince instruction in flying a Spitfire. The prince made 1,000 flight-hours in a Spitfire with the RAF's No. 322 (Dutch) Squadron RAF, wrecking two planes during landings. He remained an active pilot throughout his life and flew his last aeroplane 53 years later, with his grandson and heir to the throne, who inherited his passion for flying.

In 1941, Prince Bernhard was given the honorary rank of wing commander in the Royal Air Force. As "Wing Commander Gibbs (RAF)", Prince Bernhard flew over occupied Europe, attacking V-1 launch pads in a B-24 Liberator, bombing Pisa, and engaging submarines over the Atlantic in a B-25 Mitchell, and conducting reconnaissance over enemy-held territory in an L-5 Grasshopper. Prince Bernhard was awarded the Dutch Airman's Cross for his "ability and perseverance" (Dutch: "bekwaamheid en volharding"). In 1941 he also received a promotion to Honorary Air Commodore.

He also helped organise the Dutch resistance movement and acted as the personal secretary for Queen Wilhelmina.

Queen Wilhelmina erased the style "honorary" (the exact words were "à la suite") in the decree promoting Bernhard to General. In this unconstitutional manner, she gave this Royal Prince a status that was never intended by either Parliament or her Ministers. The Minister of Defence did not choose to correct the Monarch, and the Prince took an active and important role in the Dutch Armed forces.

By 1944, Prince Bernhard became Commander of the Dutch Armed Forces. After the liberation of the Netherlands, he returned with his family and became active in the negotiations for the German surrender. He was present during the Armistice negotiations and German surrender at Hotel de Wereld ("The World Hotel"), Wageningen in The Netherlands on 5 May 1945, where he avoided speaking German.
The Prince was a genuine war hero in the eyes of most of the Dutch; he kept cordial relations with the Communists who fought against the Nazis. In the post-war years, he earned respect for his work in helping to reinvigorate the economy of the Netherlands.

Postwar roles 

After the War, the position of Inspector General was created for the Prince.
On the 4th of September 1948, his mother in law Queen Wilhelmina abdicated the throne and Juliana became Queen of the Netherlands and Bernhard became Prince Consort of the Netherlands. He was made a member of the boards of supervisors of Fokker Aircraft and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and within a few years he had been invited to serve as an adviser or non-executive director of numerous corporations and institutions. There have been claims that KLM helped Nazis to leave Germany for Argentina on KLM flights while Bernhard was on its board. After a 1952 trip with Queen Juliana to the United States, Prince Bernhard was heralded by the media as a business ambassador extraordinaire for the Netherlands.

With his global contacts having been approached by the secretive Polish diplomat, Józef Retinger, in May 1954 Bernhard was a key figure in organising a meeting at the Bilderberg Hotel in the Netherlands for the business elite and intellectuals of the Western World to discuss the economic problems in the face of what they characterised as the growing threat from Communism. This first meeting was successful, and it became an annual gathering known as the Bilderberg Group. The idea for the European Union, first proposed by Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950, was encouraged at Bilderberg.

Prince Bernhard was a very outspoken person who often flouted protocol by remarking upon subjects about which he felt deeply. Almost until his last day, he called for more recognition for the Polish veterans of the Second World War, who had figured greatly in the liberation of the Netherlands. But it was not until after his death that the Dutch Government publicly recognised the important role of the Polish Army in the liberation: on 31 May 2006, at the Binnenhof in The Hague, Queen Beatrix conferred the Military William Order, the highest Dutch military decoration, on the Polish 1st Independent Parachute Brigade. The award is now worn by the 6th Airborne Brigade which inherited the battle honours of the brigade.

Friendships and international connections 
Prince Bernhard was seen as a jet-setting and charismatic ambassador for the Dutch during post-war reconstruction. Because of his connections, Prince Bernhard reportedly maintained friendships with several high-profile international figures. They included Nelson Mandela, David Rockefeller, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Ian Fleming, and Walter Bedell Smith.

Scandals and rumours

Hofmans Affair 
In the mid-1950s, Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard's marriage faced significant strain because of the ongoing influence of Greet Hofmans, a faith healer and layer-on of hands. For nine years she acted as a confidante and adviser to Queen Juliana, often residing at Palace Soestdijk. Originally, Hofmans was introduced to Queen Juliana at the initiative of Prince Bernhard in 1948 to treat an eye illness of their youngest daughter, Princess Christina (then still called Marijke). This illness arose because Juliana was infected with rubella during pregnancy. Hofmans developed a great influence on the Queen, encouraging pacifist ideas. In the period of the Cold War, this caused a crisis in the Royal Household.

While the Dutch press did not report widely on the issue, outside the Netherlands, a great deal was written about the Hofmans affair. On 13 June 1956, an article was published in the German magazine Der Spiegel, titled "Zwischen Königin und Rasputin" – "between the Queen and her Rasputin". It portrayed Hofmans in a less-than-flattering way. Later, Bernhard admitted that he had personally provided the information for the article. Observers said that, in doing so, he hoped to have Hofmans removed from the court. In the face of escalating tensions, the Prime Minister, Willem Drees appointed a committee of "three wise men" (elder statesmen) to advise the royal couple. Hofmans was banished as were various allies and supporters who had grown to prominence within the Royal Household.

