Prince Bernhard (Junior)

[Principessa]

https://en.wikipedia.org/...e-Nassau,_van_Vollenhoven

Bernhard Lucas Emmanuel, Prince of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven (25 December 1969) is the second son of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Pieter van Vollenhoven. Before the succession of his cousin Willem-Alexander as King, he was a member of the Dutch Royal House and eleventh in the line of succession to the Dutch throne. 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


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. 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.


Prince Bernard is a self-employed entrepreneur.

Ritzen Koeriers
In 1991, he founded the company Ritzen Koeriers with three fellow students. It was a courier business that used students to deliver packages by public transportation using the free public transportation card for students that education minister Jo Ritzen 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 for 12,000 euros. In 2002, the name Ritzen Koeriers was changed into Logistieke Meesters, at which time Prince Bernhard was no longer involved in the business.

Clockwork
After his studies, Bernhard founded the internet company Clockwork in the mid-1990s, together with some friends. A few years later, more than sixty people worked here. Clockwork has been responsible for the Internet sites of KLM, Achmea and Coca-Cola for many years. Software company Levi9, named after the comet that crashed into Jupiter 11 years earlier, was founded in 2005. Levi9 outsources its work to personnel in Ukraine, Serbia and Romania. It had 600 employees in 2015

Real Estate
In 2011, according to the AD, Bernhard, together with three other investors under the name Pinnacle BV., owned ninety buildings in Amsterdam. In November 2017, Het Parool wrote that Bernhard now owned 102 buildings in Amsterdam. Later in the same month, Het Parool reported that Bernhard would own much more real estate through various private limited companies. It would concern 590 Dutch addresses, of which 349 in Amsterdam. Het Parool spoke with tenants and interested parties in Bernhard's properties. According to the newspaper, they were confronted with conditions that conflict with the rules, for example about large groups in a house and paying key money. The prince, who, incidentally, described the investment as his "pension provision" in an official statement, indicated that he was going to investigate whether the rules had been acted in violation of the rules. Bernhard told de Volkskrant that there was no question of paying key money, and that the broker in question does not operate on his behalf. In the same Volkskrant article, emeritus professor of constitutional law Joop van den Berg expressed the suspicion that Bernhard was being made a scapegoat by the municipality of Amsterdam in order to divert attention from municipal housing policy.


Chapman Andretti Partners
In 2015, he founded the company Chapman Andretti Partners with Menno de Jong, named after Colin Chapman and Mario Andretti who are not personally related to the business. In 2016, the company bought the Circuit Zandvoort in Zandvoort. Circuit Zandvoort was scheduled to host the Dutch Grand Prix 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 not able to stop it. In 2021, the company was criticized for having asked musicians including the band Chef'Special to perform at the Grand Prix without direct financial compensation.


RED: AD = Algemeen Dagblad, a Dutch newspaper.

[Principessa]

In the Netherlands Prince Bernhard is under fire. His behavior is much ridiculed.

His image in the Netherlands is bad. He is known as a "slumlord" mainly in Amsterdam and there is discussion about the F1 races in Zandvoort in which he is involved.

[Principessa]

Now the other Bernhard, grandpa, is also connected to the race track in Zandvoort (the Netherlands)

https://www.nu.nl/konings...od-circuit-zandvoort.html


Loosely translated as:

Prince Bernhard stopped in 1948 in exchange for money building ban Circuit Zandvoort

In 1948, Prince Bernhard put pressure on two ministers for 20,000 guilders to end a months-long construction freeze for the Zandvoort circuit. The newspaper Trouw reported this on Wednesday based on archive documents from the municipality and the Ministries of the Interior and Finance.

Prince Bernhard (1911-2004) was the husband of the former Queen Juliana and the grandfather of Prince Bernhard junior, who is now co-owner of the circuit.

Why was there a construction freeze?
The circuit was made of war rubble.
The agreement was that scarce resources, such as bricks that could still be reused, were put aside.
Instead, they were smashed to pieces to use them for the track.
That was "inadmissible" in the prevailing circumstances, the Ministry of Reconstruction said.
At the beginning of 1948, the government halted the construction of the access roads and the circuit. The municipality tried in vain to overturn this building ban.

'Bernhard's foundation pointed to the national importance of the circuit'
Prince Bernhard, however, managed to end the construction freeze. He did this by using his name at the ministries of the Interior and Finance. He spoke there on behalf of the Prince Bernhard Foundation, which supported veterans, and would have made it clear that the races at the Zandvoort circuit had a "multi-sided national interest".

