Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (German: Heinrich Wladimir Albrecht Ernst; Dutch: Hendrik Vladimir Albrecht Ernst; 19 April 1876 – 3 July 1934) was Prince of the Netherlands from 7 February 1901 until his death in 1934 as the husband of Queen Wilhelmina. He was the longest-serving Dutch consort.
On 6 February 1901, Henry was created a Prince of the Netherlands and the next day, 7 February, married Queen Wilhelmina in The Hague. Their only child together, Princess Juliana, was born in 1909.[1] On 4 September 1948, Wilhelmina abdicated as queen of the Netherlands and was succeeded by Juliana.
Henry also fathered at least one illegitimate child, Pim Lier by his mistress Willemina Martina Wenneker (1887-1973). Born in 1918, Lier eventually rose to prominence in post-warDutch politics as chairman of the extreme-right Centre Party. The birth of a son out of wedlock was likely to be only symptomatic for the duke's increasingly strained relationship with his wife. That became all the more clear at the time of the opening ceremony of the Amsterdam Summer Olympics in 1928. Henry attended and even presided over the festivities, but Wilhelmina stayed away and stated that she was prevented from attending by her personal religious conviction that the type of event should not take place on a Sunday.[2]
He successfully merged the two Dutch Boy Scout organisations Nederlandse Padvinders Organisatie (NPO, Netherlands Pathfinder Organisation) and the Nederlandse Padvinders Bond (NPB, Netherlands Pathfinder Federation) on 11 December 1915 to form De Nederlandse Padvinders (NPV, The Netherlands Pathfinders). He became the Royal Commissioner of that organisation and he asked Jean Jacques Rambonnet to become chairman in 1920.[3]
Prince Consort Hendrik and his daughter, Princess Juliana in 1928
Prince Henry was known to have had numerous extra-marital affairs. It is rumored that, overall, Prince Henry fathered between three and ten illegitimate children, but firm proof remains elusive, except for Albrecht Willem Lier, known as the above-noted Pim Lier (22 July 1918 – 9 April 2015).[4] During her widowhood, Queen Wilhelmina paid monthly allowances to three known ex-mistresses: Julia Cervey in Geneva (two hundred guilders per month); Wilhelmine Steiner in Zurich (five hundred guilders per month); and Mien Lier-Wenneker (1887-1973), in The Hague (five hundred guilders per month).[5] Mien Abbo-Wenneker (later Lier-Wenneker, 1887–1973), gave birth to a total of six children; the older two, sisters Christina Margaretha Abbo & Edith Abbo (later Sheep-Abbo)[6] were ostensibly the daughters of Mien's first husband, Dhr. Abbo, but strongly rumored to have been fathered by Prince Henry. In 1919, Mien married Lieutenant Jan Derk Lier, a former aide-de-camp to Prince Henry. A grant of one hundred thousand guilders was arranged for Lt. Lier from the State by police chief François van 't Sant, whom Queen Wilhelmina engaged to verify the facts of her husband's extramarital relationships and children. This, plus a monthly allowance to the Lt from the state of one thousand guilders, was in return for his commitment to "the three children of HRH".[7]
The male parent of the remaining three children was not verified as being either Prince Henry or Lt. Lier. Subsequent to their birth, no additional allowance was settled on the family; in fact, the monthly allowance of one thousand guilders to Lt. Jan Derk Lier was halved by van't Sant after a short period, although the allowance to his wife continued.
^ abJoop W. Koopmans, Arend H. Huussen, Jr., Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands (2007), p, 243
^Findling, John E.; Pelle, Kimberly D., eds. (1996). Historical Dictionary of the Modern Olympic Movement. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 68–74. ISBN0313284776.
1title granted by Royal Decree to consort of the Queen, without the title "Prince of Orange-Nassau"
2gave up the title "Prince of the Netherlands, but still held the title "Prince of Orange-Nassau"3title granted by Royal Decree to descendants of Princess Irene
