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Two years passed and Marijke's eyes showed no marked improvement, but in the meantime Hofmans' influence over Queen Juliana became more and more noticeable. On a visit to the U.S. Juliana put aside speeches written by her ministers, and launched into speeches of her own, notable for their suggestion of neutralism in world affairs and their aura of vague mysticism. Dutch papers do not lightly criticize the royal family. The Socialist Het Parool, distressed by the Queen's U.S. speeches, veiled its feelings by tactfully assuming that the ministers had written them. Then it asked: Where was any indication that .the Dutch believe in NATO? The speeches sounded like the "views hailed by pacifists, 'third way' people and some mystics . . . Do they hear voices in The Hague and are they haunted by visions? . . . Doubtless these speeches are well-intentioned . . . Nevertheless, we realize with painful embarrassment . . . that all of this might leave the impression that Holland is a queer country."
As for Prince Bernhard, no longer the dashing playboy, he roamed the world serving as a sort of unofficial trade ambassador for his country, and was away more and more from the Queen's side. As Juliana and her mystic grew closer and closer together, there was a clear implication that Greet Hofmans believed Marijke's cure was being delayed because both parents (meaning Bernhard) were not wholly behind Greet Hofmans' intercession with God.
"Practically Speaking . . ." Bernhard once told a reporter that his wife ruled the country, but within the four walls of the palace he was boss. In time Bernhard broke openly with Greet Hofmans and sent her packing out of Soestdijk. She found sanctuary under the protective shadow of ex-Queen Wilhelmina and gradually became the center of a group of religionists whose meetings, under the slogan "Peace through Christ," were held on the ex-Queen's estate.
Juliana invited her wartime friend, Eleanor Roosevelt, to one of these conferences in 1951. After two days of it, Mrs. Roosevelt reportedly went away greatly disturbed by the fanatic impracticability of the discussions. In My Day she wrote: "I felt that it was almost arrogant to expect to establish with the Almighty a direct and conscious connection ... I have not ruled out the possibility of some dangers which are evident . . ."
Betweentimes, at a consulting room in a shabby Amsterdam dancing school, Greet practiced her faith healing. The desperate waited in line. "I help 8,000 people," she claimed, sometimes at the rate of 600 a day. The government at one point investigated to see whether she was practicing medicine without a license, but concluded she was not. Her message was simple: submission to God's will. "A disease is not a thing in itself," she would say. "Thus cancer in a person is connected with the world spiritual disorder of war. Practically speaking, therefore, I cannot cure cancer until war is eliminated."