In honor of his memory.
In general, Princess Irene often keeps a low profile. We mainly see her in the spotlight when it comes to nature conservation, and very occasionally at royal occasions with the family. Now the princess has done a special interview with Nieuwsuur, which focuses on resistance legend Erik Hazelhoff-Roelfzema.
The Soldier and the Oranges
The musical Soldaat van Oranje, based on the book of the same name by resistance fighter Erik Hazelhoff-Roelfzema, has been performed in the TheaterHangaar in Katwijk for almost fourteen years. But besides being a resistance fighter, he was above all a writer. In fact, he reportedly saw himself primarily as a writer, was the headline in Nieuwsuur yesterday.
Hazelhoff-Roelfzema was also good friends with the Oranjes. For example, he was close friends with the late Prince Bernhard – who even wrote the foreword for his book Soldaat van Oranje – and he was allowed to act as king of arms during the inauguration of the then Queen Beatrix. Although the Soldier of Orange himself died in 2007, his memory lives on. And our Princess Irene, among others, takes care of that. For example, in 2009 she became the Patron of the Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema Prize Foundation.
Interview
Yesterday, all literary works by Hazelhoff-Roelfzema were transferred to the Hague Literature Museum. Princess Irene also briefly discussed the program especially for the occasion.
For example, she said that her first meeting with Hazelhoff-Roelfzema was ‘actually unconscious’. “When the government made an explicit request for my family to go to England for safety, we came back on a plane. And there was Erik Hazelhoff, who helped us, us girls, down the stairs into his arms and put our feet on Dutch soil.”
Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema, Soldier of Orange, saw himself primarily as a writer. We talk about his work, which is now transferred to the Literature Museum, including his daughter and an old friend, Princess Irene. #Newshour pic.twitter.com/WXpwCllAmX
— Nieuwsuur (@Nieuwsuur) April 22, 2024
Literary friends
When her highness, who mainly keeps to herself, is asked why she said yes to an interview at this time, she clearly explains that this is because of her friendship with Hazelhoff-Roelfzema. “I thought about that for a while, and I do that for Erik Hazelhoff. Because he was a very good friend. A really nice friend. A special person, a beautiful person,” she explains.
The princess also shows the cameras the foreword that Hazelhoff-Roelfzema wrote for one of her books at the time. She provides a small glimpse of the special bond they shared. “He used the word ‘reckless’ in it. And I said, ‘I’m not reckless.’ And then he said: ‘I don’t mean that you walk along the abyss, but that you jump.’ I think we both had it very clear in our character that if you are affected by something and you choose it, you will go for it 100 percent.”
“That and being a writer, that’s where we found each other,” the princess concludes.
Source: NOS.nl, Nieuwsuur | Image: NL Image