In 2008 the report of the "three wise men" was made public. Historian Cees Fasseur drew from it for his book, Juliana & Bernhard (2008); in addition, the Queen had granted him access to the private royal archive. He noted that Bernhard was reprimanded in 1956 for having leaked confidential information to the international press. Fasseur said that Bernhard resorted to bringing in the international press only after repeated, desperate and often dramatic pleading with his wife to distance herself from the Hofmans group. Fasseur wrote: 
"Bernard was obviously a free spirited chap, who independently went about his business. But he was still very much a family man. I got the feeling he was the only one that was seeing things were getting completely out of hand and tried to salvage the situation as much as he could."

Lockheed scandal 

Scandal rocked the Royal family in 1976 when the press reported that Prince Bernhard had accepted a US$1.1 million bribe from U.S. aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Corporation to influence the Dutch government's purchase of fighter aircraft. At the time he had served on more than 300 corporate boards and committees worldwide and had been praised in the Netherlands for his efforts to promote the economic well-being of the country. Prime Minister of the Netherlands Joop den Uyl ordered an inquiry into the Lockheed affair. Prince Bernhard refused to answer reporters' questions, stating: "I am above such things".

The Dutch and international press headlined the stories for months. They also brought up records of Prince Bernhard's Reiter SS membership and details of his numerous extramarital affairs. They noted he had purchased a luxurious Paris apartment for his mistress Hélène Grinda (granddaughter of Édouard Grinda), with whom he had a daughter, Alexia, who was illegitimate. Bernhard had an older illegitimate daughter, Alicia, born in the United States (with a German pilot whom he met in Mexico in 1951).

On 26 August 1976, a full report of Prince Bernhard's activities was released to a shocked Dutch public. The Prince's own letter of 1974, to Lockheed Corporation, was publicised; he had demanded "commissions" be paid to him on Dutch government aircraft purchases. This was very damaging evidence of improper conduct by the man who was Inspector-General of the Dutch Armed Forces. Out of respect for Queen Juliana, the government did not press charges against Bernhard.

Prince Bernhard resigned as Inspector-General of the Dutch Armed Forces. He was no longer officially allowed to wear a uniform in public. But a few years later, he was in full military dress when he attended the 1979 funeral of Lord Mountbatten in London.

Prime Minister Joop den Uyl made a statement in Parliament and told the delegates that the Prince would also resign from his various high-profile positions in businesses, charities, and other institutions. The Dutch States-General voted against criminal prosecution. Prince Bernhard turned over the Presidency of the international World Wildlife Fund to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

In an interview published after his death, on 14 December 2004, Prince Bernhard admitted that he had accepted more than one million dollars (US) in bribes from Lockheed. He acknowledged it was a mistake and claimed that all of the money went to the WWF. He said: "I have accepted that the word Lockheed will be carved on my tombstone." He also confirmed having fathered two illegitimate daughters.

In February 2008, Joop den Uyl's biography claimed that the official report investigating the Lockheed bribe scandal also presented proof that the Prince had accepted money from yet another aerospace firm: Northrop. The former Prime Minister claimed he had not made the information public to protect the Dutch monarchy.

Project Lock 

In 1988, Prince Bernhard and Princess Juliana sold two paintings from their personal collection to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund. The paintings sold for GBP700,000, which was deposited in a Swiss WWF bank account. In 1989, however, Charles de Haes, Director-General of the WWF, transferred GBP500,000 back to Bernhard, for what De Haes called a private project. In 1991, newspapers reported what this private project was: Prince Bernhard had hired KAS International, owned by Special Air Service founder Sir David Stirling, to use mercenaries – mostly British – to fight poachers in nature reserves. The paramilitary group infiltrated organisations profiting from illegal trade in ivory in order to arrest them.

This Project Lock seemed to have backfired enormously, however. The hired mercenaries had not only infiltrated the illegal trade, they were also participating in it.

In 1995, Nelson Mandela called upon the Kumleben Commission to investigate, among other things, the role of the WWF in apartheid-South Africa. In the report that followed, it was suggested that mercenaries from Project Lock had planned assassinations of ANC members and that mercenaries had been running training camps in the wildlife reserves, training fighters from the anti-communist groups UNITA and Renamo. Prince Bernhard was never accused of any crime in this context but the Project Lock scandal negatively impacted the Prince's reputation.

Additional controversies and rumours 
Prince Bernhard garnered media attention when, on 30 October 2002, he paid the fines of two Albert Heijn supermarket staff members, who were convicted of assaulting a shoplifter after they detained him.

The 2009 publication HRH: High Stakes at the Court of His Royal Highness by historian Harry Veenendaal and journalist Jort Kelder alleges that the Prince in 1950 attempted to oust the young government of the newly founded Republic of Indonesia and place himself to lead the Islands as Viceroy similar to Lord Mountbatten's role in British India. This was particularly contentious as in 1949 the Netherlands had already officially recognised its former colony as an independent nation.

