Birth
She was born Maria Christina (Marijke) at Soestdijk Palace, The Netherlands. Among her godparents was Winston Churchill. Her mother had contracted German measles during her pregnancy and as a result, the Princess was born nearly blind. Over time, advances in medicine allowed for treatments that, with the aid of special glasses, brought about an improvement in her vision so that she could attend school and live a relatively normal life. Despite this initial handicap, she was a brilliant and happy child, with a considerable talent for music. She also had a capacity for languages and as a young girl delighted the visiting President of the French Republic René Coty, by conversing fluently with him in the French language.
Princess Christina of the Netherlands could claim British nationality because of her descent from Sophia, Electress of Hanover. Her British nationality is based on 'The Act for the Naturalization of the Most Excellent Princess Sophia, Electress and Duchess Dowager of Hanover, and the Issue of her Body' from 1705. This Act was repealed in 1948 and is no longer in force, but that was after her birth.
Princess Christina of the Netherlands is a direct descendant of Sophia, Electress of Hanover via her grandson King George II of Great Britain's daughter Anne, Princess of Orange, Fürstin of Nassau née Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, Princess of Hanover, Duchess of Braunschweig and Lüneburg, The Princess Royal (1709–1759).
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“There is a certain class of people who prefer to say that their fathers came down in the world through their own follies than to boast that they rose in the world through their own industry and talents. It is the same shabby-genteel sentiment, the same vanity of birth which makes men prefer to believe that they are degenerated angels rather than elevated apes.”
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