Prince Bernhard (1911-2004) was prince-consort
of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, but in many
ways he acted as though he was the monarch. Cormac
Mac Ruairi looks at his legacy.
Prince Bernhard was not renowned for his
subtlety, yet he made up for this by his
unstoppable urge to enjoy life to the full.
But that will to live finally succumbed to
years of mounting health problems on 1 December
2004. Cancerous tumours eventually got him at the
age of 93.
His death heralds the end of the old royal
regime which saw the Netherlands through the
turmoil of the German occupation during World War
II.
The war years and the post-war reconstruction
were in many ways Bernhard's finest. But some of
his many critics continue to insist the prince
wasn't even sure which side he was on during the
Netherlands' darkest hours.
Others claimed Bernhard was at the centre of
a right-wing conspiracy by industrialists and
politicians to dominate the world.
Such was his ability to win friends and offend
in equal measure; it will probably take some time
for history to give its final judgement on
Bernhard's legacy.
Upheaval
To begin with, he was German — a twist of
fate that helped colour people's views of him.
He was born in Jena, Germany, in 1911 with a
very definite royal spoon in his mouth. The eldest
son of Prince Bernhard von Lippe and Baroness
Armgard von Sierstorpff-Cramm, his full name was
Bernhard Leopold Friedrich Eberhard Julius Kurt
Karl Gottfried Peter zu Lippe-Biesterfeld.
At an early age, he learned that few might have
been of blue blood, but the ravages of war and
revolution can take away some of the privileges of
being high-born. His father lost his municipality
and the revenues it accorded the family after
World War I.
But times were nowhere as bad for his family as
they were for millions of other Germans who lived
through the hunger, revolution and inflation
caused by their country's defeat in 1918.
The young Bernhard was raised on the family's
new estates in Eastern Prussia and he was educated
at home until the age of 12. Later, he went to a
gymnasium school in Berlin before studying law in
Switzerland and Berlin.
Daredevil
Although the family had lost its principality,
Bernhard enjoyed the life of a jet setting prince
to the full. He loved horseback riding, flying,
big-game hunting and fast cars. (On his 87th
birthday, Bernhard gave himself the latest model
of Ferrari.)
He nearly killed himself twice in his youth —
once in a boating accident and later in an
airplane crash.
Despite his joie de vivre and constant striving
for new physical challenges, the young Bernhard
also saw himself as a real entrepreneur and a
member of the elite.
He was appointed secretary of the Board of
Directors of German chemical giant IG Farben. It
was a prestigious name at the time, but given the
company's association with the Nazis and the
Holocaust, his choice of career continued to cloud
Bernhard's reputation for years to come.
Political antenna
Several obituary writers have noted that
Bernhard's political antenna was often his
undoing. As a student in the early days of the
Nazi regime, he and some of his fellow students
joined the SS.
Bernhard claimed years later that he was
totally opposed to the Nazi ideology, but joining
the SS enabled them to continue their education.
In the months before his death, evidence that
Bernhard had also been a member of Hitler's
National Socialist NSDAP party hit the newspapers.
In the mid-1930s, fears were brewing of a new
war in Europe. The announcement of the engagement
between Bernhard and Crown Princess Juliana of the
Netherlands wasn't greeted with overwhelming
enthusiasm among the Dutch public.
Bernhard didn't help when he visited Adolf
Hitler, who suggested the marriage was a sign of
an alliance between the two countries.
Although he was bestowed with Dutch citizenship
for the wedding, the prince insensitively briefed
an SS officer about the political situation in the
Netherlands, including the Dutch Nazi party, just
days before the nuptials.
But some of his critics insist to this day that
Bernhard knew exactly what he was doing.
War years
Bernhard appears to have sorted out his
priorities by 10 May 1940 when the Germans
invaded. Armed with a machine gun, Bernhard helped
lead the royal family to safety in England.
Once there, he asked to work for British
Intelligence, but lingering doubts about his
loyalties deprived the prince of the James Bond
role he would so dearly have loved.
Instead, he flew for the RAF and helped his
wife run the government-in-exile and was allowed
to work on war planning councils. But when
Operation Market Garden proved a bridge too far at
Arnhem, there were dark mutterings that Bernhard
— now commander of the Dutch forces — had
betrayed the plans to the Germans.
