Queen Máxima and Princess Beatrix present the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Prize

Queen Máxima and her mother-in-law, Princess Beatrix honoured those supporting culture in the Netherlands as they presented the annual prize of the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Monday at Muziekgebouw concert hall in Amsterdam.

The fund was created in the 1940s by Princess Beatrix’s father, Prince Bernhard, to help buy war material for the British and Dutch Governments during WWII. After the war ended, the fund continued to help rebuild cultural life in the Netherlands and today supports culture, nature, and science.

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Koningin Máxima reikt de Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds Prijs 2019 uit aan vereniging De Hollandsche Molen in het Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ in Amsterdam. Prinses Beatrix is ook bij de uitreiking aanwezig. De Prinses is beschermvrouwe van vereniging De Hollandsche Molen. De vereniging is in Nederland de autoriteit op molengebied. Dankzij de vele vrijwilligers zijn honderden molens in ons land bewaard gebleven en weer in beweging gekomen. De oeuvreprijs van het Prins Bernhard @Cultuurfonds wordt jaarlijks toegekend aan een persoon of instelling met een grote staat van dienst op het gebied van cultuur, natuur of wetenschap in Nederland. #koninginmáxima #koningin #queen #máxima #cultuurfonds #oeuvreprijs @muziekgebouw #amsterdam #prijs #HollandscheMolen #cultuur #natuur #wetenschap @m0lens #cultuurfonds #cultuurfondsprijs #M0lens ?ANP

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The Royal House of the Netherlands posted more details about the event on their official Instagram account, sharing that Queen Máxima presented the Prince Bernhard Cultuurfonds Prijs 2019 to De Hollandsche Molen or the Dutch Mill Society.

“The association is the authority in the field of milling in the Netherlands,” the post said. “Thanks to the many volunteers, hundreds of windmills in our country have been preserved and started moving again. The oeuvre prize of the Prins Bernhard @Cultuurfonds is awarded annually to a person or institution with a large track record in the field of culture, nature or science in the Netherlands.”

Princess Beatrix, who was the queen of the Netherlands until she abdicated to her son Willem-Alexander in 2013, serves as patron of De Hollandsche Molen. The organisation was founded in 1923 to preserve, document, and restore windmills in the Netherlands.

Queen Máxima took the stage to present association director Nicole Bakker the prize, which consists of a chain made from links that depict the Cultuurfonds work areas. The organisation also received the oeuvre prize of 150,000 euros. This includes a registered fund with a starting capital of 75,000 euros and a freely disposable amount of 75,000 euros. 

This money will be used “to encourage initiatives that contribute to the development of crafts to preserve Dutch mills” according to De Hollandsche Molen and also toward a youth fund to encourage young volunteers to help preserve windmills across the Netherlands.