Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands

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Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands was a founder of the Bilderberg Group and the 1001 Club.

Dutch stay-behind

Shortly after the end of World War Two Dutch secret service circles close to MI6 approached Prince Bernhard with the suggestion for a stay-behind network in the country to prepare for resistance in case of an invasion. Prince Bernhard]] saw to it that Dutch security service chief Louis Einthoven set up an organisation codenamed 'O' with the approval of Prime Minister W. Schermerhorn.[1]

In 1948, J.J.L Baron Van Lynden, who had been working for the prince, took over control of a second Dutch stay-behind network, G7. Van Lynden subsequently maintained his connection with the royal family, which provided a useful cover for his secret role.[2]

Bilderberg

During 1952, the head of Unilever Paul Rykens arranged for Joseph Retinger of the European Movement to meet with Prince Bernhard.[3] In May that year, Retinger presented Prince Bernhard with his plan for an élite transatlantic dialogue to address the causes of rising anti-Americanism in Europe, and isolationism in the US.[4]

Following the election of President Eisenhower, Prince Bernhard and Retinger travelled to the US with British Labour leader Hugh Gaitskell and Denis Healey to lobby for support and funds. The Prince met with an 'old friend' CIA director General Walter Bedell Smith, who eventually passed on the plan to C.D. Jackson, Eisnhower's special assistant on psychological warfare and president of the Committee for a Free Europe.[5]

Bernhard went on to chair the conference at the Bilderberg Hotel in Arnhem in May 1954.[6]

The prospect of future conferences was however threatened by American suspicions that Retinger was a British secret agent. These were intensified when Bernhard backed Retinger in seeking the removal of John Coleman as head of the US Bilderberg contingent. Although this was rebuffed by Eisenhower, Coleman had to be replaced with Bedell-Smith after suffering a heart attack.[7]

World Wildlife Fund

When the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) approached Prince Philip to become its first international president in 1961, Philip suggested Prince Bernard instead. Prince Bernhard served in this role until 1976, when he was forced to resign after it became public that he had solicited more than $1 million in "commissions" from Lockheed in exchange for Lockheed's receiving contracts to build planes for the Netherlands. Bernhard later said he had planned to give the Lockheed money to WWF. According to journalist Raymond Bonner, a member of the WWF board from the period insisted this was not true.[8]

1001 Club

In 1971, WWF board member [Anton Rupert]] recruited fellow South African Charles De Haes as personal assistant to Prince Bernhard, implementing the 1001 Club project.[9] The 'one' was Prince Bernhard, the one thousand were wealthy patrons who made a secret one-time donation of $10,000. According to Raymond Bonner, the list of donors included Zairean dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, Bank of Credit and Commerce International founder Agha Hasan Abedi, and British businessman Lord Kagan, as well as a number of members of the South African Broederbond.[10]

Operation Lock

In 1987, Prince Bernhard hired KAS Enterprises to undertake Operation Lock. Ostensibly aimed at ivory smuggling in Southern Africa, there were accusations that the operation was a front for South African attempts to destabilize neighbouring states.[11]

Affiliations

references

  1. ↑ Daniele Ganser, Nato's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe, Frank Cass, 2005, p.152.
  2. ↑ Daniele Ganser, Nato's Secret Armies: Operation Gladio and Terrorism in Western Europe, Frank Cass, 2005, pp.153-154.
  3. ↑ Stephen Dorril, MI6, Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Touchstone, p.496.
  4. ↑ Hugh Wilford, The CIA, the British Left and the Cold War, Calling the Tune? Frank Cass, 2003, p242.
  5. ↑ Stephen Dorril, MI6, Inside the Covert World of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service, Touchstone, p.497.
  6. ↑ Hugh Wilford, The CIA, the British Left and the Cold War, Calling the Tune? Frank Cass, 2003, p244.
  7. ↑ Hugh Wilford, The CIA, the British Left and the Cold War, Calling the Tune? Frank Cass, 2003, pp.245-247.
  8. ↑ Raymond Bonner, At the Hand of Man: Peril and Hope for Africa's Wildlife, Simon and Schuster, 1993, pp.66-67.
  9. ↑ Raymond Bonner, At the Hand of Man: Peril and Hope for Africa's Wildlife, Simon and Schuster, 1993, p.69.
  10. ↑ Raymond Bonner, At the Hand of Man: Peril and Hope for Africa's Wildlife, Simon and Schuster, 1993, p.67.
  11. ↑ The SAS: Savage Wars of Peace, 1947 to the Present, by Anthony Kemp, John Murray (publishers) Ltd, 1994, pp202-205.
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