References to ‘Mum’ offend Dutch

Press, 19 December 1985, Page 8

References to ‘Mum’ offend Dutch

NZPA-Reuter The Hague A Dutch former minister has caused anger in the Netherlands by calling Queen Beatrix’s Germanborn father,. Prince Bernhard, a “typical Kraut” in a scathing interview about the Dutch royal family. Henk Vredeling, Defence Minister from 1973 to 1976, also referred to as the Queen Mother, Queen Juliana, as “Mum” and told how she burst into tears during an argument with him. The remarks, in an interview with the weekly, “Haagse Post,” earned him the wrath of Government politicians, a discreet rebuke from the Royal House, and some sharp words from his own Labour Party. Mr Vredeling said that he had argued with Juliana, then still Queen, when he banned a military parade because he opposed them in principle. Prince Bernhard, in 194445 supreme commander of the Dutch forces, wanted the parade to go ahead and Queen Juliana had phoned the Minister to ask him to change his mind. Mr Vredeling said that he had refused: “And what happened then? Mum began to cry. I had Mum in tears at the other end of the line, yes, I did.”

There followed a heated exchange with the Prince, who finally accepted his authority and changed his attitude. “Suddenly he was all servitude. So my com-

ment is: ‘A typical Kraut,’ ” Mr Vredeling said. Mr Vredeling, aged 61, had been sentenced to death by the Nazis during the German occupation of The Netherlands during World War H, but was saved by the Allied advance. His remarks ran counter to traditional discretion by Dutch politicians towards the Royal House. A spokesman for the Christian Democrats, senior partners in the governing centreright coalition, said that the party was furious. The Labour leader, Mr Joop den Uyl, said that Mr Vredelings’s words were “needlessly grieving, a violation of confidence and in conflict with a Constitutional tradition which should be upheld”. A spokesman for the Royal House said that Mr Vredeling, who served as a member of the European Community’s Commission after his spell as minister, had shown in the past that he did not always choose his words with care. Former Ministers should not comment on their relations with royalty, the spokesman said. Mr Vredeling .anticipated criticism in his interview, saying that relations between the Crown and the Government were too secret -

“I think the public should know for once how those sort of things work, the fe°S^ ye 3 right t 0 that> A