T H E A Q U I T A I N I A N D U C A L F A M I L Y & H O U S E H O L D
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PICTURED HERE: THE COAT OF ARMS OF THE AU'OCCOUCH W8TU CHARGED WITH THE HERALDIC WAMPUM BELT OF THE W8TU. FOR USE OF ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE W8TU. THE ARMS AND THE HERALDIC WAMPUM BELT WERE CREATED BY THE DUKE IN 2023 & IS THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OF THE INCUMBENT BARON VAN DER HOOP - PRINCE JAMES OF BOURBON THE DUKE OF AQUITAINE.
THE GENESIS OF THE AU’OCCOUCH W8TU
THE AU’OCCOUCH W8TU (HOUSE OF THE STATELY DRESSED) IS OLDER THAN RECORDED TIME. THERE IS NO DEFINITIVE DATE OF ESTABLISHMENT BUT IT HAS BEEN SURMISED THAT THE HOUSE OF THE STATELY DRESSED, WHICH HAS BEEN THE SOURCE OF THE SOYTUMS (KINGS) OF THE AQUINNAH WAMPANOAGS, IS AT LEAST 5,000 YEARS OLD. IT IS NOT KNOWN IF THERE WERE ANY OTHER DYNASTIES THAT PRECEDED THE AU’OCCOUCHES, BUT IT IS THOUGHT NOT.
THE MONARCHY OF THE AQUINNAH WAMPANOAG NATION, HEADED BY THE HEREDITARY SOYTUM IS ONE OF IF NOT THE OLDEST, CONTIGUOUS MONARCHIES ON EARTH. AT PRESENT THE OFFICE OF THE SOYTUM IS OPERATED AS A CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY. THE SOYTUM DOES PRESIDE OVER THE AQUINNAH WAMPANOAG GOVERNMENT, AND THE ELECTED TRIBAL COUNCIL (LEGISLATIVE BODY). THE INCUMBENT SOYTUM CAN DISMISS THE ELECTED TRIBAL COUNCIL IF HE OR SHE SO CHOOSES THUS ALLOWING FOR A RESET.
SHIFT OF POWER TO THE HOWWASWEE W8TU
THE AU’OCCOUCH W8TU (W8TU IS PRONOUNCED: WAY-OO-WUH-TOO AND MEANS “HOUSE” IN THE WOPANAAK LANGUAGE) HAD BEEN THE ROYAL FAMILY OF THE AQUINNAH WAMPANOAG NATION FOR CENTURIES. THE AU’OCCOUCH W8TU WAS UNITED WITH THE HOWWASWEE W8TU SOMETIME IN THE 17TH CENTURY WHEN THE THEN FEMALE HEAD OF THE AU’OCCOUCH W8TU MARRIED A HOWWASWEE W8TU MAN. NOW, THE ROYAL FAMILY OF AQUINNAH IS THE HOWWASWEE W8TU.
AT PRESENT THE OFFICE OF THE SOYTUM (KING) IS OCCUPIED BY A 2-SPIRITED SOYTUM WHO HAS NO CHILDREN. ORIGINALLY IT WAS PLANNED THAT THE ELDEST SON OF HIS YOUNGER SISTER WOULD ASSUME THE TITLE AND OFFICE UPON THE CURRENT SOYTUM’S DEATH, BUT THE HEIR - MICAH WASHINGTON - PASSED AWAY SUDDENLY. NOW THE LINE OF SUCCESSION IS YET TO BE DETERMINED AND IT IS NOT KNOWN WHETHER THE TITLE AND THE OFFICE WILL RESCIND BACK TO THE AU’OCCOUCH W8TU AS THERE IS A LOT OF AVAILABLE MALE MEMBERS OF THAT W8TU WHO WOULD BE AVAILBLE TO ACCEED.
THE DUKE IS A MEMBER OF THE AU’OCCOUCH W8TU
THE DUKE OF AQUITAINE IS A MEMBER OF THE AU’OCCOUCH W8TU AND HRH CARRIED THE SURNAME OF AU’OCCOUCH - VAN DER HOOP WHEN HE WAS INVESTED AS THE 8TH BARON VAN DER HOOP BY ROYAL DECREE OF THEN QUEEN BEATRIX OF THE NETHERLANDS IN 1998. THE DUKE CARRIED THE SURNAME UNTIL HE MARRIED THE PRINCE OF BOURBON DAMPIERRE IN AUGUST OF 2022. THERE AFTER THE DUKE BECAME KNOWN AS HRH THE PRINCE CONSORT JAMES OF BOURBON DAMPIERRE, THE SOVEREIGN DUKE OF AQUITAINE, AND GENERICALLY AS JAMES BOURBON DAMPIERRE.
