Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (; ; 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 remains the longest-serving Dutch consort.

Biography

Henry of

Mecklenburg-Schwerin The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin () was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1701, when Frederick William, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Frederick William and Adolphus Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Adolphus Frederick II divided ...

was born on 19 April 1876 in

Schwerin Schwerin (; Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch dialect, Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch Low German: ''Swerin''; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Zwierzyn''; Latin: ''Suerina'', ''Suerinum'') is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Germ ...

. He was the youngest son of Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and his third wife, Princess Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. On 6 February 1901, Henry was created a Prince of the Netherlands and the next day, 7 February, married Queen Wilhelmina in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. Their only child together, Princess Juliana, was born in 1909. 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-war A post-war or postwar period is the interval immediately following the end of a war. The term usually refers to a varying period of time after World War II, which ended in 1945. A post-war period can become an interwar period or interbellum, ...

Dutch politics as chairman of the extreme-right Centre Party. The birth of a son out of wedlock was likely symptomatic of 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. Henry became the 279th

Knight Grand Cross A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

of the Portuguese

Order of the Tower and Sword The Military Order of the Tower and of the Sword, of Valour, Loyalty and Merit (), before 1917 the ancient and most noble order of the Tower and of the Sword, of valour, loyalty and merit (), is one of the four former ancient Portuguese milita ...

, and in 1924, he was appointed as the 1,157th

Knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

of the Spanish

Order of the Golden Fleece The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece (, ) is a Catholic order of chivalry founded in 1430 in Brugge by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy, Isabella of Portugal. T ...

. He died in

, Netherlands, on 3 July 1934, aged 58.Joop W. Koopmans, Arend H. Huussen, Jr., ''Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands'' (2007), p, 243

Scouting

Henry 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 Jean Jacques Rambonnet (8 March 1864 – 3 August 1943) was a Dutch naval officer and politician. Reaching the rank of vice admiral, he served as Minister of the Navy (Netherlands), Minister of the Navy, Acting Ministry of the Colonies (Netherland ...

to become chairman in 1920.

Extramarital relationships

Prince Henry was known to have had numerous extra-marital affairs. It is rumored that he fathered between three and ten illegitimate children; however, firm proof remains elusive, except for Albrecht Willem Lier, known as the above-noted Pim Lier (22 July 1918 – 9 April 2015). 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). Mien Abbo-Wenneker (later Lier-Wenneker), gave birth to a total of six children; the older two, sisters Christina Margaretha Abbo & Edith Abbo (later Sheep-Abbo) 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". 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.

Honours and awards

;German decorations
Grossherzoglich Mecklenburg-Schwerinscher Staatskalendar
', 1908, p. 5
Staatsalmanak voor het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden
', 1921, "Koninkrijk Huis der Nederlanden" pp. 1–2 * Netherlands: ** Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion ** Grand Cross of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

** Knight of the Gold Lion of Nassau ** Grand Cross of the House Order of Orange ** Grand Master of the

Johanniter Order The Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Chivalric Order of Saint John of the Hospital at Jerusalem (), commonly known as the Order of Saint John or the Johanniter Order (German: ''Johanniterorden''), is the German Protestant branch of the Knights Hos ...

, ''30 April 1909''Justus Perthes, ''Almanach de Gotha'' (1922
p. 71
/ref> ** Cross of Merit of the Dutch Red Cross ** Wedding Medal of Queen Wilhelmina and Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, ''1901'' *

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

: Grand Cross of the Royal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen, ''1903''"A Szent István Rend tagjai"
;Foreign decorations

Ancestry

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Duke 1876 births 1934 deaths House of Orange-Nassau Dutch royal consorts Dutch members of the Dutch Reformed Church Members of the Council of State (Netherlands) House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Dutch people of German descent Royal Netherlands Army officers Royal Netherlands Army generals Royal Netherlands Navy admirals Royal Netherlands Navy officers Royal Netherlands East Indies Army generals Royal Netherlands East Indies Army officers Prussian Army personnel Converts to Calvinism from Lutheranism Sea rescue Scouting and Guiding in the Netherlands Burials in the Royal Crypt at Nieuwe Kerk, Delft Wilhelmina of the Netherlands Recipients of the Order of the Netherlands Lion Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau Grand Crosses of the Order of the House of Orange Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary Grand Crosses of the Order of Christ (Portugal) Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain Honorary Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights of the Order of Saint John in the Netherlands Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland) Sons of dukes Dukes of Mecklenburg-Schwerin