Dutch politician Geert Wilders shocked the Netherlands with a huge election win to become the next Prime Minister. Details about his fortune, career, and controversies explored.
Geert Wilders of the populist Party for Freedom (PVV) stands on the precipice of becoming the Dutch prime minister. Wilders has been sweeping all exit polls and looks certain to take former PM Mark Rutte’s position after the latter resigned in July earlier this year.
Known for his anti-immigration and anti-Islam stance, Wilders was one of the few international leaders to come in defense of Indian political leader Nupur Sharma when she made comments on Prophet Muhammad during a TV debate last year.
Following his win in the general election count on Tuesday – the leader has adopted a more moderate approach in hopes of forming a coalition.
Here’s everything we know about the Dutch politician; his family, parents, early life, educational background, career, net worth, wikipedia, and biography.
Who is Geert Wilders?
Geert Wilders is a prominent Dutch politician known for leading the Party for Freedom since he founded it in 2006. He is also the party’s leader in the House of Representatives, having held a parliamentary seat since 1998.
The far-right leader, once dubbed “Europe’s Most Dangerous Man”, has sparked fierce debate over his anti-EU, anti-Islam beliefs – even for a time being banned from the UK.
The so-called Dutch Donald Trump has made his platform largely on a divisive anti-Islam platform – including comparisons of the Koran to Hitler’s hate-filled Mein Kampf.
Known as “Captain Peroxide” and “Mozart” because of his striking bleached hair – he was once described by Radio Netherlands as “the most famous bleach-blond since Marilyn Monroe”.
And a 2010 profile of him by the BBC and a subsequent 2017 documentary dubbed him “Europe’s Most Dangerous Man”.
He has been a figure in Dutch politics for nearly 30 years and is now within touching distance of power.
Wilders lives under armed guards and has faced constant death threats – including a call to behead him and being named on a “hit list” by al-Qaeda.
He was described as a “political pyromaniac” by current Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Wilders party PVV has previously campaigned to ban the Koran from the Netherlands entirely, as well as mosques and Islamic headscarves in certain spaces.
He has even been arrested several times for incitement.
Britain banned him from entering the country and labeled him as an “undesirable” back in 2009 – being detained when he landed at Heathrow.
The ban was later overturned after an appeal, which he celebrated as a victory for “free speech”.
Wilders has also previously praised tyrannical leader Vladimir Putin – but has since distanced himself from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.
Despite allegations of extremism and hate speech, the Dutch politician describes himself as a right-wing liberal whose greatest role model is former British PM Margaret Thatcher.
He is adamantly anti-EU and a staunch advocate for “Nexit” – the Netherlands (Holland) leaving the EU, as well as stricter immigration laws.
But due to his fire-spitting campaigning and hard rhetoric, the politician has been protected constantly by armed police for almost 20 years.
After repeated threats to his life, including by a Dutch Islamic terror group accused of planning to kill Wilders with grenades – he has lived under constant surveillance.
Round-the-clock armed police monitor him, he lives in a government safe house and is driven between his home and parliament in a bulletproof vest.
Who is Geert Wilders’ wife? At 29, he tied the knot with his then-longtime girlfriend, Krisztina Wilders Márfai in 1992. His wife is a former diplomat from Hungary of Jewish origin. Geert and Krisztina Wilders have been together for 30 years and are still going strong.
Does Geert WIlders have any kids? The controversial Dutch politician is not known to be a father, hence, he has no children. In his decades-long marriage to Krisztina Wilders, there have been no reports of the couple having welcomed a son or a daughter.
Geert Wilders wins Netherlands’ Prime Minister in the just ended general election.
Far-right firebrand politician Geert Wilders won a ‘monster victory’ in yesterday’s Dutch general election that shook the Netherlands and Europe on November 22, 2023.
The 60-year-old – who is anti-Islam, known as the ‘Dutch Trump’ and was once turned away from Britain’s Heathrow airport for being too extreme, now faces an uphill struggle today to woo rivals to form a coalition government in parliament.
His populist PVV (Freedom Party) won 37 seats, more than doubling his share from the last election and outstripping opponents, according to near-complete results.
A left-wing bloc trailed far behind on 25 seats, with the centre-right VVD on 24 – a catastrophic result for the party of outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
The result puts Wilders in line to lead talks to form a new ruling coalition in the country’s 150-seat parliament, and possibly become the country’s first hard-right prime minister at a time of political upheaval through much of the continent.
‘I had to pinch my arm,’ a jubilant Wilders said. Addressing cheering supporters in The Hague after exit polls, he doubled down on his anti-immigrant rhetoric, saying the Dutch had voted to stem the ‘tsunami’ of asylum-seekers.
‘The PVV can no longer be ignored,’ he cried, urging other parties to do a deal.
Who are Geert Wilders’ parents and family members?
Geert Wilders was born on 6 September 1963, in Venlo, Limburg, Netherlands.
The names of her parents are Johannes Henricus Andreas Wilders (father) and Maria Anne (Ording) Wilders (mother).
He was born into a Catholic family.
His dad was Dutch; his mom was born in colonial Indonesia with a mixed Dutch and Indonesian background.
His father worked as a manager for the printing and copying manufacturing company Océ and had hidden from the Germans during the Second World War, an experience so traumatizing that he refused to physically enter Germany even forty years later.
Geert is not an only child. He has three siblings and he is the youngest.
Growing up, Wilders attended his secondary at the Mavo and Havo Middle School and High School in Venlo. Reflecting passions that came to the fore later in his career, Wilders took a course in health insurance at the Stichting Opleiding Sociale Verzekeringen in Amsterdam and earned several law certificates at the Dutch Open University.
After he graduated from varsity, he volunteered for a year in a moshav, Tomer, on the West Bank, in Israel.
With the money he saved, he traveled to the neighboring Arab countries and was moved by the lack of democracy in the region. When he returned to the Netherlands, he retained Israeli ideas about counter-terrorism and a “special feeling of solidarity” for the country.
What is Geert Wilders’ net worth?
Netherlands politician Geert Wilders has accumulated an impressive fortune over the years.
He is currently a multimillionaire per online reports and has an estimated current net worth of $16 million. Some outlets also peg her net value at $450 million.