Five Brothers and a War

Dutch Government Flees to England

The Dutch governmental system is significantly different from most monarchies, and certainly from the English system in that the monarch plays an active role in daily governmental affairs. This is critical in understanding how and why the government as a whole left the country to continue its function in England. The Germans intended to capture the government and force it into capitulation and subjugation, and were frustrated when they were left with only a general, Henri Winkelman, to surrender. On May 12, Prinses Juliana, her husband, Prins Bernhard and their two daughters, Prinses Beatrix and Prinses Irene, were advised to leave the country for England. They were evacuated through the port of IJmuiden, just to the west of Amsterdam. Their ship was the HMS Codrington, which was often used for VIPs, including transporting the British king, and Winston Churchill, when he was First Lord of the Admiralty.

HMS Codrington, which transported Prinses Juliana, Prins Bernhard and their two daughters to England. About two months later, she was sunk by German bombing while in the port of Dover.

history

Prinses Juliana pushing her stroller with Prinses Irene aboard, and Prinses Beatrix walking alongside in London. May 1940.

Five Brothers and a War

Page 312