Harm van Riel was a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 banker and politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy

People's Party for Freedom and Democracy

The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy is a conservative-liberal political party located in the Netherlands. The VVD supports private enterprise in the Netherlands and is often perceived as an economic liberal party in contrast to the social-liberal Democrats 66 alongside which it sits in...

 (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie).

From 1956 to 1976 he was a member of the Dutch Senate and from 1959 to 1976 also VVD Parliamentary group leader

Parliamentary group leader

The leader or chairman of a parliamentary group holds an influential political post in a parliamentary system with strong party discipline...

.

Van Riel was an important and colorful politician. He was mentor to VVD prominent Hans Wiegel

Hans Wiegel

Hans Wiegel is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy . He served as a Member of the House of Representatives from April 18, 1967 until December 19, 1977...

 and lived many years in Hotel Des Indes in The Hague

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

.

External links

Senate biography