Allegiance To The House of Orange
The Prince eventually went to work for the German chemical giant IG Farben, then the world’s fourth-largest company (which survives today as BASF, AGFA, and Bayer). After training, he became secretary to the board of directors at the Paris office in 1935. Because he was a Protestant of royal rank (the Lippe-Biesterfelds were a sovereign house in the German Empire), Bernhard was acceptable to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands as a suitable husband for her daughter Princess Juliana. Bernhard’s appropriateness as consort of the future Queen would later become a matter of some public debate.
Prince Bernhard’s political affiliations with the Nazi regime have received much attention. Various members of his family and acquaintances were aligned with the Nazis prior to and during the war, and a number of them joined the royal wedding party on 7 January 1937 in The Hague. 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 himself gives a rendering of the conversation he had with Bernhard in his Tisch Gespräche (Table Conversations). Table Conversations was a collection of monologues, remarks, and speeches Hitler gave during lunch or dinner to those invited to the table by him. Bernhard himself called Hitler a tyrant in a public speech on the BBC on 25 June 1940 after France fell to Germany.
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 discovered. The Prince showed himself to be a loyal Dutch citizen and officer. He cut off relations with the members of his family who were enthusiastic Nazis. As a sign of his "Dutchness" he spoke only Dutch when negotiating the surrender of German forces in the Netherlands. The Prince was known to be very fond of smart uniforms and medals. He made a point of wearing his medals in the English court style, even though members of the Dutch armed forces wear their medals in the Prussian style.
The Prince’s mother was no admirer of the Nazis and got into trouble for refusing to hoist the swastika flag on her country seat at Reckenwalde.
Read more about this topic: Prince Bernhard Of Lippe-Biesterfeld
Famous quotes containing the words allegiance to the, allegiance to, allegiance, house and/or orange:
“You didn’t feel there was anything you ever could enjoy again because you really were immersed in death. Other people seemed shallow. You felt a strong allegiance to the dead.”
—Joan Furey (b. 1946)
“You didn’t feel there was anything you ever could enjoy again because you really were immersed in death. Other people seemed shallow. You felt a strong allegiance to the dead.”
—Joan Furey (b. 1946)
“For my part, I feel that with regard to Nature I live a sort of border life, on the confines of a world into which I make occasional and transient forays only, and my patriotism and allegiance to the state into whose territories I seem to retreat are those of a moss-trooper.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I know [my label], in any case: a double face, a charming Janus, and underneath, the house motto: “Be wary”. On my business cards: “Jean-Baptiste Clamence, actor”.”
—Albert Camus (1913–1960)
“An orange on the table,
Your dress on the rug,
And you in my bed,
Sweet present of the present,
Cool of night,
Warmth of my life.”
—Jacques Prévert (1900–1977)