A file containing potentially incriminating facts about Prince Bernhard has disappeared from the archives of the Internal Security Service (BVD). This is a folder that could contain information about espionage by the prince for the Nazis, and about the so-called Stadhouders' Letter, in which the prince allegedly offered his services to the German occupying forces during the war.

Prince Bernhard (1911-2004) was known as a charming governor who used his talents for the country. But he also sometimes got the Oranjes into deep trouble. His jet-set life, affairs, and allegations of abuse of power often embarrassed the royal family. Videoland will release a documentary about the life of Prince Bernhard this month. The three-part series includes never-before-seen images from, among others, Bernard's own archive. Prince Bernhard's illegitimate children are also discussed and there is a contribution from his never-recognized daughter Mildred Zijlstra.


Bernhard's War: The Life of a Prince in Exile For decades, Prince Bernhard was a war hero and symbol of the resistance, until the Lockheed affair caused irreparable damage to his image in the 1970s. His accessibility to “unearthly desires and offers,” as the committee of inquiry put it in 1976, was also considered retroactively applicable to his behavior during the Second World War. But how justified was this changed view of Bernhard's younger years? In this work, acclaimed biographer Dik van der Meulen shows that Prince Bernhard was primarily a complex figure, combining deathly contempt with opportunism; a man who was self-centered and at the same time loyal to his friends — although not always to his own wife.

BVD dossier about Prince Bernhard's war history search Stadtholder letter The BVD archive lacks a file with potentially incriminating facts about Prince Bernhard. It could have contained information about the so-called Stadhouders' Letter. #princebernhard #royalfamily #spionage #adultery #omkoping

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