Princess Irene | |||||
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![]() Princess Irene in 1978 | |||||
Duchess consort of Parma | |||||
Pretense | 7 May 1977 – 7 January 1981 | ||||
Born | Soestdijk Palace, Baarn, Kingdom of the Netherlands | 5 August 1939||||
Spouse | |||||
Issue | Prince Carlos, Duke of Parma Princess Margarita, Countess of Colorno Prince Jaime, Count of Bardi Princess Carolina, Marchioness of Sala | ||||
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House | Orange-Nassau | ||||
Father | Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld | ||||
Mother | Juliana of the Netherlands | ||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism, prev. Calvinism |
Princess Irene of the Netherlands (Irene Emma Elisabeth; born 5 August 1939) is the second child of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard.
In 1964, she converted to Catholicism and married the then-Prince Carlos Hugo of Bourbon-Parma in a Catholic ceremony in Rome, thus forfeiting her place in the royal succession. Since their 1981 divorce, she has espoused left-wing causes, including anti-nuclear campaigns, and has developed a pantheistic philosophy about the relationship between man and nature.[1][citation needed]