Consorting with German princes can lead to trouble. After everything though, one can respect a life well lived. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
A lot to like about the visuals of this stamp. First is that it looks at least 10 years newer than it is. Second that it shows the Prince as a man, with accomplishments and perhaps flaws. Then there are the airplanes. A Fokker F27 Friendship regional airliner showing off Dutch industry, and the KLM Boeing 747 reaching for the stars with it’s promise of worldwide travel.
Todays stamp is issue A123, a 25 cent stamp issued by the Netherlands on June 25th, 1971. It features Prince Consort Bernhard honoring him for his work in Dutch aviation and in other stamps in this issue, his work for the World Wildlife Fund. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.
The Prince was born in 1911 in Germany as a Prince in the house of Lippe. The royal house became out of work after World War I but the family still had money. The Prince was educated and took a job! with IJ Farbin the large German chemical company. He also to his later embarrassment joined the Nazi Party and served in the SS in a reserve capacity. He met Dutch Princess Julianna at a winter Olympics in 1936 and was judged a worthy suitor as a proper Royal and a Lutheran. He married Princess Julianna in 1937 and with her fathered 4 daughters including future Queen Beatrix. His German background came back to haunt him when the Germans invaded in 1940 but he willingly fought for his adopted country by flying Spitfires fighters from Britain. Julianna and the children fled to the safety of Canada. The allies were nervous of him at first but over time he earned their respect. When Queen Wilhelmina erased the honorary from her son in law’s military title, something she did not technically have the right to do, the Dutch armed forces honored it. He had a brother who fought with his native Germans and many wondered of their wartime relationship.
In 1948, Queen Wilhelmina abdicated and Bernhard’s wife Julianna became Queen. He became a jet setter who actively promoted Dutch business around the world. He also became Inspector General of the Dutch armed forces. His jet setting later led to two further illegitimate daughters, one in 1952 by an American landscape architect and a second by a French model in 1967. He also helped found the World Wildlife Fund.
He also courted controversy. In the 1960s NATO countries pooled their resources to buy fighter planes for their air forces on better terms. The group chose the Lockheed F104 Starfighter for the large order despite the model being a failure in American service. It later became controversial for it’s many crashes, In Canada, it was called the widowmaker and in Germany the tent peg. Rumors flooded Europe that the order went to Lockheed because of bribes paid. Proof was found from Prince Bernhard of him demanding a 1 million dollar “commission” to him personally in return for the Dutch order for Starfighters. He tried to claim he was above answering questions on such things but later stepped down from the armed forces and other business interests to avoid criminal prosecution.
He had earlier controversially planted stories in the German press about his wife the Queen for seeing a faith healer, which the article described as her Rasputin. The story was true and eventually Queen Julianna was forced by the government to cut ties from her. The Royals were divided as to whether he was taking desperate measures to help her or whether it was a German Putsch to have Julianna abdicate with Bernhard leading a regency for his young daughter.
The last controversy soiled his work with the World Wildlife Fund. The Prince sold some Royal paintings for $700.000 giving the money to the WWF. The WWF than gave $500,000 back to him to help form a mercenary army in Africa to fight poachers. How much they fought poachers and how much the collaborated with them is up for debate. Post apartheid South Africa believes the target was really the ANC and Zulu freedom fighters.
Prince Bernhard lived till 2004 and was considered somewhat of a character in Holland late in his life. He was awarded a full state Burial and outlived Former Queen Julianna by 8 months. The Dutch Air Force performed a missing man formation with an old Spitfire, modern F16s, but no Starfighters.
Well my drink is empty and I will happily pour another to toast Prince Bernhard. The world needs a few characters. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.