Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld
)

Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, German Empire
Died1 December 2004(2004-12-01) (aged 93)
University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Kingdom of the Netherlands
Burial11 December 2004
Nieuwe Kerk, Delft, Netherlands
Spouse
  • (m. 1937; died 2004)
  • SignatureBernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld's signature
    Political partyNazi Party (1933–1937)

    Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld (later Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands; 29 June 1911 – 1 December 2004) was

    Queen of the Netherlands
    from 1980 to 2013.

    Bernhard belonged to the German princely

    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 prince consort
    .

    Despite being a member of the

    Queen Elizabeth II. 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

    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. In October 2023, Bernhard's original NSDAP membership card was discovered in his old residence. Until his death, Bernhard denied being a NSDAP member or holding a NSDAP membership card.

    Early life

    Bernhard's mother, Princess Armgard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld
    Reckenwalde palace, today Wojnowo in Poland, where Prince Bernhard spent his youth
    Bernhard's father, Prince Bernhard of Lippe

    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, member of one of the oldest Lower Saxon noble families, House of 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

    cadet line of the House of Lippe.[1][2][3]

    After

    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 in 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

    racist sentiments, although he admitted that he briefly had sympathised with Adolf Hitler's regime.[5]

    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 main Nazi overseas espionage centre (known as VOWI) that evolved into the economic intelligence arm of the Wehrmacht.[6] 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

    Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard 1937 wedding

    Bernhard met then-Princess Juliana at the

    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, seventh cousins, both descending from Lebrecht, Prince of Anhalt-Zeitz-Hoym.[7] 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 considerable 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).

    Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard with their oldest daughters Princess Beatrix and Princess Irene in Ottawa on 4 May 1942.

    He had two "natural", or illegitimate, daughters. The first is Alicia von Bielefeld (born in

    Penelope Maffey.[9]

    Relationship with Nazi Party

    Prince Bernhard was a member of the "Reiter-SS", a mounted unit of the SS. He had also voluntarily joined the Nazi Party in April 1933.[10] He later also joined the National Socialist Motor Corps. His Nazi Party membership card was found in his belongings after his death.[11] Bernhard consistently lied about being a member of the Nazi party throughout his life, even when confronted with photographic evidence of him giving the Nazi salute.

    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 was Adolf Hitler. Hitler gave an account of the conversation that he had with Bernhard in his Tischgespräche (Table Conversations). The book was a collection of monologues, remarks and speeches that Hitler gave during lunch or dinner to those he had invited.

    Second World War

    General Brian Horrocks, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery and Prince Bernhard before Operation Market Garden on 8 September 1944

    At the outset of the

    German 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

    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 Winston 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.[12]

    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

    Honorary Air Commodore.[14]

    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.[15][16] 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

    Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard with President of the United States Harry S. Truman and First Lady Bess Truman at Washington National Airport on 2 April 1952

    After the War, the position of Inspector General was created for the Prince. On 4 September 1948, his mother-in-law Queen Wilhelmina abdicated the throne and Juliana became Queen of the Netherlands with Bernhard becoming prince consort. 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.[17] 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.[18]

    With his global contacts having been approached by the secretive Polish diplomat,

    Bilderberg Group. The idea for the European Union, first proposed by Robert Schuman
    on 9 May 1950, was encouraged at Bilderberg.

    Prince Bernhard at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol on 4 November 1959.

    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,

    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.

    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

    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

    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."[37]

    Lockheed scandal

    Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard returning from Porto Ercole, Italy due to developments in the Lockheed scandal on 26 August 1976.

    Scandal rocked the royal family in 1976 when the press reported that Prince Bernhard had accepted a US$1.1 million

    Lockheed affair. Prince Bernhard refused to answer reporters' questions, stating: "I am above such things".[38][39]

    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.[39]

    Prince Bernhard resigned as Inspector-General of the Dutch Armed Forces. He was no longer officially allowed to wear a uniform in public.[39] But a few years later, he was in full military dress when he attended the 1979 funeral of Lord Mountbatten in London.

    Prime Minister

    World Wildlife Fund to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.[39]

    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."[40] He also confirmed having fathered two illegitimate daughters.[41]

    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.[42]

    Project Lock

    Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard at Soestdijk Palace on 31 May 1980.

    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 £700,000, which was deposited in a Swiss WWF bank account. In 1989, however, Charles de Haes, Director-General of the WWF, transferred £500,000 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.[43] The paramilitary group infiltrated organisations profiting from illegal trade in ivory 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,

    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.[44]

    A 2016 biography by Jolande Withuis about Queen Juliana, titled Juliana, posited further rumours including that Bernhard 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.[45]

    Later life and death

    Prince Bernhard wearing his trademark carnation in Amsterdam on 6 July 1999.

    In 1994, the Prince had a colon tumour 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 by 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 attention the Royal Press Office issued a statement the Prince was reading newspapers again.