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NOTABLE MEMBERS OF THE AU’OCCOUCH W8TU
WHEN WILLEM ADRIAAN VAN DER HOOP MARRIED PRINCESS BEULAH AU’OCCOUCH IN THE 1800’S AFTER A WHIRLWIND ROMANCE THE AU'OCCOUCH W8TU THEN MORPHED INTO THE VAN DER HOOP FAMILY AS PRINCESS BEULAH WAS THE END OF THE AU’OCCOUCH LINE. THEREAFTER THE MEMBERS OF THE W8TU ADOPTED THE USE OF THE EUROPEAN SURNAME OF WILLEM ADRIAAN.
WILLEM ADRIAAN VAN DER HOOP WAS THE YOUNGEST SON OF THE FAMOUS DUTCH SENATOR, PHILANTHROPIST, AND MEMBER OF THE PRINCELY FAMILY OF ORANGE - ADRIAAN VAN DER HOOP, SR. (SEE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriaan_van_der_Hoop). HE IS THE 3RD GREAT GRANDFATHER (MATERNAL) OF THE DUKE.
ADRIAAN SNR. WAS AN AVID COLLECTOR OF REMBRANDT PAINTINGS AND THOSE OF OTHER DUTCH ARTISTS. HE BOUGHT SO MANY PAINTINGS THAT HE WILLED THEM TO THE PEOPLE AND THE CITY OF AMSTERDAM ON HIS DEATH. THEREAFTER THE RIJKSMUSEUM WAS FOUNDED TO HOUSE THE COLLECTION. NOW THE RIJKSMUSEUM IS THE OFFICIAL ROYAL MUSEUM OF THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS AND IS FAMOUS WORLDWIDE FOR THE TREASURES AND WORKS OF ART THAT HAVE BEEN ENTRUSTED TO IT. THERE IS A PORTRAIT OF ADRIAAN SNR. HANGING IN THE WING OF THE MUSEUM NAMED IN HIS HONOR.
ADRIAAN VAN DER HOOP, SR WAS THE ELDEST CHILD AND ONLY SON OF COUNTESS AGNES MARIA VAN DEDEL AND JOAN CORNELIS VAN DER HOOP (SEE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Cornelis_van_der_Hoop) JOAN CORNELIS WAS THE SECRETARIAT GENERAL OF THE ADMIRALTY OF AMSTERDAM. AS THE INCUMBENT SECRETARIAT, JOAN CORNELIS WAS THE PERSON WHO PRESENTED THE KEYS OF THE CITY OF AMSTERDAM TO HIS COUSIN KING WILLEM I OF THE NETHERLANDS ON THE OCCASION OF HIS CORONATION AS 1ST MONARCH OF THE THEN BRAND NEW KINGDOM.
JOAN (PRONOUNCED "YO - AHN" AND MEANING “JOHN” IN OLD DUTCH) CORNELIS WAS A FAMOUS DUTCH LAWYER AND MEMBER OF THE SENATE, AS WELL AS A FOUNDING PRESIDING OFFICER OF THE KINGDOM OF THE NETHERLANDS. JOAN CORNELIS WAS A VERY CLOSE FRIEND AND COUSIN TO PRINCESS WILHELMINE OF PRUSSIA WHO WAS THE MOTHER OF WILLEM I OF THE NETHERLANDS. JOAN CORNELIS WAS THE 5TH GREAT GRANDFATHER OF THE DUKE OF AQUITAINE.
THE TITLE OF BARON VAN DER HOOP FELL TO WILLEM ADRIAAN UPON THE DEATH OF HIS ELDER BROTHER ADRIAAN JR (THE FAMOUS DUTCH POET) WHO WAS A KNOWN HOMOSEXUAL AND WHO WAS UNWEDDED AND CHILDLESS. THEREAFTER, THE LINE OF THE BARONS VAN DER HOOP CONTINUED THROUGH WILLEM ADRIAAN AND THE DUKE IS THE INCUMBENT BARON. DR. KYLIE DePRIEST, VICOMTESSE D’AR FAOU (THE DUKE'S NIECE) WILL INHERIT THE TITLE UPON THE DUKE’S ABDICATION OR HIS DEATH WHICHEVER HAPPENS FIRST. IT IS THE DUTCH TRADITION FOR THE MONARCH AND THE HEADS OF THE BARONIAL HOUSES TO STEP DOWN IN FAVOR OF THEIR HEIRS BEFORE DEATH.