A 2016 biography by Jolande Withuis about his wife queen Juliana, titled Juliana, posited further rumours including that he had once sexually assaulted a minor, that he had refused to divorce the queen twice, and that later on during their final years in life he prohibited Juliana from seeing him.

Death 

In 1994 the Prince had a colon tumor removed and suffered severe complications due to respiratory distress. In December, his daughter Queen Beatrix rushed to the hospital straight after landing from a trip to Africa. By Christmas the prospect of death had faded and spring the next year he recovered enough to go home. His health problems continued in 1998 when he had a prostate swelling and in 1999 when he suffered difficulties breathing and talking. He did, however, attend the wedding of his grandson, straight after having prostate surgery. In 2000, his life was endangered again when he suffered neurological complications and continued breathing problems. Two days after intensive medical (and media) attention the Royal Press Office issued a statement the Prince was reading newspapers again.

Over the following years Bernhard continued to appear at the military parades on the national liberation day celebrating the defeat of Nazi Germany. Only when his wife Juliana died in March 2004 did the Prince become exceedingly fragile. Up to the last moment it remained uncertain if he could attend the royal funeral, which he eventually managed to attend. He said his final farewells to his war comrades on Liberation Day in May and in November that same year he was diagnosed with untreatable cancer.

Prince Bernhard died of lung cancer at the age of 93 at University Medical Center Utrecht in Utrecht on 1 December 2004, two years after the death of his son-in-law Prince Claus; his death suffered from malignant lung and intestinal tumors. On 11 December 2004, he was interred with a state funeral at the Nieuwe Kerk, Delft. Bernhard's funeral was different from those of Prince Claus and Queen Juliana in that Bernhard's coffin was transported on the undercarriage of a cannon instead of in the traditional carriage used when the coffins of Prince Claus and Queen Juliana were transported to Delft. Together with the playing of many military marches and the forming of guards of honour by Second World War veterans this gave the funeral procession a military character as the late Prince, a Second World War veteran, had wished. As a final tribute to his former military role in the Royal Netherlands Air Force, three modern F-16 jet fighters and a World War II Spitfire plane performed a low flypast during the funeral in a classic missing man formation.

In popular culture 
In the years after Bernhard died his life story has been the inspiration for literature, theatre, television and comic books. In 2010 fact and fiction of the life of Bernhard was portrayed in a Dutch television series. In a biographical dissertation by Dutch journalist and historian Annejet van der Zijl published in March 2010, Bernhard was called "a failure" in the history of the Dutch Royal Family and a "creature of his own myths".

Titles, styles and honours

Titles
29 June 1911 – 1916: Count Bernhard of Biesterfeld
1916 – 7 January 1937: His Serene Highness Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld
7 January 1937 – 6 September 1948: His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, Prince of Lippe-Biesterfeld
6 September 1948 – 30 April 1980: His Royal Highness The Prince of the Netherlands
30 April 1980 – 1 December 2004: His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, Prince of Lippe-Biesterfeld

Honours

National honours
 Knight Commander of the Military William Order
 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
 Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau
 Grand Master Knight Commander of the Order of the Golden Ark, 1st Class
 Knight Commander of the Order of St. John in the Netherlands
 Recipient of the Airman's Cross
 Recipient of the Queen Juliana Inauguration Medal

Foreign honours
 : Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator General San Martín
 : Grand Star Decoration for Services to the Republic of Austria, Gold
 : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold I
 : Recipient of the War Cross Medal 1939–1945
 : Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Valour
 : Grand Cross of the Order of the White Lion
 : Recipient of the Czechoslovak War Cross 1939–1945
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Boyaca, Special Class
 : Knight of the Order of the Elephant
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of Duarte, Sánchez and Mella, Silver
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Abdon Calderón
  Ethiopian Imperial Family: Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Order of the Queen of Sheba
 : Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland
 : Grand Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honour
 : Commander of the Order of Academic Palms
 : Recipient of the Aeronautical Medal
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Special Issue
 Greece
  Greek Royal Family: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of George I
 : Recipient of the 1940 War Cross Medal
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Santa Rosa and of Civilisation
 : Adipurna Grand Cross of the Order of the star of Mahaputera
  Iranian Imperial Family: Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of the Lion and the Sun
  Iranian Imperial Family: Recipient of the Commemorative Medal of the 2,500 year Celebration of the Persian Empire
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic
 : Grand Cross of the National Order of the Ivory Coast
 : Knight Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun
 : Grand Cross of the Order of the Pioneers of Liberia
 : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau
 : Recipient of the War Cross Medal 1939–1945
 : Grand Cross of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, Special Class
  Nepal: Member Grand Cross of the Order of Ojaswi Rajanya
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Rubén Darío, Special Class
 : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Olav
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Manuel Amador Guerrero
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit, Special Class
 : Grand Cross of the Order of the Sun of Peru
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Military Virtue
 : Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit
 : Bailiff Knight Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
 : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III
 : Grand Cross of the Honorary Order of the Yellow Star
 : Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Seraphim
 : Knight Grand Cordon with Chain of the Order of the Royal House of Chakri
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Independence
 : Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
 : Honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order
 : Recipient of the France and Germany Star
 : Recipient of the Defence Medal
 : Recipient of the King George VI Coronation Medal
 : Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal
 : Officer of the Legion of Merit
 : Grand Cross of the Order of the Liberator
 : Grand Cross of the Order of Karađorđe's Star