    The state funeral of Prince Bernhard in Delft on 11 December 2004.

    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 Juliana died in March 2004 did Bernhard 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.[46]

    Bernhard died of

    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.[47] 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".[48]

    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[49]
    • 6 September 1948 – 30 April 1980: His Royal Highness The Prince of the Netherlands[50]
    • 30 April 1980 – 1 December 2004: His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, Prince of Lippe-Biesterfeld
    Coat of arms of Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld

    Honours

    National honours

    Foreign honours

    Military ranks

    Netherlands

    Royal Netherlands Air Force Date
    Air Chief Marshal
    27 March 1953

    Honorary foreign ranks

    Ancestry

    References

    1. ^ Jean-Fred Tourtchine, 'Généalogie et état présent des familles princières de Lippe-Biesterfeld (princes souverains de Lippe) et de Lippe-Weissenfeld', in: L'ordre de la noblesse. Familles d'Europe enregistrées in ordine nobilitatis en 1983–1984. Volume sixième 1983-194. [Paris, 1985], p. CCLVXXXVI.
    2. ^ Zijl, Annejet van der, Bernhard, een verborgen geschiedenis pp 45 en 87"p 45 ...bood Leopold aan Armgard de oude graventitel van de Biesterfelders toe te kennen – zij het met het laagadellijke 'von' in plaats van het hoogadellijke 'zur'. Deze nieuwe Biesterfelderlijn zou wel meetellen in de erfopvolging, maar in lijn moeten aansluiten achter de overige zijtakken." "p 87 ....kende hij in dit ene en hoogst uitzonderlijke geval ..... alsnog de prinselijke titel 'zur Lippe-Biesterfeld' toe ... en zijn familielijn maakte een flinke sprong vooruit in de erfopvolging."
    3. ^ Prinses Armgard verkreeg in 1909 voor haar en haar nakomelingen de titel Gravin (Graaf) van Biesterfeld en in 1916 bij decreet van de laatste regerende vorst van Lippe. Leopold IV die van Prinses (Prins) van Lippe-Biesterfeld. Hierdoor werd de nieuwe Biesterfeldse linie gesticht, die in de rij van hen die tot troonopvolging in Lippe gerechtigd zijn, vóór die van het Lippe-Weissenfeldse vorstelijk huis gaan Gedenkalbum uitgegeven bij het koperen huwelijksfeest van het Koninklijk echtpaar door de NV drukkerij De Spaarnestad Haarlem voor de abonnees van haar periodieken, 1949 p. 12.
    4. ^ Waterfield, Bruno (5 March 2010). "Dutch Prince Bernhard 'was member of Nazi party'". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 13 June 2011.
    5. ^ "Prince Bernhard 'was member of Nazi party'", The Telegraph
    6. .
    7. ^ "Bernhard Prins der Nederlanden". genealogics.org.
    8. ^ Hélène Grinda: born in 1944, wife of Stanislas, 6e Baron Lejeune (1945–1998), son of Edgard-Louis, 5e Baron Lejeune (born 1915); and wife of Claude de Bonardi du Mesnil (1914–1967), by whom she has a son Cyril, 7e Baron Lejeune, born 1972; and daughter of Jean-Paul Grinda (1900–1975) and wife Françoise Blason
    9. ^ "Jonathan Aitken is of 'royal blood'". theweek.co.uk. Michael Wolfe. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
    10. ^ Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, NiederlandeNet (23 March 2011). "NiederlandeNet – Monarchie – Personen A-Z – Prinz Bernhard". Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 28 September 2014.
    11. ^ "Nazi card proves Dutch Prince Bernhard joined Hitler's party". BBC News. 5 October 2023. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
    12. P.190
    13. ^ Source: Interview with the Prince, 1993, Henny Meyer, published in "Het Vliegerskruis" (1997)
    14. ^ In memoriam: Bernhard Prins der Nederlanden (1911–2004), koninklijkhuis
    15. ^ DE WERELD – herdenking en interview met Prins Bernhard 35 jaar na de bevrijding. Video footage of 1980 commemoration of the German capitulation at "Hotel de Wereld" in Wageningen, opening speech by the Prime Minister, and interview with Prince Bernhard. (Dutch)
    16. ^ TE WAGENINGEN Historic video footage (black and white, no audio).
    17. ^ "KLM accused of helping Nazis flee". BBC News. 8 May 2007.
    18. ^ BEZOEK AAN DE VERENIGDE STATEN. Historic video footage of the Royal visit to the USA.
    19. ^ "Jozef Retinger". Bilderberg Meetings. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
    20. ^ "Military Williams Order for Poles". Royal Honours. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
    21. ^ "Netherlands' Prince Bernhard dies". BBC News. 2 December 2004. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
    22. ^ "Outspoken Dutch Prince Bernhard always in the public eye". TerraDaily. 1 December 2004. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
    23. ^ "Peace Parks Foundation". Peace Parks. 1997. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
    24. ^ "Leven Mandela in foto's". Telegraaf. 5 December 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
