January is known as divorce month for many, and it appears this royal couple are keeping that tradition alive.
Prince Bernhard is the cousin of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. He was once in line to the throne, but when King Willem-Alexander became the monarch, he was removed from the line of succession.
Prince Bernhard and his now ex-wife Princess Annette of Orange-Nassau announced their divorce with a joint statement:
“After 25 years of marriage, we have decided to divorce. We are doing this by mutual agreement and with mutual respect. We will continue to care for our three children together. Despite this, it remains a difficult step. We therefore ask for everyone’s understanding and respect for our privacy.”
The couple were photographed together most recently in April 2025 to celebrate King’s Day.
Princess Annette signed with her maiden name, Sekrève, indicating that she will revert to it now.
The couple met in college and married in July 2000. They have three children together: Isabella, born in 2002, Samuel, born in 2004, and Benjamin, born in 2008. Their children do not have royal titles and use the surname van Vollenhoven.
This is due to the Netherlands’ constitution. It limits the line of succession to three degrees of kinship from the current ruling monarch. In 2013, when Queen Beatrix abdicated, Prince Bernhard, who is the son of Princess Margriet, who was the daughter of Queen Juliana and a cousin to the current monarch, was too far away in blood. Thus, he and his children were removed from the line of succession.
Read more about the Dutch royal family here.
It is not uncommon in recent years for royals to get divorced. The most famous being King Charles III (then-Prince Charles) and Princess Diana, who officially divorced in 1996.
Around the same time, then-Prince Andrew (now Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) and Sarah Ferguson legally divorced in 1996. However, they continued to live together for nearly three decades afterwards.
More recently, after 14 years of marriage, Prince Nikolaos and Princess Tatiana of Greece confirmed their divorce with messages of mutual respect and a continued friendship in 2024.
Also in 2024, Dubai’s Princess Sheikha Mahra announced her divorce from Sheikh Mana al Maktoum on Instagram after a year of marriage.
