Klaus-Georg Wilhelm Otto Friedrich Gerd von Amsberg was born on his mother's family's estate, Schloss Dötzingen, Hitzacker, Germany, on 6 September 1926.

His mother belonged to the ancient von dem Bussche noble family which originated from the County of Ravensberg.

From 1938, Claus and his six sisters grew up on their maternal grandmother's estate in Lower Saxony; he attended the Friderico-Francisceum-Gymnasium in Bad Doberan from 1933 to 1936 and a boarding school in Tanganyika from 1936 to 1938.

[4] Claus met Princess Beatrix for the first time on New Year's Eve 1963 in Bad Driburg at a dinner hosted by the Count von Oeynhausen-Sierstorpff, who was a distant relative of both of them.

Claus and Beatrix were also distantly related (5th cousins twice removed), as both being descendants from von dem Bussche family.

and "Mijn fiets terug" (Give me back my bike), a reference to the memory of occupying German soldiers confiscating Dutch bicycles.

[2][5] This change in Dutch opinion was brought about by Claus's strong motivation to contribute to public causes (especially Third World development, on which he was considered an expert), his sincere modesty and his candor (within but sometimes on the edge of royal protocol).

The public also sympathised with Claus for his efforts to give meaning to his life beyond the restrictions that Dutch law imposed on the royal family's freedom of speech and action.

However, these restrictions were gradually loosened; Claus was even appointed as senior staff member at the Department of Developing Aid, albeit in an advisory role.

[10] Claus was an honorary chair of the National Coordinating Committee for the Protection of Monuments and Historic Buildings and the King William I Foundation.

He died of complications of pneumonia and Parkinson's at the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam on 6 October 2002 after a long illness, aged 76.