Prince Bernhard Lucas Emmanuel of Orange-Nassau, van VollenhovenPrince Bernhard
Royal House of the Netherlands. Retrieved 26 August 2021. (born 25 December 1969) is a Dutch entrepreneur and a member of the

Dutch royal family The monarchy of the Netherlands is governed by the country's charter and constitution, roughly a third of which explains the mechanics of succession, accession, and abdication; the roles and duties of the monarch; the formalities of communica ...

. He is the second son of

Princess Margriet of the Netherlands Princess Margriet of the Netherlands (Margriet Francisca; born 19 January 1943) is the third daughter of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. As an aunt of the reigning monarch, King Willem-Alexander, she is a member of the Dutch Royal House a ...

and

Pieter van Vollenhoven Pieter van Vollenhoven Jr. (born 30 April 1939) is the husband of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and a member, by marriage, of the Dutch royal house. Early life and career Van Vollenhoven was born in Schiedam, he is the second son of Pi ...

. Before the succession of his cousin

Willem-Alexander Willem-Alexander (; Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand; born 27 April 1967) is King of the Netherlands since 30 April 2013. Willem-Alexander was born in Utrecht during the reign of his maternal grandmother, Queen Juliana, as the eldest ch ...

as King, he was a member of the

Dutch Royal House In the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the monarchy of the Netherlands is a constitutional office and is controlled by the Constitution of the Netherlands. A distinction is made between members of the royal family and members of the royal house. The ...

and eleventh in the

line of succession to the Dutch throne Since 1983, the crown of the Netherlands passes according to absolute primogeniture. From 1814 until 1887, a monarch could only be succeeded by their closest female relative if there were no eligible male relatives. Male-preference cognatic prim ...

. With Willem-Alexander's succession however, he is no longer a member of the Dutch Royal House, and is no longer in line to direct succession to the Dutch throne, but still retains his membership of the Dutch royal family

Early life and education

Prince Bernhard was born on 25 December 1969 in

Nijmegen Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...

in the Netherlands. He is the second son of

Princess Margriet Princess Margriet of the Netherlands (Margriet Francisca; born 19 January 1943) is the third daughter of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. As an aunt of the reigning monarch, King Willem-Alexander, she is a member of the Dutch Royal House and ...

and

.Princess Margriet
Royal House of the Netherlands. Retrieved 26 August 2021. He has three brothers: Princes Maurits, Pieter-Christiaan, and Floris. His family lived in

Apeldoorn Apeldoorn (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city in the province of Gelderland in the centre of the Netherlands. The municipality of Apeldoorn, including the villages of Beekbergen, Loenen (Apeldoorn), Loenen, Ugchelen and Hoenderloo ...

throughout his childhood, moving to Het Loo House in 1975. He received both his primary and secondary education in Apeldoorn. He studied economics in 1988 at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

in Washington, D.C. Subsequently, in 1989 he attended

Groningen University The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; , abbreviated as RUG) is a public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen, Netherlands. Founded in 1614, the university is the second oldest in the country (after ...

in the Netherlands where he studied marketing and market research. In 1995 he received the degree of

doctorandus Doctorandus (; ; drs.) is a Dutch academic title according to the pre- Bachelor– Master system. The female form is doctoranda (dra.; this form is not commonly used). The title is acquired by passing the ''doctoraalexamen'', the exam which usua ...

(equivalent to

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

) at this university.

Business

Prince Bernhard is a self-employed entrepreneur.

Ritzen Koeriers

In 1991, he founded the company Ritzen Koeriers with three fellow students.GAK: fraude door firma Bernhard jr.
(in Dutch), ''

NRC Handelsblad ''NRC'', previously called ' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by Mediahuis NRC. It is widely regarded as a newspaper of record in the country. History was first published on 1 October 1970 after a merger of the Amst ...

'', 14 July 1999. Retrieved 26 August 2021. It was a courier business that used students to deliver packages by public transport using the free public transport card for students that education minister

Jo Ritzen Jozef Marie Mathias "Jo" Ritzen (born 3 October 1945) is a retired Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA) and economist. Ritzen worked as researcher at the Delft Institute of Technology from July 1969 until June 1972 and at the Erasmus U ...

had introduced earlier that year. In 1999, the company was suspected of fraud, because they were not paying payroll taxes over lease cars provided to some employees. In 2000, the company settled with the

Public Prosecution Service Public Prosecution Service may refer to: Organisations * Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland * Public Prosecution Service of Canada * Public Prosecution Service (Indonesia) * Public Prosecution Service (Netherlands) * Public Prosecution ...

for 12,000 euros. In 2002, the name Ritzen Koeriers was changed to Logistieke Meesters, at which time Prince Bernhard was no longer involved in the business.

Levi9 Global Sourcing

He is a co-founder of a

nearshoring Nearshoring is the outsourcing of business processes, especially information technology processes, to companies in a nearby country, often sharing a border with the target country. Both parties expect to benefit from one or more of the following di ...

IT company called Levi9 Global Sourcing.

