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Princess Irene of the Netherlands

b. 1939

Born
5 Aug 1939, Soestdijk Palace
Country of birth
Netherlands

Living person. The family sees only the name, dates and photo; everything else stays private unless they choose to share it.

facts
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sources
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Facts and their sources

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A life in time

  1. Born · Soestdijk Palace

    Birth, Soestdijk Palace

  2. Child born: Prince Carlos, Hereditary Duke of Parma

    Birth, Nijmegen

  3. Child born: Jaime de Bourbon de Parme

    Birth, Nijmegen

  4. Child born: Princess Margarita de Bourbon de Parme

    Birth, Nijmegen

  5. Child born: Princess Carolina, Marchioness of Sala

    Birth, Nijmegen

What was it like?

The world around Soestdijk Palace, 1939: who ruled, who else was alive, how people lived. This is general history, not a record about the family, and every item shows where it comes from.

Princess was born the same year as Tina Turner, Seamus Heaney, and Francis Ford Coppola.

Born the same year

  • Tina Turner

    American-born Swiss singer and songwriter (1939–2023)

  • Seamus Heaney

    Irish poet, playwright, translator, lecturer (1939–2013)

  • Francis Ford Coppola

    American filmmaker (born 1939)

  • Jackie Stewart

    Scottish racing driver

  • Ali Khamenei

    Supreme Leader of Iran from 1989 to 2026

  • Margaret Atwood

    Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, pépiniériste and inventor (born 1939)

Fashion
Around 1940–1945

Wartime Scarcity and Fashion Substitutes

During the German occupation, clothing became extremely scarce, leading women to paint their legs brown to simulate stockings and draw a seam line with an eyebrow pencil. Home-made dresses were crafted from scraps of fabric, and worn-out leather shoes were often replaced by shoes with wooden soles or ones made from paper twine.

Moral Standards and Everyday Attire

In the 1930s, some religious schools strictly enforced modesty, with teachers occasionally sending boys home for wearing sandals without socks because it was considered walking around half-naked. Meanwhile, the earlier introduction of flesh-colored stockings around 1920 sparked intense moral debates, though the sheer number of women wearing them eventually rendered the controversy pointless by 1929.

Music
Around 1940–1945

Music and Dance Bans During Occupation

During the German occupation in World War II, jazz was suppressed and bands were forced to change English-sounding names, while public dancing was strictly prohibited.

Around 1944–1946

Post-War Dance Rage

Following World War II, a massive dance craze emerged in the Netherlands, where events were only successful if a ball was organized afterward.

Getting around

Improving travel times between towns

Between 1925 and 1949, traveling between towns became increasingly faster, though in 1930, the average travel time from Amsterdam to its 59 surrounding towns was still 89 minutes.

Modernization and travel comfort

Motor transport was seen as modern and comfortable, with bus passengers enjoying padded seats, whereas third-class rail travelers still sat on hard wooden seats until the introduction of new streamlined diesel trains in 1934.

Daily life

Coin-operated electricity and gas meters

Families used coin-operated meters for electricity and gas; when the light went out, one had to insert a guilder coin into the meter to restore power.

Around 1944–1945

Improvised wartime lighting methods

During the final years of the war, families improvised lighting using jam jars filled with water and a wick floating on a layer of oil, or pedaled a bicycle connected to a dynamo to generate light.

Food

Staple diet of potatoes and fat in 1930s

During the 1930s, families frequently consumed meals centered on potatoes and fat, often spreading a thick layer of butter, margarine, or lard on bread. Vegetables were considered less important, and staples like meat were often boiled for an hour in stews like hotchpotch.

Around 1944–1945

Famine food during the Hunger Winter

During the severe food shortages of the Hunger Winter in 1944–1945, desperate families consumed sugar beets, tulip bulbs, and potato peels. Some even used roasted chicory root as a coffee substitute and dried large leaves to smoke as a tobacco replacement.

Prices and wages

Everyday food prices in the 1930s

A sliced loaf of bread cost 11 cents, and a single egg cost 2 cents. A pound of butter was approximately 50 cents, while a full meal in a cafeteria could cost 25 cents.

Worker monthly and weekly earnings

An apothecary assistant in the city earned 110 guilders per month in the 1930s. During the same period, some workers struggled to survive on just 22 guilders per week.

Work

Long working days in agriculture

Agricultural workers in stock-raising could face long days of up to 12 hours in summer, with work starting as early as 4 a.m. and continuing until 8 p.m. during peak seasons. Even in winter, these workers often began at 5 a.m. and finished at 5:30 p.m.

Daily hiring system for dockworkers

Dockworkers in Amsterdam were divided into card-holder groups, where those without guaranteed work had to report to hiring sites up to three times a day. Workers hoping for employment were often categorized by employers using a blue or yellow card system.

News and letters

Domestic mail insurance was available for letters.

People could insure letters for a fee of 2 1/2 cents per 100 guilders of value, with the amount written on the envelope and a special value sticker attached.

Around 1929–1933

Airmail sped up intercontinental communication significantly.

In 1929, airmail between Amsterdam and Batavia took 10 days, while ship mail took four weeks each way. By 1933, airmail allowed correspondents to receive answers significantly faster than sea travel, which previously caused a seven to eight-week wait.

During their lifetime

  1. 1940

    1940 Rotterdam Blitz Destruction

    On 14 May 1940, German bombers destroyed the inner city of Rotterdam, killing 814 to 900 people and leaving 78,000 homeless.

  2. 1951

    Introduction of national television broadcasts

    The Dutch Television Foundation launched national broadcasts, leading to rapid adoption of television sets in homes.

  3. 1953

    The 1953 North Sea Flood disaster

    A massive storm caused catastrophic flooding that breached dykes and resulted in nearly 2,000 deaths.

  4. 1975

    Large-scale migration after Surinamese independence

    Following the independence of its colony, one-third of the population of Suriname emigrated to the Netherlands.

  5. 1993

    Regulation of euthanasia by doctors

    The government officially regulated euthanasia, acknowledging a practice already estimated to account for 2% of deaths.

Family

Parents

Spouses

Children

Ancestors and children

Open the full tree

Four generations back to the right, the children to the left. The number beside a child counts the generations of descendants known after them.