Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
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Princess Margriet of the Netherlands (Margriet Francisca, born on January 19, 1943), Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, is the third daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard, the former Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. As a daughter of the late Queen Juliana and a younger sister of the current monarch, Queen Beatrix, she is currently eighth in line to the Dutch throne.
The Princess was born in Ottawa, Ontario, as the family had been living in Canada since June 1940 after the occupation of the Netherlands by Nazi Germany. The Ottawa Civic Hospital in which Princess Margriet was born was placed temporarily outside the jurisdiction of Canadian law so that she would have exclusively Dutch, and not dual, nationality.
Since she is a descendant of King George II of Great Britain, and is therefore theoretically in line for the British throne, she became a British subject after a 1957 court case filed by Ernest Augustus IV, Prince of Hanover (who was also a prince of the UK) decided that all persons in line for the British throne are British subjects. Though this rendered previous efforts to avoid dual nationality useless, Margriet does not hold dual citizenship.
Princess Margriet of the Netherlands could claim British nationality because of her descent from Sophia, Electress of Hannover. 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 This Act was repealed in 1948 and is no longer in force, but that was after her birth.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 Margriet of the Netherlands is a direct descendant of Sophia Electress of Hannover via her daughter Anne Princess of Orange, Fürstin of Nassau née Princess of Great Britain and Ireland, Princess of Hannover, Duchess of Braunschweig and Lüneburg, The Princess Royal (1709-1759).
She was named after the marguerite, the flower worn during the war as a symbol of the resistance to Nazi Germany. (See also the book When Canada Was Home, the Story of Dutch Princess Margriet, by Albert VanderMey, Vanderheide.)
Princess Margriet was christened at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Ottawa, on 29 June 1943. Her godparents include President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the USA, Queen Mary of Great Britain, Crown Princess Märtha of Norway, and The Dutch Merchant Fleet.
It was not until August 1945, when the Netherlands had been liberated, that Princess Margriet first set foot on Dutch soil. Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard returned to Soestdijk Palace in Baarn, where the family had lived before the war.
It was while she was studying at Leiden University that Princess Margriet met her future husband, Pieter van Vollenhoven. Their engagement was announced on 10 March 1965, and they were married on 10 January 1967 in The Hague. It was decreed that any children of the marriage would be styled HH Prince/Princess van Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven, titles that would not be hereditary.
The Princess and her husband took up residence in the right wing of Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn. In 1975 the family moved to their present home, Het Loo, which they had had built near the Palace.
Margriet often represents Queen Beatrix at official or semi-official events. Some of these functions have taken her back to Canada, and to events organized by the Dutch merchant marine of which she is a patron.
As of 2006, she is 823rd in the line of succession to the British Throne, and 8th to the Dutch Throne.
[edit] Children
Princess Margriet and Pieter van Vollenhoven have four sons:
- Prince Maurits (born 17 April 1968) m. Marilène van den Broek (b. 4 February 1970) on 29 May 1998. They have three children:
- Prince Bernhard (b. 25 December 1969) m. Annette Sekrève (b. 18 April 1972). They have two children:
- Prince Pieter Christiaan (b. 22 March 1972) m. Anita van Eijk (b. 27 October 1969) They have one daughter:
- Emma Francisca Catharina van Vollenhoven (b.28 November 2006
- Prince Floris (b. 10 April 1975) m. Aimée Söhngen (b. 19 October 1977).
Upon the marriage of Prince Maurits to Marie-Helene van den Broek in 1998, it was announced that the couple's children would bear the surname van Lippe-Biesterfeld van Vollenhoven. The children of Prince Bernhard and his wife, Annette Sekrève, will be known by the surname van Vollenhoven.
Since neither Prince Pieter Christiaan nor Prince Floris applied for parliamentary approval for their marriages, as required in the Netherlands, they lost their place in the succession when they married.
[edit] Trivia
A commemorative ceramic plate by the American pottery firm of Lamberton & Scammel was commissioned by the Netherlands Aid Society to celebrate the birth of the little royal princess. The inscription on the plate reads:
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Which loosely translates as:
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In 1945, the Dutch royal family sent 100,000 tulip bulbs to Ottawa as thanks for having housed the Royal Family and declaring the Hospital in which Princess Margriet was born Dutch territory. They have sent tulips every year since.
| Preceded by Countess Leonore of Orange-Nassau |
Line of succession to the Dutch Throne | Succeeded by Prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven |
| Line of succession to the British Throne | Succeeded by Lucas van Vollenhoven van Lippe-Biesterfeld |