    25. ^ "AN EARTH TOUCH TRIBUTE TO FORMER PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA". EarthTouch. 6 December 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
    26. ^ "Prins Bernhard en Mandela openen wildpark". NederlandsDagblad. 29 August 2003. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
    27. ^ "The Bilderberg Group: fact and fantasy". The Daily Telegraph. 4 June 2010. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
    28. ^ "Opening Words at 1st ever Bilderberg meeting". YouTube. 29 May 1954. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
    29. ^ "Het geheim van de Bilderberg-conferenties". NPO. 6 June 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
    30. ^ "Tweelingzus laatste sjah van Iran overleden". NOS. 8 January 2016. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
    31. ^ "Reza Pahlavi te gast in Den Haag". Royalblog.nl. 30 May 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2016.
    32. ^ Stephen Dando-Collins (23 May 2015). "WWII Dutch airlift manna from heaven". The Australian. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
    33. ^ Steenhuis, Paul (2 February 2008). "PRINS BERNHARD ONTMOET IAN FLEMING". NRC Handelsblad. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
    34. ^ "James Bond was Dutch". RNW Media Handelsblad. 4 April 2012. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
    35. ^ "Het Correggio-mysterie". Groene Amsterdamer. 10 January 2004. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
    36. ^ "Hoe prins Bernhard nog flink kan gaan spoken". ThePost. 25 November 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
    37. ^ (in Dutch) "Interview (Dutch) with historian Cees Fasseur". Volkskrant.nl. 12 November 2008
    38. ^ Browne, Anthony (4 December 2004) "From beyond the grave, Prince finally admits taking $1m bribe". Timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
    39. ^ a b c d "HRH Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands". The Daily Telegraph. 4 December 2004. Retrieved 4 February 2018.
    40. ^ "Dead prince admits Dutch bribery scandal". Archived from the original on 23 May 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2007.. Timesonline.co.uk. 3 December 2004.
    41. ^ (in Dutch) ARCHIEF – De prins is dood, de prins spreekt – Binnenland – VK. Volkskrant.nl (14 December 2004). Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
    42. ^ "NOS.nl | Nieuws, Sport en Evenementen op Radio, TV en Internet | Nederlandse Omroep Stichting". Archived from the original on 15 April 2009. Retrieved 21 February 2008..
    43. ^ "Pretoria inquiry confirms secret battle for the rhino". The Independent. London. 18 January 1996.
    44. ^ (in Dutch) Dutch newspaper article about the book release. Volkskrant.nl (16 January 2010). Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
    45. ^ Blokker, Bas; Chorus, Jutta (28 October 2016). "Het vergoelijken van prins Bernhard is voorbij". NRC (in Dutch). Retrieved 17 April 2020.
    46. ^ ANP (National Press Association of the Netherlands) news coverage summary. Nu.nl. Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
    47. ^ Erik Varekamp on Comiclopedia
    48. ^ "Queen's father a creature of his own myths"
    49. ^ Decree about the titles and names of Prince Bernhard after his marriage with Princess Juliana – Website with Legislation concerning the Royal House of the Netherlands (Dutch)
    50. ^ "Titels leden Koninklijke Familie". The Royal House. 14 January 2015. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
    51. .
    52. ^ "Reply to a parliamentary question about the Decoration of Honour" (PDF) (in German). p. 111. Retrieved 28 November 2012.
    53. ^ Badraie Archived 2 March 2004 at the Wayback Machine. Badraie. Retrieved on 23 April 2014.
    54. ^ Acović, Dragomir (2012). Slava i čast: Odlikovanja među Srbima, Srbi među odlikovanjima. Belgrade: Službeni Glasnik. p. 645.
    55. ^ "No. 43434". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 September 1964. p. 7765.

    External links

    Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld
    Born: 29 June 1911 Died: 1 December 2004
    Dutch royalty
    Vacant
    Title last held by
    Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
    Prince consort of the Netherlands

    1948–1980
    Succeeded by
    Claus von Amsberg
    Non-profit organization positions
    First
    Bilderberg Group

    1954–1976
    Succeeded by
    President of the World Wide Fund for Nature
    1961–1977
    Succeeded by
    Military offices
    Vacant
    Title last held by
    Henri Winkelman
    Armed forces of the Netherlands

    1944–1945
    Vacant
    Title next held by
    Henk Kruls
    as Chief of the Netherlands Defence Staff
    First
    Inspector General of the Royal Netherlands Army

    1945–1970
    Became Inspector General of the Armed forces of the Netherlands
    Inspector General of the Royal Netherlands Navy

    1946–1970
    Inspector General of the Royal Netherlands Air Force

    1953–1970
    Armed forces of the Netherlands

    1970–1976
    Succeeded by