Her actions during WWII is the foundation under the popularity of the Dutch monarchy.
Even today her descendants keep that memory alive. Sometimes by simply going to a musical celebrating the soldier of Orange. It's a small reminder that if the Dutch are really in trouble and foreign forces invade the country there is always a member of the House of Orange-Nassau to rally behind and save the day.
I don't think they consciously do so but it's been part of Dutch history since the 80 year war.
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: --Previous Message--
:
: The Luxembourg royal family had little
: option but to flee. The Grand Duchess
: Charlotte would have been very mindful of
: the fate of her elder sister, who was
: vilified for her her alleged pro German
: sympathies in the first World War.
: Charlotte's nephew, Prince Anselm of Thurn
: & Taxis was killed in 1944, so the war
: did hit the grand ducal family. Had
: Charlotte remained in Luxembourg she would
: have been compromised like Marie Adelaide
: & King Leopold in Belgium. I'm not sure
: they lived in luxury. Also of course both
: Felix & Jean served with the Allied
: forces.
:
: I'm not saying anything against the Grand
: Duchess or criticizing her decision: I would
: have done the same thing myself, in her
: shoes. It's just that I've often read that
: things were different in the Netherlands,
: when Queen Wilhelmina did the same thing as
: her Luxembourg counterpart. Her decision to
: flee the invading Germans, instead of
: staying (an act that could be interpreted as
: surrender), was not unanimously supported
: among the Dutch. In fact, it was initially
: thought of as an act of abandoning her
: subjects. In Luxembourg, people said
: "tell our sovereign that we stand
: beside her at all costs ... that we carry
: her on our shoulders ... that we won't let
: her feet touch the soil on her return
: ..."
:
: But I've never heard of such support for
: Queen Wilhelmina in her country: evidently
: it wasn't until a year later, that the
: people at large supported her action, and
: decided that she could do better work from
: abroad, than at home. The lack of unanimity
: in sentiment among her subjects got
: reflected in their greetings, when she
: returned to the Netherlands: some actually
: treated her with coldness. However, most
: were glad to welcome their sovereign home.
:
: I don't know, however, if Wilhelmina got the
: same reception as Charlotte, who was greeted
: with the salute, "Madame, we adore
: you!" Oh well ... Luxembourg is a
: smaller country, and so one can expect
: greater unanimity of sentiment amongst the
: people ...
:
:
:
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