Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Heinrich Wladimir Albrecht Ernst of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was born on 19 April 1876 in Schwerin. He was the youngest son of Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and his third wife, Princess Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.

He was created Prince of the Netherlands on 6 February 1901, and married Queen Wilhelmina on 7 February 1901, in The Hague. Although the queen was devoted to her spouse at the time of their marriage, it proved in the long run to be an unhappy one that did little more than meet its obligation by producing an heir. They had one child, Juliana, in whose favor Wilhelmina abdicated on 4 September 1948.

He was the 279th Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword in Portugal and the 1,157th Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain in 1924.

He died, at the age of 58, on 3 July 1934 in The Hague, Netherlands.

He successfully merged the two Dutch Boy Scout organisations Nederlandse Padvinders Organisatie (NPO, Netherlands Pathfinder Organisation) and the Nederlandse Padvinders Bond (NPB, Netherlands Pathfinder Federation) on 11 December 1915 to form De Nederlandse Padvinders (NPV, The Netherlands Pathfinders). He became the Royal Commissioner of that organisation and he asked Jean Jacques Rambonnet to become chairman in 1920.[1]

Prince Henry was known to have had numerous extra-marital affairs, at least one of which resulted in illegitimate offspring; during her widowhood, Queen Wilhelmina paid monthly allowances to three known ex-mistresses: Julia Cervey in Geneva (two hundred guilders per month); Wilhelmine Steiner in Zurich (five hundred guilders per month); and Mien Lier-Wenneker (1887-1973), in The Hague (five hundred guilders per month).[2]

Mien Abbo-Wenneker (later Lier-Wenneker, 1887-1973), gave birth to a total of six children; the older two, sisters Christina Margaretha Abbo & Edith Abbo (later Sheep-Abbo) [3] were ostensibly the daughters of Mien’s first husband, Dhr. Abbo, but strongly rumored to have been fathered by Prince Henry. By then a widow, Mien in 1918 gave birth to Prince Henry’s acknowledged son, Albrecht Willem Lier (known as Pim Lier) (22 Jul 1918 – 9 Apr 2015).[4] In 1919, Mien married Lieutenant Jan Derk Lier, a former aide-de-camp to Prince Henry. A grant of one hundred thousand guilders was arranged for Lt. Lier[5] from the State by police chief François van 't Sant, whom Queen Wilhelmina engaged to verify the facts of her husband’s extramarital relationships and children. This, plus a monthly allowance to the Lt from the state of one thousand guilders, was in return for his commitment to "the three children of HRH.”

The male parent of the remaining three children was not verified as being either Prince Henry or Lt. Lier. Subsequent to their birth, no additional allowance was settled on the family; in fact, the monthly allowance of one thousand guilders to Lt. Jan Derk Lier was halved by van't Sant after a short period, although the allowance to his wife continued.

It is rumored that, overall, Prince Henry fathered between three and ten illegitimate children, but firm proof remains elusive.

• PEC Zwolle, football club named in his honour

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Prince Consort of the Netherlands.

• Newspaper clippings about Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW