The bond between the Dutch royal family and the Roosevelt family with its Dutch name was solidified in 1939 when FDR sent a note to Queen Wilhelmina to offer her children a safe haven in the USA: “It would give Mrs. Roosevelt and me very great happiness to care for them over here as if they were members of our own family and they could come to us either in Washington or at our country place at Hyde Park.”

Eleanor Roosevelt wrote in her “My Day” column of August 8, 1942 that she accompanied Queen Wilhelmina to the Capitol, where the latter addressed the Senate and the House about the situation in Europe. After it, Queen Wilhelmina visited various places with Mrs. Roosevelt followed by many chats with FDR about what the queen called “statecraft.”

On January 10th, 1944, Mrs. Roosevelt and Crown Princess Juliana attended a dinner in Washington, D.C. with Princess Martha of Norway.

After Princess Juliana’s visit to the White House in early 1944, the First Lady wrote in her column that “It is always a great pleasure for me to be with this young princess who is so deeply interested in the good of her country.”

The summers were often a time for the Roosevelts to reconnect with Dutch Crown Princess Juliana and her children. While they spent most of the war in Ottawa, Canada, they spent the summer of 1942 on a small estate in Lee, Massachusetts where the Roosevelts often visited. In this October 9th, 1943 picture, the Roosevelts entertain Princess Juliana at Mrs. Roosevelt’s Val-Kill cottage in Hyde Park, New York. FDR had just become Godfather to Princess Margriet, born earlier that year.

As gracious as the Roosevelts were towards the Dutch royal house, getting involved in the war and helping refugees was another matter… Already back in 1939, Eleanor Roosevelt had wanted to help the Jewish refugees who were desperately trying to leave the Europe of Hitler, yet the US policy of isolationism made it very hard for her to accomplish much…

Walking a political tight rope, FDR cautioned the First Lady to wait… It was not until early 1944 that FDR promised to set up a “Refugee Advisory Board:”

Although over 100,000 Jewish refugees had been admitted to the US between 1938 and 1941 (according to the Holocaust Encyclopedia), the general consensus of the time was that all those refugees posed a security threat. Ever the politician, FDR also repeated that sentiment. Hence, what little was done was mostly at Eleanor Roosevelt’s insistence.