De geest van het Oude Loo. Juliana en haar vriendenkring 1947-1957

Abstract

In

1956 the marriage of Queen Juliana and her husband Prince Bernhard was

in danger. The Prince blamed his wife’s friends in and outside the royal palace – amongst them the so called faith healer Greet Hofmans. This ‘Hofmans circle’ organized a series of religious conferences at the Oude Loo castle – conferences Juliana had initiated and which she attended as often as possible. The put an end to the marriage crisis, a commission of three so-called ‘wise men’ was asked to intervene. To prevent divorce and abdication, Queen Juliana had to break all ties with Hofmans and her friends of the Oude Loo group. Why was Queen Juliana in 1956 so vulnerable that she was forced to give up all that was so dear to her? Thanks to private archives that had not been researched before, the history of the Oude Loo-conferences could be written and as a result the 1956-crisis could be analyzed from the point of view of (the friends of) Juliana. It makes clear that the Queen had to make heartbreaking decisions on behalf of the monarchy.