In exchange for this support from Prince Bernhard, the municipality asked for more money for tickets to the circuit. This extra income, about 20,000 guilders, was donated tax-free to the Prince's foundation.

The building ban was lifted in February after a few months, after which construction work could resume. It is still unclear what exactly happened to the money donated to the foundation.


https://nos.nl/collectie/...t-zandvoort-kreeg-donatie


Loosely translated as:

Prince Bernhard Sr. prevented construction ban on Zandvoort circuit, received donation

Prince Bernhard, the grandfather of current circuit owner Prince Bernhard Jr., committed himself in 1948 to prevent a construction stop on the Zandvoort race track. Due to that construction freeze, the opening on August 7 of that year seemed to be canceled. The Ministries of the Interior and Finance were put under pressure through the Prince Bernhard Foundation, which championed the interests of veterans, sports historian Jurryt van de Vooren writes in Trouw. Successfully, the opening could go ahead.

In exchange, the foundation received approximately 20,000 guilders tax-free from the municipality. That is comparable to 100,000 euros now. The gift was financed with a one-off increase in admission prices, Trouw reports.

The construction freeze was based on a conflict between the municipality and the national government. Before the Second World War, Zandvoort already had a street circuit, but during the war a large part of the village was demolished by the Germans to make way for the Atlantikwall, a defense line.

After the war, the municipality built a new circuit in the dunes. There was a rush, because Zeist also had plans.

Debris from demolished houses and buildings was used for the construction. There were useful bricks in between. The Ministry of Reconstruction and Housing found this unacceptable. Brick was scarce in the post-war Netherlands. The stones were to be used by the ministry for reconstruction. The conflict ran so high that The Hague had the construction of the access roads to the circuit halted.

Only when the Prince Bernhard Foundation The Hague pointed out in a letter that the car competitions had "a multilateral national interest", the ban was lifted. Prince Bernhard's position in the post-war Netherlands was unassailable. Possibly just mentioning his name was enough to change the minds of officials and government officials.

[Principessa]

https://www.nu.nl/formule...olgens-regels-gedaan.html


Loosely translated as:

Prince Bernhard about criticism of GP in Zandvoort: 'Everything done according to the rules'

According to Prince Bernhard, there is only "a small group" of opponents of the Formula 1 race and the organizers have done everything "according to the rules". He said that on Friday before the first free practice against Ziggo Sport

The prince, who is co-owner of Circuit Zandvoort, responded for the first time to criticism from the events sector and from nature organizations about organizing the Formula 1 race on the circuit in the North Holland seaside resort.

"I think there are a lot of people for it and there are sometimes people who are against something, also with good reason. They will of course also get a stage," said the son of Princess Margriet and Pieter van Vollenhoven. "And you now see that the people in front are really enjoying themselves and you also see how happy they are. That gives so much energy."

Bernhard and the other organizers have received a lot of criticism in recent weeks, especially from the event world. The sector did not think it fair that Zandvoort was allowed to receive tens of thousands of people while festivals are banned.

The prince also came under fire after it became clear that he had asked Chef'Special to perform for free. An environmental group tried to stop the race last week via a lawsuit.


'We are under scrutiny'
The prince, who did not want to respond until Friday, did not comment on whether the criticism affects him. According to him, "of course it is only a small group of people" who are against it and the organization has done everything right.

"The judge and all the other people have looked at it. We have all done it according to the rules. We are under scrutiny and in that sense we try to be the best boy in the class."

Seeing the first race cars on the track and the many fans in the stands did not leave Bernhard unmoved. "Goosebumps, so cool to see," he said. "And in this weather, that's a gift from God, of course. Really fantastic."

[Principessa]

https://www.royalty-onlin...teert-verstappen-amazing/

Loosely translated as:

PRINCE BERNHARD CONGRATULATES VERSTAPPEN: 'AMAZING'
December 13, 2021

After royal congratulations from, among others, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, Prince Bernhard also complimented Max Verstappen on social media on his world title in Formula 1.

Congratulations @maxverstappen1 What a final @f1. Amazing.” Bernhard writes on Instagram. He also shares a photo in which he holds the Verstappen trophy.

Incidentally, the driver probably also received the necessary congratulations live from the prince. Bernhard followed the race from the circuit in Abu Dhabi and enthusiastically embraced Verstappen after the exciting denouement. In a video you can see that Bernhard was also at the moment that the new world champion was honored and sung to.

Princess Margriet's son also races and is co-owner of the circuit in Zandvoort. The prince successfully brought Formula 1 back to the North Holland seaside resort.


https://www.instagram.com/p/CXY9XrgITDd/



Zandvoort:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zandvoort



Zandvoort Circuit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_Zandvoort