The Dutch royal household is investigating claims that Jewish pupils were transferred to a different class at their Baarn primary school in 1951 so they would not be in the same groups as princess Irene and princess Margriet.

The claims are made by historian Bart Wallet in the new issue of the Nieuw Israelietisch Weekblad. The pressure to move the Jewish pupils came from a ‘certain group of Baarn residents’ and queen Juliana was aware of the move, Wallet says.

When Jewish parents approached the queen, they were told the Dutch royal family is ‘not and never has been anti-semetic’, Wallet says. However, Juliana did not intervene.

Wallet says in his article the decision to move the children probably came after influential parents insisted their offspring were in the same class as the princesses.

‘Those who did not make the grade came from less prestigious backgrounds and that included the Jewish children, Wallet says.

A spokesman for the royal household told the NRC that ‘the material is too serious and the allegations too grave to provide a rapid response.’