Pieter van Vollenhoven | |
---|---|
Born | Schiedam, Netherlands | April 30, 1939
Alma mater | Leiden University |
Occupation | Emeritus Professor |
Organization(s) | Dutch Transport Safety Board Dutch Safety Board |
Title | Master of Laws |
Spouse | |
Children | Prince Maurits Prince Bernhard Prince Pieter-Christiaan Prince Floris |
Parent(s) | Pieter van Vollenhoven Sr. Jacoba Gijsbertha Stuyling de Lange |
Pieter van Vollenhoven Jr. (born April 30, 1939) is the husband of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and a member, by marriage, of the Dutch royal house.
Van Vollenhoven was born in Schiedam, he is the second son of Pieter van Vollenhoven Sr. (1897–1977) and his wife Jacoba Gijsbertha Stuylingh de Lange (1906–1983). The van Vollenhoven family and the Stuylingh de Lange family belong to the Dutch patriciate.
Van Vollenhoven attended secondary school in Rotterdam, and he subsequently studied law at the University of Leiden. He graduated in 1965, after which he worked as a legal officer for the Netherlands Council of State. In 1966, he performed his military service with the Royal Netherlands Air Force, and attained a military pilot license the following year.
Van Vollenhoven is currently most well known in The Netherlands for having been the chairman of the Dutch Safety Board from which he retired in February 2011. He was originally appointed chairman of the Road Transportation Safety Board and the Rail Incident Board by minister Tjerk Westerterp. Following the Bijlmer and Hercules disasters, a need was felt in The Netherlands for a single body to investigate all transportation-related incidents; the Transportation Safety Council (Dutch: Raad voor de Transportveiligheid) was created, which incorporated the earlier Road Transportation Safety and Rail Incident Boards and also had Van Vollenhoven as chairman. Van Vollenhoven felt, however, that the country should have a single board to investigate all safety-related issues; lobbying on his part finally convinced the government to transform the Transportation Safety Council into a general Safety Board, of which Van Vollenhoven was made the first chairman.
Due to his expertise in the area, the University of Twente made Van Vollenhoven a professor on October 1, 2005. He holds the policy research chair, which is a subspecialty of the risk management group. He held his oration on April 28, 2006, and called for the creation of a Minister of Safety at that time.
In 1989, Van Vollenhoven took the initiative in setting up the Dutch Victim Support Fund, of which he is also the chairman. He is also chairman of the Nationaal Groenfonds, the National Restorationfund and the Society, Safety and Police Association and the International Transport Safety Board. He is a member of the European Transport Safety Council.
As Chairman of the Safety Board, Van Vollenhoven oversaw the investigation of the Schipholbrand, a fire in a holding facility for illegal immigrants in The Netherlands. He presented a final report on September 21, 2006, with such devastating findings that ministers Piet Hein Donner and Sybilla Dekker resigned over it. A third responsible minister, Rita Verdonk refused to resign despite her responsibility in the matter.
Following the Turkish Airlines Flight 1951 crash, Van Vollenhoven led the investigation by the Safety Board. This investigation brought him into conflict with the Office of the Attorney General, which requested access to the black box data. Citing that there was no reason at that time to suspect foul play and that the Board investigation would be hampered by the threat of legal action against persons, Van Vollenhoven absolutely refused this access. [1]
When he turned 70, Barry Sweedler (of the US National Transportation Safety Board) said to him: "The world is a safer place because of your work and leadership".
Van Vollenhoven is an avid pianist. In 1986 he formed a trio – De Gevleugelde Vrienden – with two of the country's leading pianists (Pim Jacobs and Louis van Dijk) and gave some twenty concerts a year both at home and abroad in aid of the Victim Support Fund. De Gevleugelde Vrienden were awarded four gold discs. Since the death of one of the members of the trio, Pim Jacobs, Van Vollenhoven has continued to give concerts with pianists Louis van Dijk and Koos Mark.
Van Vollenhoven is still an active pilot and he also dives. He almost lost the tip of his right index finger during a dive in 2005, when he got caught between the boat and the dock steps. Doctors were able to reattach the tip.
He is also a photographer. The Victim Support Fund raised money in 2008 and 2009 by selling calendars with his photographs.
