Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands

Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands (June 29, 1911 – December 1, 2004) was Prince Consort to the late Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, and father of the current monarch, Queen Beatrix.

Scandals

By the 1970s, Prince Bernhard served on more than 300 corporate boards or committees worldwide and was loudly praised in the Netherlands for his very active efforts to promote the economic well-being of the country. But scandal rocked the Royal family in 1976 when it was revealed that Prince Bernhard had accepted a US$1.1 million bribe from U.S. aircraft manufacturer, Lockheed Corporation to influence the Dutch government's purchase of fighter aircraft. Prime minister of the Netherlands Joop den Uyl ordered an inquiry into the affair while Prince Bernhard was refusing to answer reporters' questions, stating: "I am above such things." The Dutch and international press headlined the stories for months, showing proof of Prince Bernhard's German SS participation and his numerous extra-marital affairs, including the purchase of a luxurious Paris apartment for his mistress Helene Grinda, with whom he had one illegitimate daughter: Alexia. (Bernhard has a second illegitimate daughter, Alicia, in the USA.)

Related Topics:
1970s - 1976 - Bribe - Lockheed Corporation - Fighter aircraft - Prime minister of the Netherlands - Joop den Uyl - Paris - Mistress - Helene Grinda - Illegitimate

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Further evidence came to light of the Prince having been deeply involved with Tibor Rosenbaum, the Swiss banker and front man for Mafia financier Meyer Lansky. To make things worse, it was revealed that the Prince had also been involved in business dealings with Robert Vesco who had been a frequent guest at the Royal Palace. Vesco used an Amsterdam mailing address while committing the largest single fraud ever, stealing more than US$220 million from a Swiss based company, Investors Overseas Services Ltd.

Related Topics:
Tibor Rosenbaum - Mafia - Meyer Lansky - Robert Vesco - Investors Overseas Services Ltd

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On August 26, 1976, a toned down, but nonetheless devastating, report on Prince Bernhard's activities was released to a shocked Dutch public. The Prince's own letter in 1974 to Lockheed Corporation that demanded "commissions" be paid to him on Dutch government aircraft purchases was one of the most damaging documents in a mountain of evidence. The investigations also revealed other serious actions by the Prince, including arranging to pay more than a million dollars in bribes to Juan Peron of Argentina in exchange for Argentina buying new railroad equipment from the Netherlands. Criminal charges were not laid by the government due to threats by Queen Juliana that she would abdicate if her husband was prosecuted.

Related Topics:
August 26 - 1976 - 1974 - Juan Peron - Argentina - Railroad - Abdicate

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Prince Bernhard resigned his various high profile positions in many businesses, charities, and other institutions and in return the States-General voted against criminal prosecution. He turned over presidency of the international World Wildlife Fund to the British prince Philip. The Dutch Royal family worked hard to rehabilitate the Prince's name, but another scandal was to be revealed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1988, Prince Bernhard and Princess Juliana sold two paintings from their personal collection to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund. The paintings sold for GBP700 000, which was deposited in a Swiss WWF bank account. In 1989, however, Charles de Haes, director-general of the WWF, transferred GBP500 000 back to Bernhard, for what de Haes called a private project. In 1991, newspapers reported what this private project was: Prince Bernhard had hired mercenaries - mostly British - to fight against poachers in wildlife reserves. The paramilitary organisation had infiltrated in organisations that profiting from illegal trade in ivory, in order to roll them up.

Related Topics:
1988 - Painting - GBP - 1989 - Charles de Haes - 1991 - Mercenaries - Poachers - Wildlife - Reserve - Paramilitary - Ivory

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This 'Project Lock', as it was called, seemed to have backfired enormously, however. The "private army" of Bernhard had not only infiltrated in the illegal trade, they were also participating in it. To make things worse, Irish reporter Kevin Dowling discovered that the South-African army was also involved in the trade, hinting at connections between the army of Bernhard and the WWF and the struggle for maintaining apartheid. Moreover, he claimed members of the South-African run counterinsurgency unit Koevoet (Afrikaans for "crowbar"), responsible for the Boipatong massacre in 1992, were trained under Project Lock.

Related Topics:
Project Lock - Irish - Kevin Dowling - Apartheid - Koevoet - Afrikaans - Crowbar - Boipatong massacre - 1992

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In 1995, Nelson Mandela called upon the Kumleben Commission to investigate, among other things, the role of the WWF in apartheid South-Africa. In the report that followed, it was suggested that mercenaries from Project Lock had been planning assassinations of ANC members and that mercenaries had been running training camps in the wildlife reserves, training fighters from the terrorist groups UNITA and Renamo. Although Prince Bernhard was never accused of any crime in its context, the Project Lock scandal dealt another damaging blow to the Prince's name.

Related Topics:
1995 - Nelson Mandela - Kumleben Commission - Assassin - ANC - Terrorist - UNITA - Renamo

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Yet more controversy came on 30 October 2002, when he paid the fines of two Albert Heijn supermarket staff members, who were convicted of assaulting a shoplifter after they detained him.

Related Topics:
30 October - 2002 - Albert Heijn - Supermarket - Assault - Shoplifter

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In an interview published after his death, Prince Bernhard admitted that he had accepted more than one million dollars (US) in bribes from Lockheed. He also admitted to having fathered two illegitimate daughters in the years following his marriage. http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBE5HEOQ2E.html

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~