Princess Irene of the Netherlands

Princess Irene
Princess Irene in 1978
Duchess consort of Parma
Pretense	7 May 1977 – 7 January 1981
Born	(1939-08-05) 5 August 1939 (age 84) Soestdijk Palace, Baarn, Kingdom of the Netherlands
Spouse	Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma ​ ​ (m. 1964; div. 1981)​
Issue	Prince Carlos, Duke of Parma Princess Margarita, Countess of Colorno Prince Jaime, Count of Bardi Princess Carolina, Marchioness of Sala
Names Irene Emma Elisabeth van Oranje-Nassau, van Lippe-Biesterfeld
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]}