Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
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- For other uses, see Wilhelmina (disambiguation).
Template:References Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands (Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Marie of Orange-Nassau; August 31, 1880 – November 28, 1962), Princess of Orange-Nassau, was Queen regnant of the Netherlands from 1890 to 1948 and Queen Mother (with the title of Princess) from 1948 to 1962. She ruled the Netherlands for over fifty years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw many turning points in both Dutch and world history: World War I and World War II, the Great Crisis of 1933, as well as the decline of the Netherlands as a major colonial empire. She is mostly remembered for her role in the Second World War, in which she would prove to be a great inspiration to the Dutch resistance, as well as a prominent leader of the Dutch government in exile.
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Early life
She was the daughter of King William III and his second wife Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Her childhood was characterized by a close relationship with her parents, especially with her father who was already 63 years of age when she was born.
King William already had three sons with his first wife, Queen Sophie. When Wilhelmina was born there was little chance she would ascend the throne. However, William would survive his three sons, the last of them dying when Wilhelmina was six.
King William III died on November 23, 1890. Her mother Emma became Regent for the young Wilhelmina until her 18th birthday.
On August 31, 1898, Wilhelmina was crowned in the New Church in Amsterdam and in 1901 she married Hendrik of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Although the marriage was said to be in essence out of love, Wilhelmina initially truly cared for Hendrik, and it is likely her feelings were mutual. Hendrik however, suffered from his role as prince-consort, stating that it was boring to be nothing more than a decoration, always forced to walk one step behind one's wife. He had no power in the Netherlands, and Wilhelmina made sure this remained so.
A series of miscarriages also contributed to a crisis in their marriage. Hendrik became a playboy and a drunkard, and is reported to have had several illegitimate children. Over time the marriage became less happy. The birth of their only child, Juliana, on April 30, 1909, was met with great relief after eight years of childless marriage. [1]
Reign
Tactful, and careful to operate within the limitations of what was expected by the Dutch people and their elected representatives, the strong-willed Wilhelmina became a forceful personality who spoke and acted her mind. These qualities showed up early on in her reign when, at the age of 20, Queen Wilhelmina ordered a Dutch warship to South Africa to rescue Paul Kruger, the embattled President of the Transvaal. For this, Wilhelmina gained international stature and earned the respect and admiration of people all over the world. Wilhelmina had a stern disliking of Great Britain, which had annexed the republics Transvaal and Orange Free State in the Boer Wars. The Boers were descendents of early Dutch colonists, with which Wilhelmina felt very closely linked.
In 1899 she offered an expensive aterdinner for the Hague Conventions.
In 1901 she offered her palace in The Hague as residence for the Hague Tribunal.
Queen Wilhelmina also had a keen understanding of business matters and her investments would make her one of the wealthiest women in the world and the first woman to ever accumulate a net worth in excess of a billion dollars. Her investments extended to the United States and to the oil wells in the Indies. During her time, oil would become a major source of wealth, power, and war. The Dutch Royal Family is still reputed to be the single largest shareholder of Royal Dutch Shell.
World War I
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Although the Netherlands remained neutral during World War I, sizeable German investments in the Dutch economy combined with a large trading partnership in goods forced the United Kingdom to blockade the Dutch ports in an attempt to weaken the German Empire. The Dutch government traded with Germany in response. German soldiers were given Edamer cheese for their rations before an assault. Wilhemina was a 'soldier's queen', being a woman, she could not be Supreme Commander, but she nevertheless used every opportunity she had to inspect her forces. On many occasions she appeared without notice, wishing to see the reality, not a prepared show. She loved her soldiers, but was very unhappy with most of her governments, which used the military as a constant source for budget-cutting. Wilhelmina wanted a small, but well trained and equipped army. However, this was far from the reality. In the war, she felt she was a "Queen-On-Guard." She was always wary of a German attack, especially in the beginning. However, violation of Dutch territorial sovereignty came by both Britain and the United States, who, with the blockade, captured many Dutch trade- and cargoships in an attempt to disrupt the German war effort. This led to increased tensions between the Netherlands and the Allied forces.
Civil unrest, spurred by the Bolshevik revolt in Imperial Russia in 1917, gripped the Netherlands after the war. A socialist leader named Troelstra tried to overthrow the government and the Queen. Instead of a violent revolution, he wanted to control the Second Chamber of the States-General, the legislative body of Parliament and hoped to achieve this by means of elections convinced that the working class would support him. However, the popularity of the young Queen helped restore confidence in the government. Wilhelmina brought about a mass-show of support by riding with her daughter through the mobs in an open carriage. It was very clear that the revolution would not succeed.
Between the wars
During the twenties and thirties, the Netherlands began to emerge as an industrial powerhouse: engineers reclaimed vast amounts of land that had been underwater by building the Zuiderzee scheme. The death of her husband Prince Hendrik in 1934 brought an end to a difficult year that also saw the passing of her mother Queen Emma.
The interbellum, and most notably the economic crisis of the '30s, was also the period in which Wilhelmina's personal power reached her zenith; under the successive governments of prime minister Hendrik Colijn (ARP), a staunch monarchist, Wilhelmina was deeply involved in most questions of state.
