Posted on 05 August 2015
On Wednesday 22nd July, the Historical Archives of the European Union received a private visit by Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands accompanied by members of her family.
After the welcome by the EUI Secretary General Pasquale Ferrara, Princess Beatrix was accompanied by the Director of the Historical Archives Dieter Schlenker into the Archives reading room. After an introduction to the mission, structure and history of the Historical Archives, a range of archival papers referring to the Netherlands and the contributions of the Royal Dutch family to the achievements of the European integration process were presented. The documents included several files, which documented visits of Her Royal Highness to the Presidency of the European Commission, photos of Queen Wilhelmina on stage as host at The Hague Congress in 1948, papers on the contribution of the Dutch Royal family to the European Movement and the foundation of the Bilderberg Group by Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, and finally texts of Johan Willem Beyen and Sicco Mansholt, Dutch politicians and founders of a United Europe.
Also amongst the documents displayed were the private papers of Max Kohnstamm, Private Secretary of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands from 1945 to 1948, Vice President of the Netherlands' Schuman Plan delegation, Secretary to the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community and first President of the European University Institute.
The presentation ended with documents of the archival deposit of the European Space Agency on the inauguration of the European Space Research and Technology Centre ESTEC, the main technology development and test centre for spacecraft and space technology situated in the city of Noordwijk.
After the visit of the archival deposits, Princess Beatrix and her group went on to visit the grottoes of Villa Salviati and the Cloister and the Chapel of the main Villa, which is still under restoration.