The Netherlands, 1938. Princess Juliana, the only daughter of Queen Wilhelmina and Crown Princess, gives birth to her firstborn, Princess Beatrix.
Europe, 1939. Nazi Germany invades Poland and everyone in the United Kingdom, France and neighbouring countries now fears that an all-out war is unavoidable. Princess Juliana and Prince Bernard van Lippe-Biesterfeld's second child is born, and they decide to name her Irene, after the Greek goddess of peace.
1940. The Nazis invade the Netherlands, as well as Belgium and half of France, and the royal family flees to Ottawa, Canada. Naturally, Irene goes too—her bullet-proof cradle is now in a museum in Apeldoorn. But during the next few years her father is in Europe fighting, and she misses him intensely.
1945. The royal family returns home—but it is not home for the little princess whose birthday garden-party is attended by 6,000 children.
1963-64. Irene provokes a constitutional crisis, first by converting to Catholicism, and then by marrying Carlist pretender to the Spanish throne Prince Carlos Hugo de Bourbon-Parma. The whole affair makes the headlines in the Dutch press over several months as it involves multiple crisis cabinet meetings, the opposition of the Dutch parliament and a papal audience. It culminates in a marriage ceremony in Rome attended by ex- Empress Zita of Austria-Hungary and various members of the Spanish, French and Italian nobility—but not one member of the Dutch royal family or any Dutch diplomatic representative. Thus Irene renounces her right of succession to the throne of Orange and chooses not to live in the Netherlands.
Irene moves to General Franco's Spain and gets involved in the freedom movement fighting for democracy. She also works actively with underprivileged women in Madrid's poorer quarters.
Carlos and Irene have four children: Carlos (1970), Jaime (1972), Margarita (1972) and Carolina (1974).
1981. Irene divorces Carlos and returns to live in the Netherlands, a single mother with four children to raise.
October 1995. Dialogue with Nature is published in the Netherlands with a launch party in Utrecht. Queen Beatrix does not attend and is thought to be unhappy about the publication, but the launch is attended by Irene's mother Juliana, the ex-Queen, and Irene's younger sister, Princess Margriet, as well as her own four children. In all, there are some 60 people present and they all take part in the short meditation led by Irene who invites them to visualise a tree and ask it what it has to say to them.
2. Spiritual biography
Quite early on, Irene learns to escape her golden cage by taking refuge in nature and communing with the trees and plants. Surrounded by stern adults who ignore her violent migraines, she feels very lonely and quite miserable, although she always appears in public with a radiant smile. There is such a gap between the image of "the glamorous Princess of the Netherlands", as the Dutch press nickname her, and the reality of a woman who feels abandoned at every step of her life by family and friends, and in particular at the time of her marriage and then of her divorce. One day, she decides to make a completely new start and starts working on herself, taking various personal development workshops in the US and Europe and partaking of all kinds of therapy and complementary treatment. And her connection with nature deepens further as she exchanges messages with trees and plants, with animals—in particular dolphins—and even with the sun.
Her friends do not really understand but in Irene's experience most people living in urban conditions have lost their connection with nature and it is her hope that this book will be of help, whatever the reason for which it was originally purchased. Her advice is to allow peace and quiet in our busy lives and thus realise that we are part of a much larger whole than the limited perception of our five senses would seem to indicate. In Dialogue with Nature, Irene fearlessly shares her most intimate feelings. Her courage is truly remarkable.
