Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-17

IoAAAAOot always Q1ClntS vi WIlLAAlS
for herself-rehect attitudes
which raise eyebrows even In
Holland The agonized tone Of
her Christmas address is typical:
! Man in our times becomes
lonely in his own circle. The
bigger and denser the crowd sur
rounding hi tnbecomes, the more
lost he feels. The finest task Of
lall now lies ready, especially now
when the world has become an
absolutely unhearable place. to
live for people Of good will and
who often think they will be
crushed against the walls. The
very finest task is to make Of this
world again the hospitable
place God intended 1t to be and
thereby to preserve on earth that
peace in which he has pleasure.
Certainly the Queens leading
subject to set himself against
Greet Hofmans and the influence
which she exerts Is her husband,
Prince Bernhard. His efforts to
separate the pair go back nearly
six years. When the specified
time had elapsed without any
improvement in Princess Marij-
ke's vision. Prince Bernhard in
sisted that Miss Hofmans leave
the palace. But even from a dis
lance, her hold on the queen
seems to be as strong as ever and
her whole effort devoted to allie
mating the royal couple from
each other.
! Healer Has Strong Friends
In this struggle, Greet Hof-
mans has powerful friends.
People with intimate knowledge
Of palace politics speak of "the
group" a small band of court
notables who have backed Greet
Hofmans in an implacable cam
ipaign against the Prince. They
ARE led by two people: Baron
Van Heeckeren who first boosted
the reputation of Miss Hofmans
Jas a miracle worker, and his
wife, the baroness who served as
governess of the Queens four
daughters.
The extraordinary thing about
this palace struggle is that it
seems to have no political mo-
tive whatever. Those who COM
pare Greet Hofmans to Ras-
putin of the Romanovs overlook
the fact that her influence is of
an entirely personal nature
whose only motive seems to be
simple animosity to the Prince.
The only political turn which
the affair has taken so far is a
concerted attempt by "the
group" to restrict Prince Bern
hards public activities as much
as possible.
Up to this point "the group"
has held the upper hand. Prince
Bernhard has found himself on
the defensive. In order to con-
tinue as one Of the more active
members Of Europe's working
royalty notably as chairman of
the "Bilderberg group" a peri
odic seminar on world affairs)
he has faced the outspoken dis
pleasure of the Queen. And al
though talk of a formal separa-
ton is contrary to all present
appearances and speculation
about divorce is out Of the ques-
ton in a country so strongly
Catholic as Holland, there is no
doubt at all that Prince Bern
hard's relations with the Queen
at this point could reasonably
be described as strained.
Princes Popularity
On the other hand, 1.-The group"
may well have bitten of more
than they can chew. In attack
ing the Prince they have taken
the most popular member of
the Dutch royal family. And the
whole political leadership of the
country stands solidly behind
the Prince in what looks more
and more like an approaching
showdown.
So far, as the Prime Minister
says. there has been no constitu-
tional crisis here. But this does
not mean that the palace feud
has not been brought up force
fully in discussions between
Queen Juliana and her ministers.
Or that if things go on much
longer in their present direction
a crisis might not develop.
The chief cause for the mini
,sters concern is the growing in
dependence of the Queen in
making her speeches. her treat
ment of Prince Bernhard and
appointment OF members of the
group" to positions Of possible
political influence.
| On all of these points, Queen
Juliana. when faced with the
threat of a constitutional issue,
has backed down. And as long
as she continues to do so, the
difficulty seems likely to be care
fully hidden from the public eye.
Little Effect on Elections
/ At the moment, everything on
the surface at least is perfectly
normal. After the national cleo
tons, in which the storm over
Greet Hofmans broke too late to
have any appreciable effect, con-
situations are proceeding normally
toward formation of new coali-
ton government of Catholics and
Socialists. The Queen, as a
matter of routine, is taking part
lin these discussions.
I And yet, there is strong i'm
preston Of underlying tension.
In Holland the Queens political
role is more important than in
England. but its limits are no
less carefully drawn. If Juliana
should one day decide to over
step them the crisis would be
very real indeed.
4 In this case. say informed