In 1939 the fifth and last government of Hendrik Colijn was swept away by a vote of no confidence two days after its formation. It is widely accepted that Wilhelmina herself was behind the formation of this last government which was designed to be an extra-parliamentary or 'royal' cabinet. The Queen was deeply sceptical towards the parliamentary system and tried to bypass it covertly more than once.
She also arranged for the marriage between her daughter Juliana and prince Bernhard von Lippe-Biesterfeld, a German prince who had lost most of his possesions after the war. There has been speculation that he was in service of Hitler personally, and he was to asassinate Juliana. Although he was intitially a supporter of the Nazi regime, hard evidence of this was never found, or publicised. He later became a very popular figure in the Netherlands.
World War II
Template:Infobox Dutchkingstyles On May 10, 1940, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands and Queen Wilhelmina and her family evaded to the United Kingdom three days later. Queen Wilhelmina wanted to stay in the Netherlands, she had intentionally planned to go to the southern province of Zeeland with her troops, to coordinate further resistance from the town of Breskens and remain there until help would arrive, much like King Albert I of Belgium had done during World War I. When she went aboard an English cruiser at The Hague which would take her there. However when on board the captain stated he was forbidden to make contact with the Dutch shore, Zeeland was under heavy attack from the Luftwaffe, and it was also to dangerous to return. Wilhelmina then took the decision to go to England, planning to return as soon as possible. The Dutch armed forces in the Netherlands, except those in Zeeland, surrendered on May 14. In England, Queen Wilhelmina took charge of the Dutch government in exile, setting up a chain of command and immediately communicating a message to her people.
The relation between the Dutch government and the Queen was tense, mutual disliking would grow as the war progressed. Wilhelmina went on to be the most prominent figure, due to her experience and knowledge. She was also very popular and respected among the leaders of the world. The government did not have a Parliament to back them with few employees to assist them. A first test of power came about when prime minister De Geer intended to open negotiations with the Nazi's for a separate peace, as he didn't believe the Allies would win. Wilhelmina was against this and sought to remove the Prime-minister from power which also, with the aid of Minister Gerbrandy was succeeded.
During the war her photograph was a sign of resistance against the Germans.
Like Winston Churchill, Queen Wilhelmina broadcast messages to the Dutch people over Radio Oranje. As always, the Queen pulled no punches, calling Adolf Hitler "the archenemy of mankind." Her late night broadcasts were eagerly awaited by her people, who had to hide in order to listen to them illegally. During the war, the Queen was almost killed by a bomb that took the life of several of her guards and severely damaged her country home near South Mimms, England. In 1944 Queen Wilhelmina became only the second woman to be inducted into the Order of the Garter. Churchill described her as the only real man among the governments-in-exile in London.
In England she developed ideas about a new political and social live for the Dutch after the liberation. She wanted a strong cabinet formed by people active in the resistance. She dismissed the prime minister Gerbrandy during the war and installed a prime minister without approval of other Dutch politicians. The Queen "hated" politicians, instead stating a love for the people. When the Netherlands was liberated in 1945 she was disappointed to see the same political factions taking power as before the war.
Following the end of World War II, Queen Wilhelmina made the decision not to return to her palace but move into a mansion in The Hague, where she lived for eight months, and travelled through the countryside to motivate people, sometimes using a bicycle instead of a car. However, in 1947, while the country was recovering from World War II, the revolt in the oil-rich Dutch East Indies would see sharp criticism of the Queen by the Dutch economic elite. Her loss of popularity and the forced departure from the Indies under international pressure led to her abdication soon after.
Later years
On September 4, 1948, after a fifty-eight year reign, Wilhelmina abdicated in favour of her daughter Juliana. She was thenceforward styled Her Royal Highness Princess Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. After her reign, the influence of the Dutch monarchy began to decline but the country's love of their royal family would continue. No longer Queen, Wilhelmina retreated to Het Loo Palace, making few public appearances until 1953 when the country was devastated by the North Sea flood of 1953. Once again she traveled about the country to encourage and motivate her people, although this time the 73-year-old grandmother used a car instead of a bicycle. Still working tirelessly on her investments, in the world of business, even at her advanced age she thrived, meeting and dealing with economic powerhouses at the time such as the American Mellons of Pennsylvania and the European Rothschilds.
During her last years she wrote her autobiography titled: Eenzaam, maar niet Alleen (Lonely but Not Alone).
Queen Wilhelmina died at the age of 82 on November 28, 1962 and is buried in the crypt of the Dutch Royal Family in the Nieuwe Kerk (New Church) in Delft, the Netherlands.
Trivia
Prior to the outbreak of the First World War, a young Wilhelmina visited the powerful Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany who boasted to the Queen of a tiny country that "my guards are seven feet tall and yours are only shoulder high to them." Wilhelmina smiled politely and replied: "Quite true, Your Majesty, your guards are seven feet tall. But when we open our dikes, the water is ten feet deep!"
After the armistice ending World War I, Wilhelm came to the Netherlands, this time as a political exile.
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