Royalty, Rank and Masculinity: Three Dutch Princes Consort in the Twentieth Century

In her last speech as head of state on Dutch television, April 29, 2013, Queen Beatrix revealed that her choice to marry Claus von Amsberg was probably the best decision she had ever made. It is unthinkable that Queen Juliana and Queen Wilhelmina would have made a similar statement about their spouses. But Beatrix lives in quite another time with other cultural values about kingship, rank, and gender relations. She could marry someone from a modest aristocratic background, which should have been impossible for her mother and grandmother. Nevertheless, in the mid 1960s her choice had been no less problematic: the fact that she wanted to marry a German caused quite a stir among the Dutch.