Military ranks

Military ranks of the Armed forces of the Netherlands

Honorary military ranks of foreign armed forces

Ancestry

References

External links 

 
 
 

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Greet Hofmans (23 June 1894 – 16 November 1968) was a Dutch faith healer and "hand layer".  For nine years she was a friend and advisor of Queen Juliana, often residing at Palace Soestdijk. She became the former Dutch queen's confidante in the 1950s, but was removed from the royal court after an affair that in the Netherlands is often referred to by her name, the Greet Hofmans affair.

Court crisis 1948–1956 

Hofmans was introduced at the Dutch Royal Court on the initiative of Prince Bernhard in 1948 to treat the eye sickness of Princess Maria Christina. This illness arose after Juliana was infected with rubella during the pregnancy. Hofmans developed a great influence on the queen, encouraging pacifist ideas. In the period of the Cold War this caused a crisis in the royal household. Reputedly it reached the point where it threatened the marriage of Juliana and Bernhard. This crisis, which lasted to 1956, split the Dutch court into two camps. On the one side were Juliana and other admirers of Hofmans. On the other side were her husband Prince Bernhard, his supporters and the children of him and Juliana, including the later Dutch queen, Beatrix.

Outside the Netherlands, a great deal was written and speculated about the Hofmans affair. On 13 June 1956 an article appeared in the German magazine Der Spiegel subtitled "Zwischen Königin und Rasputin", literally meaning "Between queen and Rasputin".  Reportedly it was Bernhard who provided the information for the article, by which means he hoped to have Hofmans removed from the court.

Beel Commission, 1956 

The cabinet of Willem Drees banned the import of the edition of the German magazine and on 28 June 1956 appointed a commission of enquiry of former ministers (Louis Beel and Gerbrandy) and former governor-general of the Dutch East Indies A. W. L. Tjarda van Starkenborgh Stachouwer: the Beel Commission. The outcome was the termination of Hofmans' contacts with the court and the reorganisation of the royal household.

Through the secrecy imposed on the official side and the self-censorship of the Dutch press, the Hofmans affair took on a life of its own. Some have speculated that the affair was simply a mask for a looming divorce of the royal couple.

Hofmans retained until her death followers of the higher circles, who saw in her the personification of the ideal life: sober, peaceful, free of self-interest, and directed at one's fellow man. Others viewed her, however, as a charlatan, an intrigant, and a dangerous "witch", or at best a naive figure. She kept treating patients  till she died from cancer in 1968. She was buried at Zorgvlied cemetery.

On 7 February 2004 Bernhard wrote in an open letter to the Volkskrant newspaper:
"with respect to the so-named Hofmans affair, I recall that the Beel Commission in 1956 conducted an exhaustive investigation.  The report of this commission is for formal reasons still not public, therefore I express here my confidence that the eventual publication will place all those involved in this complex affair in the correct light".

Fasseur study 2008 

In November 2008, the Dutch historian Cees Fasseur revealed in his book Juliana & Bernhard. Story of a marriage, 1936–1956 that Hofmans left the Dutch royal court in 1956 after receiving a letter warning that both she and Queen Juliana’s private secretary Walraven van Heeckeren would be "assassinated if she did not leave “voluntarily". The existence of the anonymous letter, signed by "the Action Committee", was kept secret until that publication. However, it was known that two members of former Dutch resistance groups had sent a letter to Queen Juliana’s mother, Wilhelmina, suggesting a violent solution for the crisis within the monarchy caused by the Hofmans’ closeness to Queen Juliana.

Author Fasseur said he did not know if Bernhard, who had close ties with the former resistance, knew about the liquidation threat – or if he perhaps gave the order to send such a threat himself. Fasseur was the first who was granted permission by the then Queen Beatrix to read files related to the affair, that had been kept in the royal archives along with the 1956 secret report of the Beel Commission. The long-secret report of the commission appeared as an appendix to Fasseur’s book in 2008.

The Vereniging tegen de Kwakzalverij (Dutch association against charlatans, or quackery) has ranked Hofmans in the 14th place of the top twenty charlatans of the 20th century in the Netherlands.

Literature 
  Cees Fasseur Juliana & Bernhard – het verhaal van een huwelijk: de jaren 1936–1956, renewed ed. (2009)
  Cees Fasseur Juliana & Bernhard – het verhaal van een huwelijk: de jaren 1936–1956 (2008)
  Lambert J.Giebels De Greet Hofmans-affaire – hoe de Nederlandse monarchie bijna ten onder ging (2007)
  Hans Daalder Drees en Soestdijk – over de zaak-Hofmans en andere crises 1948–1958 (2006)
  J.G.Kikkert Crisis op Soestdijk – Nederland als bananenmonarchie, renewed ed. (2005)
  J.G.Kikkert Crisis op Soestdijk – Nederland als bananenmonarchie (1996) 	
  A.Bredenhoff Greet Hofmans – occult licht op een koninklijke affaire (1996)

References 

	

1894 births
1968 deaths
Faith healers
People from Amsterdam
Political scandals in the Netherlands
Political controversies in the Netherlands
Deaths from cancer in the Netherlands Juliana (; Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980.