Chapman Andretti Partners

In 2015, he founded the company Chapman Andretti Partners with Menno de Jong,Prins Bernhard jr koopt racecircuit Zandvoort
(in Dutch), '' NOS.nl'', 12 February 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2021. named after

Colin Chapman Anthony Colin Bruce Chapman (19 May 1928 – 16 December 1982) was an English design engineer, inventor, and builder in the automotive industry, and founder of the sports car company Lotus Cars. Chapman founded Lotus in 1952 and initia ...

and

Mario Andretti Mario Gabriele Andretti (born February 28, 1940) is an American former racing driver and businessman, who competed in Formula One from to , and American open-wheel racing, IndyCar from 1964 USAC Championship Car season, 1964 to 1994 IndyCar se ...

who are not personally related to the business. In 2016, the company bought the

Circuit Zandvoort Circuit Zandvoort (), known for sponsorship reasons as CM.com Circuit Zandvoort, previously known as Circuit Park Zandvoort until 2017, is a motorsport race track located in the dunes north of Zandvoort, the Netherlands, near the North Sea coas ...

Zandvoort Zandvoort () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is one of the major beach resorts of the Netherlands; it has a long sandy beach. It is bordered by coastal dunes of Zuid-Kennemerland National Park and the Amsterdam ...

. Circuit Zandvoort was scheduled to host the

Dutch Grand Prix The Dutch Grand Prix () is an annual Formula One World Championship auto racing event, held at Circuit Zandvoort, North Holland, the Netherlands, from 1950 through 1985, and after a 35 year hiatus, from 2021 to 2026. It has been a part of the ...

in 2020, but it was postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19. Several environmental groups litigated against the racing event to be held in the natural dunes, but were unable to stop it. In 2021, the company was criticized for having asked musicians including the band

Chef'Special Chef'Special is a Dutch indie pop band from Haarlem, North Holland. The band's lineup consists of lead vocalist Joshua Nolet, guitarist Guido Joseph, bass player Jan Derks, keyboard player Wouter Heeren and drummer Wouter Jerry Prudon. They have r ...

to perform at the Grand Prix without direct financial compensation.

Marriage and family

While studying in Groningen, Prince Bernhard met Annette Sekrève, (born 18 April 1972). The couple announced their engagement on 11 March 2000. They married in July 2000. The civil ceremony was performed on 6 July 2000 by the Mayor of Utrecht, Annie Brouwer-Korf, in the Spiegelzaal of the Paushuize in Utrecht. The marriage was blessed two days later, on 8 July 2000, by Dr. Anne van der Meiden in the

Cathedral of Saint Martin, Utrecht St. Martin's Cathedral, Utrecht, or Dom Church (), is a Gothic architecture, Gothic church dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, which was the cathedral of the Diocese of Utrecht (695–1580), Diocese of Utrecht during the Middle Ages. It is ...

. Prince Bernhard and Princess Annette have three children: Isabella Lily Juliana (born 2002), Samuel Bernhard Louis (born 2004), and Benjamin Pieter Floris (born 2008). According to a royal decree of 5 July 2000 the children were granted the family name ''van Vollenhoven'', without titles. Prince Bernhard and his family live in Amsterdam. Upon the announcement of the planned

abdication Abdication is the act of formally relinquishing monarchical authority. Abdications have played various roles in the Order of succession, succession procedures of monarchies. While some cultures have viewed abdication as an extreme abandonment of ...

of Queen Beatrix, which took place on 30 April 2013, it was also restated that after the abdication, the children of Princess Margriet and Pieter van Vollenhoven would no longer be eligible for the throne. They would also cease to be members of the Royal House. He is still a member of the extended royal family, but he rarely takes part in official duties.

Health

Prince Bernhard has been receiving treatment for

Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, abdominal distension, and weight loss. Complications outside of the ...

since 2002.Frank van Zijl,
Bernhard jr.: met een gouden lepel in de mond geboren, nu gezien als huisjesmelker
(in Dutch), ''

de Volkskrant ''De Volkskrant'' (; ), stylized as de Volkskrant, is a Dutch daily morning newspaper. Founded in 1919, it has a nationwide circulation of about 250,000. Formerly a leading centre-left Catholic broadsheet, ''de Volkskrant'' today is a medium- ...

'', 24 November 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2021. In 2013, he was diagnosed with

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tiredn ...

, for which he has been on the intensive care for a month.Prins Bernhard junior heeft lymfklierkanker
(in Dutch), ''

'', 29 August 2013. After his recovery, he created the foundation Lymph & Co, which has spent over 2 million euros on lymphoma research.

Ancestry

References

External links

Prince Bernhard
at the website of the Royal House of the Netherlands {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernhard Of Orange-Nassau 1969 births Living people House of Orange-Nassau Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences alumni Protestant Church Christians from the Netherlands Princes of Orange-Nassau Dutch racing drivers GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup drivers ADAC GT Masters drivers 24 Hours of Spa drivers Audi Sport TT Cup drivers World Touring Car Cup drivers GT4 European Series drivers Sportspeople from Nijmegen