Anne Frank and the Dutch and British royal families

Most will know the tragic story of Anne Frank, but did you know that Anne wrote about royal families in her now-famous diary?

Anne was born in Frankfurt, Germany, on 12 June 1929 as the youngest daughter of Otto Frank and Edith Holländer. Her elder sister, Margot, was born three years before her. The family emigrated to Amsterdam in the Netherlands after Adolf Hitler was appointed as Chancellor. Anne’s father established a branch of his distribution company in that location.

Before the war, Anne had traded cards with the images of the Dutch and foreign royals with her friend, Hannah.

On 10 May 1940, the Netherlands was invaded by Germany, and the following year, the family was stripped of their German citizenship, making them stateless. Otto Frank had been preparing for the family to emigrate to the United States, but all the paperwork was lost when the consulate was destroyed during the bombing of Rotterdam on 14 May 1940.

After the summer holidays of 1941, Anne and her sister Margot were forced to move to a Jewish school, the Jewish Lyceum. On 12 June 1942, Anne’s 13th birthday, she received an autograph book bound in cloth, which she decided to use as a diary. Three weeks later, on 6 July 1942, the family went into hiding in a three-story space above Otto’s office on the Prinsengracht. They were going to be helped by some of Otto’s most trusted employees. This place became known as the Achterhuis or the Secret Annex.

The first mention of the Dutch royal family comes on 21 September 1942. Anne wrote that she sometimes listened to the Dutch broadcasts from London. She wrote, “Prince Bernhard recently announced that Princess Juliana is expecting a baby in January, which I think is wonderful. No one here understands why I take such an interest in the Royal Family.’¹ That baby was Princess Margriet, who was born in Canada on 19 January 1943. Anne later mentioned reading a genealogical chart, “right up to little Margriet Franciska (born in 1943 in Ottawa).”²

On 30 December 1943, Anne received some small royal memorabilia from Bep, one of the women helping to conceal them. She wrote, “P.S. Bep had a picture postcard of the entire Royal Family copied for me. Juliana looks very young, and so does the Queen. The three little girls are adorable. It was incredibly nice of Bep, don’t you think?”³

Anne placed the picture on her wall using a thumbtack, and it was next to pictures of Princess Elizabeth (future Queen Elizabeth II) and Princess Margret.⁴

Anne continued to be interested in the royal family and genealogy. On 28 January 1944, she wrote, “In recent weeks I’ve developed a great liking for family trees and the genealogical tables of royal families. I’ve come to the conclusion that once you begin your search, you have to keep digging deeper and deeper into the past, which leads you to even more interesting discoveries.”⁵ Two months later, she wrote, “I’m looking in every newspaper, book and document I can find for the family trees of the French, German, Spanish, English, Austrian, Russian, Norwegian and Dutch royal families. I’ve made great progress with many of them, because for a long time I’ve been taking notes while reading biographies or history books. I even copy out many of the passages on history.”⁶

In April 1944, Anne and the rest of the people in hiding believed they were about to be arrested, and they spent a restless night together listening for any sounds of the approaching Gestapo. Someone in the group mentioned burning Anne’s diary to avoid it being found if they were caught, but this did not happen. The tension was only broken when Miep, another one of the women helping to conceal them, knocked on the bookcase blocking the entrance to the Annex. Anne later wrote, “That night I really thought I was going to die. I waited for the police, and I was ready for death, like a soldier on a battlefield. I’d gladly have given my life for my country. But now, now that I’ve been spared, my first wish after the war is to become a Dutch citizen. I love the Dutch, I love this country, I love the language, and I want to work here. And even if I have to write to the Queen herself, I won’t give up until I’ve reached my goal!”⁷ Anne was already planning for her future as a journalist.

Anne also wrote about the British royal family, and on 21 April 1944, she wrote, “Today is the eighteenth birthday of Her Royal Highness Princess Elizabeth of York. The BBC reported that she hasn’t yet been declared of age, though royal children usually are. We’ve been wondering which prince they’ll marry this beauty off to, but can’t think of a suitable candidate; perhaps her sister, Princess Margaret Rose, can have Crown Prince Baudouin of Belgium!”‘⁸

On 11 May 1944, Anne last mentioned Queen Wilhelmina. She wrote, “P.S. Tuesday and Wednesday evening, our beloved Queen addressed the country. She’s taking a vacation, so she’ll be in good health for her return to the Netherlands. She used words like ‘soon, when I’m back in Holland’, ‘a swift liberation’, ‘heroism’ and ‘heavy burdens.'”⁹

Anne and the others were discovered on 4 August 1944. They were transported to the Westerbork transit camp, and on 3 September 1944, they were put on the very last transport from Westerbork to Auschwitz. Anne, Margot and their mother, Edith, were separated from Otto. All four were selected for slave labour. At the end of October, Anne and Margot were put on a transport to Bergen-Belsen, but Edith was too sick and she was left behind. Edith died on 6 January 1945. Anne and Margot died of disease in February or March 1945, but the exact dates were not recorded.

Otto was the only survivor, and upon his return to Amsterdam, he was given Anne’s diary. The diary was first published in 1947 and remains in print to this day. Otto sent a copy of the diary to Queen Wilhelmina shortly after it was first published. He received a thank-you letter from Queen Wilhelmina’s private secretary five days later.¹⁰

In 1956, at the Dutch premiere of the film ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’, Queen Juliana and the future Queen Beatrix were present.¹¹ At the Dutch premiere of the play ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ that same year, Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard were present.¹²

In 1974, Queen Elizabeth II learned that Anne had her picture on her wall. She had a lady-in-waiting write to Otto, “Perhaps this photograph gave your daughter a moment’s pleasure during that dreadful time.”¹³

In 2015, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited Bergen-Belsen, where they were also shown a tombstone for Anne and Margot Frank. Their bodies lie in a mass grave, so the tombstone does not mark their grave. Queen Camilla is the current patron of the Anne Frank Trust UK.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Anne’s birth, Queen Juliana visited the Annex with Anne’s father, Otto.

Queen Máxima has visited the Annex several times, usually to show visiting heads of state or their partners around.

King Willem-Alexander has visited the Anne Frank Centre in Berlin.

1. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank p.38
2. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank p.273
3. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank p.157
4. Anne Frank Stichting
5. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank p.175-176
6. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank p.251
7. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank p.262
8. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank p.270
9. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank p.292
10. Anne Frank Stichting
11. Anne Frank Stichting
12. Anne Frank Stichting
13. Anne Frank Stichting