Present at the German surrender at Wageningen
in the Netherlands on 5 May 1945, Bernhard showed
his sincere, but insensitive side when he said he
felt sorry for the general who signed on behalf of
the German forces. The officer was charged with
war crimes.
Big business
If the war provided Bernhard with a chance to
escape the confines of being a prince-consort, the
early post-war years were heaven for him.
Although the Dutch Constitution did not provide
him with any official role, he was appointed
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of State and served
on councils of all branches of the military.
He renewed his jet setting lifestyle as an
unofficial ambassador and general Mr Fix It for
the Netherlands. He was never shy of accepting
17-gun salutes to mark his arrival in a foreign
country and it is said he also used the time
abroad to indulge in extramarital affairs.
He served on the boards of dozens of companies,
including Dutch plane maker Fokker and Dutch
carrier KLM.
He truly earned a place in the history books
— and on the pages of numerous websites that
cater in conspiracy theories — when he helped
organise an all-male meeting of key business and
intellectual figures at a Bilderberg Hotel in the
Netherlands.
Officially, the annual meeting was a forum to
discuss economic issues in Western Europe and the
threat of communism. Unofficially, the Bilderberg
Group, say some amateur theorists, is a right-wing
conspiracy to dominate the world.
Ironically, Bernhard, the big-game hunter, also
found time to set up the conservation organisation
World Wildlife Fund.
Plane crash
His high-flying career came crashing down in
1976, when it emerged that Bernhard — in typical
cavalier style — seemed to think it was okay to
accept "commissions" from US plane
manufacturer Lockheed for his help to influence
the purchase of a new fighter jet for the
Netherlands.
It was hardly Bernhard's finest hour. The
scandal allowed the media to take another look at
his SS links as well as his extramarital affairs
and his links to several dodgy business
personalities.
The government was forced to tone down the
final report of the inquiry into the Lockheed
scandal as the then Queen Juliana threatened to
abdicate if Bernhard was carpeted.
The final report could not find evidence he
accepted a USD 1.5 million bribe from Lockheed,
but it did say he had acted in such a way as to
create the impression he was open to "doing
favours".
The findings were damning enough to strip
Bernhard of his business positions. He also lost
his military titles and was prevented from wearing
a Dutch military uniform ever again.
This punishment — though mild compared to a
lengthy jail sentence — hurt Bernhard deeply.
He constantly harked back to the camaraderie he
experienced during the war years and made a point
of attending Liberation Day ceremonies and other
events for veterans. He seemed happiest when
taking a salute from old soldiers at the annual 5
May Wageningen Liberation Day celebrations.
Latter years
When his daughter Beatrix became Queen in 1980,
Bernhard was firmly relegated to the sidelines.
This didn't stop him writing letters to the media
or even ringing up editors to outline his view on
the big story of the day.
In the last few years, Bernhard fought a
constant battle against ill health. Though slowed,
he still managed to make headlines — and find
himself on the right side of public opinion —
when he offered to pay any fine imposed on two
have-a-go supermarket workers charged with
roughing up a knife-wielding robber.
Some critics in the gossip press suggested he
had less time for his wife, Juliana, who had
Alzheimer's in the last few years before her death
in March 2004.
Yet her death seemed to mark a serious decline
in Bernhard's health. There were concerns he was
too ill to attend the funeral, but true to form,
he was there — looking frail and ill — but he
was there.
In mid-October, the Government Information
Service RVD announced Bernhard had an inoperable
tumour. For once, Bernhard seemed to accept that
this was one battle he wasn't going to win. His
declared wish was to die in Soestdijk Palace, the
home he had shared with his late wife of 67 years.
But life doesn't always have a fairy-tale
ending.
In a no doubt well-meaning act, the prince was
rushed to hospital when his doctors decided he
could no longer be treated at home. When he got
there, the prince took control of his life for one
last time.
He told his doctors not to treat him any
further. Prince Bernhard — an important part of
Dutch history — passed away at 6.50pm on 1
December 2004.
His body was brought back to Soestdijk at 10pm.
ORIGINAL
|
