Dutch Queen considered deal with Nazis to help Belgian King: Report
At the end of the Second World War, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands considered a remarkable exchange with the Nazis in order to help Belgian King Leopold III, who was imprisoned with his family in Austria by the Germans. She asked her Foreign Minister Eelco van Kleffers to find out via the Vatican whether the Nazis could be offered an escape route in exchange for the release of the Belgian royals, newspaper Trouw reports based on a new book.
The book in question is a collection of original war diaries by Van Kleffers titled ‘Majesteit, U kent het werkelijke leven niet’, which translates to 'Majesty, You Do Not Know Real Life". The diary entries were introduced and notated by historian Michael Riemens. The book is being published on Tuesday.
According to Trouw, the request to deal with the Nazis is remarkable because Queen Wilhelmina had an anti-papist and anti-German attitude, which was clearly evident in the war years. The Dutch Queen took action after a conversation with the Belgian Queen Mother Elisabeth in Brussels, wo was very concerned about the fate of her family. The fear was that the Germans, who were clearly losing the war by then, would assassinate the Belgian royals.
What exactly happened to Queen Wilhelmina's request for Van Kleffers to contact the Nazis, is not made clear in the book. Leopold III and his family survived the war.