This week, twenty years ago, Princess Beatrix (84) had to say goodbye to her great love, Prince Claus. After years of battling mental and physical problems, Prince died on October 6, 2002 from the effects of Parkinson’s disease and pneumonia. Admittedly, Klaus was twelve years older than Beatrix, but of course she was desperately hoping for more golden years at his side. It was not, and the grief over the prince’s death left very deep traces. In that time, she even made Beatrix wrinkle-free. “That first year, we were really worried about her,” one of the security guards, Beatrix at the time, told your Story reporter.

quietly

The princess – who was then still a queen – was able to get out of the valley again. Especially the family happiness that she experienced with her grandchildren contributed to this. After all, they were born in quick succession in the years since Klaus’ death. Beatrix seemed much happier and energetic after a while. At one time there was cautious speculation about the possibility of a new love in her life. After her abdication, Beatrix got more and more time for herself and everyone allowed her to share it with a cute partner. It seemed for a moment that he was present in the person of the German Thilo von Watzdorf (78). At least this was reported by the media in his homeland, but in the end it turned out that this was nothing more than friendship. These are of course important, but Prince Claus himself may have preferred Beatrix to have some kind of happiness in her life again twenty years after his death. The opposite is true and with that it gradually becomes very quiet for Beatrix in Slot Drakensteyn. Especially now that her grandchildren are all grown up and have their own lives more and more. So Sunday visits to Grandma will not be as frequent as before. In addition, some of the grandchildren no longer live in the Netherlands for the time being.

sensation

Losing Klaus is certainly not far off at all. These days, twenty years after his death, Beatrix must be feeling it even more. It’s rather heartwarming that there is a new buzz around the final resting place of her great love, the royal vault at Nieuwe Kerk in Delft. It must be expanded, because after the last two burials – by Klaus and two years later by Juliana – the place was simply exhausted. The reason for the commotion: the bunker is privately owned by Orange, but the expansion has to be paid for with public money!