AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Prince Bernhard, the charismatic German-born father of the Netherlands' Queen Beatrix who earned the respect of the Dutch during the Nazi occupation, died Wednesday. He was 93.
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Outside the Netherlands, he was seen as a jet-setting ambassador. He helped found the World Wildlife Fund in 1961 and became its first president, and is credited with establishing the Bilderberg group — a secretive annual discussion forum for prominent politicians, thinkers and businessmen — which he chaired from 1954 to 1976.

With his global contacts, in May of 1954 he was key in organizing a meeting at the Bilderberg Hotel in the Netherlands for the male-only business elite and intellectuals of the Western World to discuss the economic problems in the face of the then growing threat from communism. As a result of the success of this first meeting, it would become an annual affair known as the Bilderberg Group. The idea for the European Union was spawned at Bilderberg.

By the 1970s, Prince Bernhard served on more than 300 corporate boards or committees worldwide and was loudly praised in the Netherlands for his very active efforts to promote the economic well-being of the country. But scandal rocked the Royal family in 1976 when it was revealed that Prince Bernhard had accepted a $1.1 million bribe from U.S. aircraft manufacturer, Lockheed Corporation to influence the Dutch government's purchase of fighter aircraft. Prime minister of the Netherlands Joop den Uyl ordered an inquiry into the affair while Prince Bernhard was refusing to answer reporters' questions, stating: "I am above such things." The Dutch and international press headlined the stories for months, dredging up old records of Prince Bernhard's German SS participation and his numerous extra-marital affairs, including the purchase of a luxurious Paris apartment for mistress Helene Grinda. Further evidence came to light of the Prince having been deeply involved with Tibor Rosenbaum, the Swiss banker and front man for Mafia financier Meyer Lansky. To make things worse, it was revealed that the Prince had also been involved in business dealings with Robert Vesco who had been a frequent guest at the Royal Palace. Vesco used an Amsterdam mailing address while committing the largest single fraud ever, stealing more than US$220 million from a Swiss based company, Investors Overseas Services Ltd.