Van Vollenhoven was diagnosed with a Melanoma, a common type of skin cancer, in May 2017. He had it removed at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. [2] In November that same year, he was diagnosed with another Melanoma and had it removed. [3]
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(June 2021) |
Dutch royal family |
|
* Member of the Dutch royal house |
Van Vollenhoven married Princess Margriet of the Netherlands at The Hague on January 10, 1967, in the St. James Church. This made him the first member of the Dutch Royal House being a commoner and not of royal or noble origin. He was not given any royal titles as a result of the marriage and is therefore formally addressed as "Mister Van Vollenhoven" or by his professional title as "Professor Van Vollenhoven".
The couple went to live in Het Loo House, near the Het Loo Palace. They have four sons:
The German house name Lippe-Biesterfeld is borne by the children of Prince Maurits (making them Van Lippe-Biesterfeld van Vollenhoven); his other (grand)children are just van Vollenhoven.
Van Vollenhoven received numerous honours and awards in the Netherlands but also internationally: [4]
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(June 2021) |
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(June 2021) |
On June 12, 2004, he was made an Honorary citizen of the town of Vollenhove.[ citation needed ]
The House of Orange-Nassau is the current reigning house of the Netherlands. A branch of the European House of Nassau, the house has played a central role in the politics and government of the Netherlands and elsewhere in Europe, particularly since William the Silent organised the Dutch Revolt against Spanish rule, which after the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) led to an independent Dutch state. William III of Orange led the resistance of the Netherlands and Europe to Louis XIV of France, and orchestrated the Glorious Revolution in England that established parliamentary rule. Similarly, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands was instrumental in the Dutch resistance during World War II.
Willem-Alexander is King of the Netherlands, having acceded to the throne following his mother's abdication in 2013.
Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands is the third and youngest son of the former Dutch queen, Beatrix, and her husband, Claus von Amsberg, and is the younger brother of the reigning Dutch king, Willem-Alexander. He is a member of the Dutch Royal House and currently fourth in the line of succession to the Dutch throne.
Máxima is Queen of the Netherlands as the wife of King Willem-Alexander.
Princess Margriet of the Netherlands is the third daughter of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. As an aunt of the reigning monarch, King Willem-Alexander, she is a member of the Dutch Royal House and currently eighth and last in the line of succession to the throne.
Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was Prince consort of the Netherlands from 7 February 1901 until his death in 1934 as the husband of Queen Wilhelmina. He was the longest-serving Dutch consort.
Prince Maurits Willem Pieter Hendrik of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven is a member of the Dutch royal family as the eldest son of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Pieter van Vollenhoven.
The Order of the Oak Crown is an order of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
Prince Pieter-Christiaan Michiel of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven, is the third son of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Pieter van Vollenhoven.
Prince Floris Frederik Martijn of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven is the fourth and youngest son of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Pieter van Vollenhoven.
Bernhard Lucas Emmanuel, Prince of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven is a Dutch entrepreneur and a member of the Dutch royal family.
Princess Annette of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven-Sekrève is the wife of Prince Bernhard of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven, the second son of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Pieter van Vollenhoven.
Princess Anita of Orange-Nassau is a member of the Dutch royal family. She is the wife of Prince Pieter-Christiaan of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven.
In the Dutch honours system, most orders are the responsibility of ministers of the Netherlands Government. The house orders, however, are awarded at the discretion of the Dutch monarch alone.
The House of Lippe-Biesterfeld was a comital cadet line of the House of Lippe.
Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld was a German nobleman who was Prince consort of the Netherlands from 6 September 1948 to 30 April 1980 as the husband of Queen Juliana. They were the parents of four children, including Beatrix, who was Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 to 2013.
The Monarchy of Netherlands is a constitutional monarchy. As such, the role and position of the monarch are governed by the Constitution of the Netherlands. Consequently, a large portion of it is devoted to the monarch. Roughly a third of the document explains the succession, mechanisms of accession and abdication to the throne and the roles and duties of the monarch. This includes the formalities of communication between the States-General and the monarch's role in creating laws.
Princess Marilène of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven-van den Broek is the wife of Prince Maurits of Orange-Nassau, van Vollenhoven, and was thereby member of the Dutch Royal House until King Willem-Alexander's accession in 2013 rendered Prince Maurits too distantly related to the reigning monarch. She remains a member of the larger Dutch Royal Family.