Juliana was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. She received a private education and studied international law at the University of Leiden. In 1937, she married Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld with whom she had four daughters: Beatrix, Irene, Margriet, and Christina. During the German invasion of the Netherlands in the Second World War, the royal family was evacuated to the United Kingdom. Juliana then relocated to Canada with her children, while Wilhelmina and Bernhard remained in Britain. The royal family returned to the Netherlands after its liberation in 1945.

Due to Wilhelmina's failing health, Juliana took over royal duties briefly in 1947 and 1948. In September 1948 Wilhelmina abdicated and Juliana ascended to the Dutch throne. Her reign saw the decolonization and independence of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) and Suriname. Despite a series of controversies involving the royal family, Juliana remained a popular figure among the Dutch.

In April 1980, Juliana abdicated in favour of her eldest daughter Beatrix. Upon her death in 2004 at the age of , she was the longest-lived former reigning monarch in the world.

Early life and education

Juliana was born on 30 April 1909 at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, the only daughter of the reigning Dutch monarch, Queen Wilhelmina. Her father was Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. She was the first Dutch royal baby since Wilhelmina herself was born in 1880. Wilhelmina had suffered two miscarriages and one stillbirth, raising the prospect of a succession crisis.

The Queen's nearest relative was Prince Heinrich XXXII Reuss of Köstritz, whose close ties to Germany made him unpopular in the Netherlands. Juliana's birth thus assured the royal family's survival. Her mother suffered two further miscarriages after her birth, leaving Juliana as the royal couple's only child. According to several sources Juliana was happy to be an only child because that meant she did not have to fight for attention.

Juliana spent her childhood at Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn, and at Noordeinde Palace and Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague. A small school class was formed at Noordeinde Palace on the advice of the educator Jan Ligthart so that, from the age of six, the Princess could receive her primary education with children of her own age. These children were Baroness Elise Bentinck, Baroness Elisabeth van Hardenbroek and Jonkvrouwe Miek (Mary) de Jonge.

As the Dutch constitution specified that Princess Juliana should be ready to succeed to the throne by the age of eighteen, her education proceeded at a faster pace than that of most children. After five years of primary education, the Princess received her secondary education (to pre-university level) from private tutors.

On 30 April 1927, Princess Juliana celebrated her eighteenth birthday. Under the constitution, she had officially come of age and was entitled to assume the royal prerogative, if necessary. Two days later her mother installed her in the "Raad van State" ("Council of State").

In the same year, the Princess enrolled as a student at the University of Leiden. In her first years at university, she attended lectures in sociology, jurisprudence, economics, history of religion, parliamentary history, and constitutional law. In the course of her studies she also attended lectures on the cultures of Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles, international affairs, international law, history, and European law. She graduated from the university in 1930 with a bachelor's degree in international law. She was taught Greek literature by Sophia Antoniadis, the university's first female professor.

Marriage

In the 1930s, Queen Wilhelmina began a search for a suitable husband for her daughter. At the time, the House of Orange-Nassau was one of the most strictly religious royal families in the world, and it was very difficult to find a Protestant prince who suited their standards. Princes from the United Kingdom and Sweden were "vetted" but either declined or were rejected by the princess.

At the 1936 Winter Olympics in Bavaria, she met Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, a young German Prince who was her 7th cousin, as both descended from Lebrecht, Prince of Anhalt-Zeitz-Hoym. His rank and religion were suitable; so Princess Juliana's royal engagement was arranged by her mother. Princess Juliana fell deeply in love with her fiancé, a love that was to last a lifetime and that withstood separation during the war and Bernhard's extramarital affairs and illegitimate children. The astute Queen Wilhelmina, by then the richest woman in the world, left nothing to chance. Wilhelmina had her lawyers draw up a prenuptial agreement that specified exactly what the German-born prince could and could not do, and what money he would receive from the royal estate. The couple's engagement was announced on 8 September 1936.

The wedding announcement divided a country that mistrusted Germany under Adolf Hitler. Prior to the wedding, on 24 November 1936, Prince Bernhard was granted Dutch citizenship and changed the spelling of his names from German to Dutch. They married in The Hague on 7 January 1937, the date on which Princess Juliana's grandparents, King William III and Queen Emma, had married fifty-eight years earlier. The civil ceremony was held in the Town Hall of The Hague and the marriage was blessed in the Great Church (St. Jacobskerk), also located in The Hague. Juliana's chosen bridesmaids were either her relatives or family friends. These included Duchess Woizlawa Feodora of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (her first cousin), Duchess Thyra of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (her second cousin), Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia (her first cousin once removed), Princess Sophie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (her second cousin), and two of Bernhard's first cousins, Princess Sieglinde of Lippe and Princess Elisabeth of Lippe.

