And now we know why the British security service never entirely trusted him. "The Dutch government has officially verified the legitimacy of a party card that shows Prince Bernhard, the long-serving prince consort post-World War Two, was a member of Adolf Hitler's Nazi party. Prince Bernhard, a German nobleman who married Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, vehemently denied any ties to the NSDAP party - which later became known as the Nazi party - up until his death in 2004. In an interview published shortly after his passing, he said: 'I can declare with my hand on the Bible: I was never a Nazi. I never paid for party membership, I never had a membership card.' He admitted to being part of two Nazi organizations after 1933 - including Hitler's notorious paramilitary group the SS - but argued that initial participation was a necessity, and later went on to lead elements of the Dutch resistance forces after the Royal Family fled to Britain. But in 1996, researcher Gerard Aalders at the Dutch institute for war studies uncovered a copy of his party membership card in a US university archive, sparking major speculation over his Nazi affiliations that dogged the Prince's later years. Then in 2010 - six years after the Prince's death, historian Annejet van der Zijl discovered another membership card in a German archive showing he'd joined the Nazi party as a student in April 1933. Now, it has emerged that former head of the Dutch royal family's palace archives, Flip Maarschalkerweerd, found the original membership card in the Prince's personal effects - and its authenticity has been officially verified by government officials." www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12598205/Nazi-membership-card-proves-Hollands-Prince-Bernhard-charge-Dutch-resistance-forces-1944-joined-Hitlers-party-despite-repeated-denials-day-died.html
