He was respected for his performance as a combat pilot and his activities as a liaison officer and personal aide to his mother-in-law, Queen Wilhelmina, during the conflict, and for his work during post-war reconstruction.

Officially for proven bravery, leadership and loyalty during his wartime efforts, he was appointed a Commander of the Military William Order, the Netherlands' oldest and highest honour.

[4] Van der Zijl also stresses the notoriety of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität as extreme-right including sending away Albert Einstein as a lecturer in the twenties and the early ban of all Jewish societies.

Back in Berlin at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in October 1931 after a serious illness, he could also indulge in his taste for fast cars, horse riding, and big-game hunting safaris.

While he was not a fierce champion of democracy, the Prince was never known to hold any radical political views or express any racist sentiments, although he admitted that he briefly had sympathised with Adolf Hitler's regime.

[8] van der Zijl clearly demonstrates, that Bernhard again and again fabulates on his memberships and other activities, to enhance his postwar stance that he never willingly would have joined any Nazi-organization.

[11] He lodged with Count Paul von Kotzebue (1884–1966), an exiled Russian nobleman of German descent, and his wife Allene Tew, who was born in the United States.

In December 2004, Dutch historian Cees Fasseur claimed that Jonathan Aitken, former British Conservative Cabinet Minister, is also a child of Prince Bernhard, the result of his wartime affair with Penelope Maffey.

In those notes, Hitler is recorded to have said that Bernhard approached him, shortly after the start of the Nazi regime, with an offer of support to increase German influence in the Netherlands.

When asked in an interview in 2004 why he changed sides and started fighting against his homeland Germany, Bernhard claimed that he did not believe that Hitler and his regime had no plans to invade the Netherlands.

Disagreeing with Queen Wilhelmina's decision to leave the Kingdom, the prince, aged 28, is said at first to have refused to go and to have wanted to oppose the German occupation from within the country.

On the recommendation of Bernhard's friend and admirer King George VI; however, who was also of German aristocratic descent through his mother Mary of Teck, he was given access into the Intelligence organization.

Prince Bernhard then lowered himself 20 feet to the lowest bit of staircase standing, and then said staunchly and with a mixture of Dutch/British flair, as nothing happened: "Most enjoyable evening!"

Bernhard also became acquainted with Ambassador Joseph Kennedy due to his role as a liaison between Europe and the US, connection to intelligence, multinationals and European royalty.

Born a German, he had married Queen Wilhelmina's only child, Princess Juliana, and in due time made a conscious and meaningful transition of loyalties to his new homeland.

As "Wing Commander Gibbs (RAF)", Prince Bernhard flew over occupied Europe, attacking V-1 launch pads in a B-24 Liberator, bombing Pisa, and engaging submarines over the Atlantic in a B-25 Mitchell, and conducting reconnaissance over enemy-held territory in an L-5 Grasshopper.

[citation needed] Queen Wilhelmina erased the style "honorary" (the exact words were "à la suite") in the decree promoting Bernhard to General.

He was made a member of the boards of supervisors of Fokker Aircraft and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and within a few years he had been invited to serve as an adviser or non-executive director of numerous corporations and institutions.

This led to an informal meeting in Paris in 1952 where they discussed the idea with Paul Rijkens of Unilever, Paul van Zeeland, one of the founders of the EU and advisor to NATO and the Beglian gouvernment, retired British Army General Colin Gubbins of special military operation, French former prime minister Antoine Pinay, Danish conservative leader Kraft and 5 other political leafers.

It was an exclusive club of members that helped raise US$10 million for the WWF, including people like Henry Ford, Gianni Agnelli, Alfred Heineken.

They included Nelson Mandela due to his interest in National Parks and work for WWF,[39][40][41][42] David Rockefeller as one of his colleagues at Bilderberg,[43][44][45] Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi,[46][47] Eva Perón was part of his connection with Argentina,[48] Enzo Ferrari[49][50] and Gianni Agnelli due to his interest in cars and racing,[51] Ian Fleming,[52][53][54] Walter Bedell Smith.

[57] In the mid-1950s, Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard's marriage faced significant strain because of the ongoing influence of Greet Hofmans, a faith healer and layer-on of hands.

Originally, Hofmans was introduced to Queen Juliana at the initiative of Prince Bernhard in 1948 to treat an eye illness of their youngest daughter, Princess Christina (then still called Marijke).

In the face of escalating tensions, the Prime Minister, Willem Drees appointed a committee of "three wise men" (elder statesmen) to advise the royal couple.

Historian Cees Fasseur drew from it for his book, Juliana & Bernhard (2008); in addition, the Queen had granted him access to the private royal archive.

Prime Minister Joop den Uyl made a statement in Parliament and told the delegates that the Prince would also resign from his various high-profile positions in businesses, charities, and other institutions.

[62] In February 2008, Joop den Uyl's biography claimed that the official report investigating the Lockheed bribe scandal also presented proof that the Prince had accepted money from yet another aerospace firm: Northrop.

In 1991, newspapers reported what this private project was: Prince Bernhard had hired KAS International, owned by Special Air Service founder Sir David Stirling, to use mercenaries – mostly British – to fight poachers in nature reserves.

Prince Bernhard garnered media attention when, on 30 October 2002, he paid the fines of two Albert Heijn supermarket staff members, who were convicted of assaulting a shoplifter after they detained him.

As a final tribute to his former military role in the Royal Netherlands Air Force, three modern F-16 jet fighters and a World War II Spitfire plane performed a low flypast during the funeral in a classic missing man formation.