A wedding gift was the royal yacht, Piet Hein. The young couple moved into Soestdijk Palace in Baarn.

The first of their four daughters, Princess Beatrix, was born on 31 January 1938, followed by Princess Irene on 5 August 1939.

Canadian exile

On 12 May 1940, during the invasion of the Netherlands by Germany in the Second World War, Prince Bernhard and Princess Juliana were evacuated to the United Kingdom to be followed the following day by Queen Wilhelmina and the Dutch Government, who set up a government in exile. The princess remained there for a month before taking the children to Ottawa, the capital of Canada, where she resided at Stornoway in the suburb of Rockcliffe Park. Her mother and husband remained in Britain with the Dutch government-in-exile.

When her third child, Princess Margriet, was born on 19 January 1943, Governor General Lord Athlone granted royal assent to a special law declaring Princess Juliana's rooms at the Ottawa Civic Hospital to be extraterritorial in order that the infant would have exclusively Dutch, not dual nationality. Had these arrangements not been made, Princess Margriet would not be in the line of succession. The Canadian government flew the Dutch tricolour flag on parliament's Peace Tower while its carillon rang out with Dutch music at the news of Princess Margriet's birth. Prince Bernhard, who had remained in London with Queen Wilhelmina and members of the exiled Dutch government, was able to visit his family in Canada and be there for Margriet's birth. Princess Juliana's genuine warmth and the gestures of her Canadian hosts created a lasting bond, which was reinforced when Canadian soldiers fought and died by the thousands in 1944 and 1945 to liberate the Netherlands from the Nazis. She returned with Queen Wilhelmina by a military transport plane to the liberated part of the Netherlands on 2 May 1945, rushing to Breda to set up a temporary Dutch government. Once home, she expressed her gratitude to Canada by sending the city of Ottawa 100,000 tulip bulbs. Juliana erected a wooden lectern and brass plaque which is dedicated in thanks to the St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Ottawa) for their hospitality during her residence in Ottawa.

On 24 June 1945, she sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth from Gourock, Scotland, to the United States, listing her last permanent residence as London, England. The following year (1946), Juliana donated another 20,500 bulbs, with the request that a portion of these be planted at the grounds of the Ottawa Civic Hospital where she had given birth to Margriet. At the same time, she promised Ottawa an annual gift of tulips during her lifetime to show her lasting appreciation for Canada's war-time hospitality. Each year Ottawa hosts the Canadian Tulip Festival in celebration of this gift.

On 2 May 1945, Princess Juliana was returned with her mother to Dutch soil. Initially they lived in temporary quarters at Anneville just south of Breda. Juliana took part in the post-war relief operation for the people in the northern part of the country who had suffered through starvation during the Hunger Winter of 1944–1945, which had taken the lives of many of her countrymen. She was very active as the president of the Dutch Red Cross and worked closely with the National Reconstruction organization. Her down-to-earth manner endeared her to her people so much that a majority of the Dutch people would soon want Queen Wilhelmina to abdicate in favour of her daughter. In the spring of 1946 Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard visited the countries that had helped the Netherlands during the occupation.

During her pregnancy with her last child, Marijke Christina, Princess Juliana contracted rubella. The girl was born in 1947 with cataracts in both eyes and was soon diagnosed as almost totally blind in one eye and severely limited in the other. Despite her blindness, Christina, as she was called, was a happy and gifted child with a talent for languages and an ear for music. Over time, and with advances in medical technology, her eyesight did improve such that with thick glasses, she could attend school and even ride a bicycle. However, before that happened, her mother, the Princess, clinging to any thread that offered some hope for a cure, came under the strong influence of Greet Hofmans, a faith healer with heterodox beliefs, who was considered by "her many detractors" to be a sham.

Reign

Regency and early reign

Wilhelmina's increasingly precarious health made it increasingly difficult for her to perform her duties.  Juliana was forced to take over as regent from 14 October to 1 December 1947. Wilhelmina seriously considered abdicating in favour of Juliana at the end of 1947, but Juliana urged her mother to stay on the throne so she could celebrate her diamond jubilee in 1950. However, Wilhelmina was forced by further health problems to relinquish her royal duties to Juliana once again on 4 May 1948.

The independence of Indonesia, which saw more than 150,000 Dutch troops stationed there as decolonization force, was regarded as an economic disaster for the Netherlands. With the certain loss of the prized colony, the queen announced her intention to abdicate, doing so on 4 September 1948. Two days later, with the eyes of the world upon her, Juliana was sworn in and inaugurated as monarch during a joint session of the States General at a ceremony held in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, becoming the 12th member of the House of Orange to rule the Netherlands.

On 27 December 1949 at Dam Palace in Amsterdam, Queen Juliana signed the papers that recognised Indonesian sovereignty over the former Dutch colony. She became Hoofd der Unie (Head of the Union) of the Netherlands-Indonesian Union (1949-1956). On 15 December 1954, the Queen announced that the nation's Caribbean possessions of the Netherlands Antilles and Suriname were to be reconstituted as constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, making them equal partners with the mainland.

