Mrs. Gunn's Diary: Jan. 21, 1942

She hears Netherlands minister call Germany 'the cancer of Europe'

Mrs. Gunn attended a luncheon of the Chevy Chase Women’s Club today and heard a “stirring” speech by Dr. Alexander Loudon, minister from the Netherlands, about the war. The Netherlands were overrun in the spring of 1940, along with Belgium and France. Its government was operating in exile in England. Queen Wilhelmina had left her country most reluctantly — Hitler was extremely disappointed that she had not been captured by his soldiers — and spent the war years giving fiery speeches peppered with swear words. Winston Churchill once said, “I fear no man but Wilhelmina.”

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The picture of Queen Wilhelmina II giving a speech over the BBC radio was accessed via Wikimedia Commons.