The near-blindness of her daughter Christina and the increasing influence of Hofmans, who had moved into a royal palace, severely affected the queen's marital relationship. Over the next few years, the controversy surrounding the faith healer, at first kept out of the Dutch media, erupted into a national debate over the competency of the queen. However, the debate subsided in part due to Juliana's efforts to connect with her people. She often appeared in public dressed like any ordinary Dutch woman, and preferred to be addressed as "Mevrouw" (Dutch for "Mrs.") rather than her formal title of "majesty". She also began riding a bicycle for exercise and fresh air.

Although the bicycle and the down-to-earth manners suggest a simple life style, the Dutch royal court of the 1950s and 1960s was still an opulent affair with chamberlains in magnificent uniforms, gilded state coaches, visits to towns in open carriages and lavish entertaining in the huge palaces. At the same time the queen began visiting the citizens of the nearby towns and, unannounced, would drop in on social institutions and schools. On the international stage, Queen Juliana was interested in the problems of developing countries, the refugee problem, and particularly child welfare in developing countries.

Crises and recovery 
On the night of 31 January 1953, the Netherlands was hit by the most destructive storm in more than five hundred years. Thirty breaches of dunes and dikes occurred and many towns were swept away by twelve-foot storm surges. More than 1800 people drowned and tens of thousands were trapped by the floodwaters. Dressed in boots and an old coat, Queen Juliana waded through water and slopped through deep mud all over the devastated areas to bring desperate people food and clothing. Showing compassion and concern, reassuring the people, her tireless efforts would permanently endear her to the citizens of the Netherlands.

In 1956, the influence of Hofmans on Juliana's political views almost brought down the monarchy in a constitutional crisis; this caused the court and the royal family to split into a "Bernhard faction", set on removing a queen considered a religious fanatic and a threat to NATO, and the queen's pious and pacifist courtiers. Prime Minister Willem Drees resolved the crisis. However, Juliana lost out to her powerful husband and his friends. Hofmans was banished from the court and Juliana's supporters were sacked or pensioned. Prince Bernhard planned to divorce his wife but decided against it when he, as he told an American journalist, "found out that the woman still loved him" .

Queen Juliana faced another crisis among her Protestant citizens in 1963, when her second daughter Irene secretly converted to Roman Catholicism and, without government approval, on 29 April 1964 married Prince Carlos Hugo of Bourbon, Duke of Parma, a claimant to the Spanish throne and also a leader in Spain's Carlist party. Given the history of the Dutch struggle for independence from Roman Catholic Spain, and with fascist German oppression still fresh in the minds of the Dutch people, the events leading to the marriage were played out in all the newspapers and a storm of hostility erupted against the monarchy for allowing it to happen—a matter so serious that the queen's abdication became a real possibility. She survived, however, thanks to the underlying devotion she had earned over the years.

Another crisis developed as a result of the announcement in July 1965 of the engagement of Princess Beatrix, heir to the throne, to German diplomat Claus von Amsberg. The future husband of the future queen had been a member of the Nazi Wehrmacht and the Hitler Youth movement. Many angry Dutch citizens demonstrated in the streets, and held rallies and marches against the "traitorous" affair. While this time there were no calls for the queen's abdication—because the true object of the people's wrath, Princess Beatrix, would then be queen—they did start to question the value of having a monarchy at all. After attempting to have the marriage cancelled, Queen Juliana acquiesced and the marriage took place under a continued storm of protest; an almost certain attitude pervaded the country that Princess Beatrix might be the last member of the House of Orange to ever reign in the Netherlands. Despite all these difficulties, Queen Juliana's personal popularity suffered only temporarily.

The queen was noted for her courtesy and kindness. In May 1959, for example, Polish-American ufologist George Adamski received a letter from the head of the Dutch Unidentified Flying Objects Society, Rey d'Aquilla, informing him that she had been contacted by Queen Juliana's palace and "that the Queen would like to receive you". Adamski informed a London newspaper about the invitation, which prompted the court and cabinet to request that the queen cancel her meeting with Adamski, but the queen went ahead with the meeting, saying that "A hostess cannot slam the door in the face of her guests." After the meeting, Dutch Aeronautical Association president Cornelis Kolff said: "The Queen showed an extraordinary interest in the whole subject." The Dutch press put it more straightforwardly. According to Time magazine, newspaper de Volkskrant said: "The Dutch press could hardly be accused of concealing the facts last week. Once again, Queen Juliana's weakness for the preternatural had landed her back in the headlines: she had invited to the palace a crackpot from California who numbered among his friends men from Mars, Venus and other solar-system suburbs."

An event in April 1967, helped by an improving Dutch economy, brought an overnight revitalization of the royal family: the first male heir to the Dutch throne in 116 years, Willem-Alexander, was born to Princess Beatrix. This time, the demonstrations in the street were of love and enthusiasm.

Later reign 
In the spring of 1975, a group of South Moluccans were caught conspiring to steal a heavy truck and ram the gates of Soestdijk Palace to kidnap the queen. Ten members of the group in a vehicle full of firearms were arrested. The group's alleged aim was to force the Dutch government to recognize the Republik Maluku Selatan (RMS) as an independent state and try to make the Indonesian government do the same. Seventeen South-Moluccan youngsters were tried and convicted and sentenced to up to six years imprisonment. This was one of a series of actions for this cause during the 1970s, including the 1975 Dutch train hostage crisis, the 1975 Indonesian consulate hostage crisis, the 1977 Dutch train hostage crisis, the 1977 Dutch school hostage crisis, and the 1978 Dutch province hall hostage crisis.

On 25 November 1975, Suriname seceded from the Dutch Kingdom and became independent. Representing the Queen at the independence ceremony in the Surinamese capital, Paramaribo, were the heir presumptive Princess Beatrix, and her husband Prince Claus.

Scandal rocked the royal family again in 1976, when it was revealed that Prince Bernhard had accepted a US$1.1 million bribe from U.S. aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Corporation to influence the Dutch government's purchase of fighter aircraft in what became known as the Lockheed Scandal.

Prime Minister Joop den Uyl ordered an inquiry into the affair, while Prince Bernhard refused to answer reporters' questions, stating: "I am above such things." Rather than calling on the queen to abdicate, the Dutch people were this time fearful that their beloved Juliana might abdicate out of shame or because of a criminal prosecution conducted in her name against her consort.

On 26 August 1976, a censored and toned-down yet devastating report on Prince Bernhard's activities was released to a shocked Dutch public. The prince resigned his various high-profile positions as a lieutenant admiral, a general, and an Inspector General of the Armed Forces. He resigned from his positions on the boards of many businesses, charities, the World Wildlife Fund, and other institutions. The prince also accepted that he would have to give up wearing his beloved uniforms. In return, the States-General accepted that there was to be no criminal prosecution.

On her Silver Jubilee in 1973, Queen Juliana donated all of the money that had been raised by the National Silver Jubilee Committee to organizations for children in need throughout the world. She donated the gift from the nation which she received on her seventieth birthday to the "International Year of the Child". As a reigning European monarch, she was given supernumerary membership of the Order of the Garter as the 922nd inductee, with the rank of Stranger Lady, in 1958.

On 30 April 1980, her 71st birthday, Queen Juliana abdicated and her eldest daughter succeeded her. Juliana remained active in numerous charitable causes until well into her eighties.

Queen Juliana was very attached to Monte Argentario, in Tuscany, a favorite place for the Dutch royal family for their summer holidays for more than 40 years.

Illness and death

From the mid-1990s, Juliana's health declined and she also suffered the progressive onset of dementia. Juliana did not appear in public after this time. At the order of the Royal Family's doctors, Juliana was placed under 24-hour care. Prince Bernhard said in a television interview in 2001 that the former Queen was no longer able to recognise her family and that she had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for several years.

Juliana died in her sleep on 20 March 2004 at the age of 94, at Soestdijk Palace in Baarn from complications of pneumonia, seventy years to the day after her grandmother, Queen Emma. She was embalmed, unlike her mother Wilhelmina, who chose not to be, and on 30 March 2004 interred beside her mother in the royal vaults under the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft. The memorial service made her ecumenical and often highly personal views on matters of religion public. The late Princess, a Pastor said in her sermon, was interested in all religions and in reincarnation. Juliana's husband Prince Bernhard died about nine months later aged 93, on 1 December 2004; his remains were placed next to hers.

In 2009, an exhibition of portraits of Juliana, and objects from her life, was held at the Het Loo Palace to mark the centenary of her birth.

Titles, styles, honours, and arms
Juliana's full title and style as an unmarried woman was: Her Royal Highness Princess Juliana Louisa Emma Marie Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Duchess of Mecklenburg, etc.

Her mother issued a decree allowing her to adopt her husband's princely title as customary, providing that it be preceded by the title she held as a member of the House of Mecklenburg. The decree became effective upon her marriage, and changed her full title and style to: Her Royal Highness Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Duchess of Mecklenburg, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, etc.

After her accession to the throne, Juliana's official title was: "Her Majesty, Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Duchess of Mecklenburg, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, etc, etc, etc". Upon her abdication, she resumed her pre-regnal marital title and style.

Honours
 : Grand Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria
 : Knight of the Order of the Garter
 : Grand Officer of the Order of the Legion of Merit

Arms

Issue

Ancestry

Legacy
 Shortly after her birth, the inhabitants of a small village near Den Helder asked permission from Queen Wilhelmina to name their village after the young princess. They received permission and they named their village Julianadorp.
 Princess Juliana Park in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is named after her.
 Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten is named after her.
Queen Juliana Bridge in Willemstad, Curaçao is named after her.
 She is commemorated in space, in the name of the asteroid 816 Juliana.

References

External links

Queen Juliana (1909-2004) at the Dutch Royal House website
Netherlands Coronation (1948), newsreel on the British Pathé YouTube Channel
 

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