NOTABLE MEMBERS OF THE AU'OCCOUCH W8TU AND VAN DER HOOP FAMILY
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JOAN CORNELIS VAN DER HOOP, BARON VAN DER HOOP
ADRIAAN VAN DER HOOP, SR., BARON VAN DER HOOP
ADRIAAN VAN DER HOOP, JR., BARON VAN DER HOOP
VERSION OF THE VAN DER HOOP COAT ARMS FOR
ALL MEMBERS OF THE FAMILY. THIS PARTICULAR VERSION WAS CREATED BY THE DUKE IN 2023
Beulah Au’Occouch-Salisbury van der Hoop was an Aquinnah Wampanoag Princess, the granddaughter of the then reigning Soytum (King) of the Aquinnah Wampanoag Tribal Nation.Her father, John Salisbury, was of mixed Aquinnah Wampanoag and West African heritage the son of a formerly enslaved West African man who had merited his freedom. Her mother was Prince Naomi Au’Occouch who was the daughter of the incumbent Soytum.
Beulah was very passionate about the rights of enslaved people to live as they so chose without being property. She was a “Maritime Conductor” (along with her Dutch born aristocrat husband) of the Underground Railroad’s operations on the Aquinnah Peninsula in the mid 1800’s. She put her life, her freedom, and her reputation on the line in order to do the right thing and conceal runaway slaves who were traveling from the South to Halifax, Nova Scotia where they could live as free men and women.
Beulah’s husband was Willem Adriaan van der Hoop, Sr., who was born in Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, and he was a tall, athletic man with flaming red hair and ice blue eyes. Willem Adriaan was the son of Adriaan van der Hoop, Sr. who was a famous Dutch Senator, Lawyer, and philanthropist from Amsterdam. Willem Adriaan was a member of the peerage of the Netherlands and was titled as Baron van der Hoop. The couple met in New Bedford, MA during a port call for van der Hoop who was an East India Company executive officer, and a whaling ship captain. It was love at first sight.
Willem Adriaan and Beulah hid runaway slaves who were actively hitching rides or stowing away on boats bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia where slavery was outlawed. Many of the escapees were turned out of the boats that they had secured passage on when the boat made a stop at Aquinnah or at other ports on Martha’s Vineyard. Beulah was brazen and fearless in finding and hiding escapees from many different areas of the island, not just in Aquinnah.
Stuck in a strange place the escapees were terrified, desperate to find cover from the sheriff who was actively hunting any and all escaped slaves that he could find. Willem Adriaan and Beulah escorted the escapees to the various marshes on the Aquinnah Peninsula where they were protected until safe passage to Halifax could be secured. Willem Adriaan used his influence in the shipping world as a renowned whaling captain and the social connections that went with it to secure safe passage for the hundreds of escaped African slaves that were constantly being left on the South coast of Martha’s Vineyard.
When the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted former slaves came to Aquinnah from as far away as San Francisco to thank Beulah and Willem Adriaan for the refuge and aid that they had provided at great personal risk. Every visitor brought gifts and small tokens of thanks for the van der Hoops.
PRINCESS BEULAH AU'OCCOUCH
PORTRAIT OF PRINCESS BEULAH AU'OCCOUCH OF AQUINNAH WAMPANOAG NATION PAINTED BY THE DUKE IN 2024
THE STYLIZED HERALDIC WAMPUM BELT CREST OF AU'OCCOUCH W8TU CREATED BY THE DUKE IN 2023
EDWIN DeVRIES VAN DER HOOP PICTUED IN HIS PRIME & IN MIDDLE YEARS
THE HONORABLE EDWIN DeVRIES VAN DER HOOP
EDWIN DeVRIES VAN DER HOOP (1848 – 1923) was an American Civil War veteran, Republican politician who was the 1st Native American member of the Federal Cabinet in the Harding Administration, 1st US Ambassador to Haiti, 1st Native American to be elected as Massachusetts State Senator, teacher, fishermen, hotel proprietor, and whaling boat captain of half White Dutch, and half Aquinnah Wampanoag ancestries, with a touch of West African blood from his maternal grandfather. His visage provides a striking likeness to his paternal grandfather Adriaan van der Hoop, Snr.
Edwin was born in the Aquinnah Wampanoag Nation of Noepe. He was the son of Willem Adriaan van der Hoop and his Wampanoag wife Princess Beulah Au'Occouch, daughter of the then reigning Soytum. Edwin grew up on the Aquinnah Peninsula with 8 brothers and sisters. HRH The Duke of Aquitaine is the great, great grandson of Edwin through his maternal line.
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At the age of 16, Edwin joined the Union army naval division. He served in the Union Navy on the USS Mahaska during the Civil War, Edwin was instrumental in blocking shipments of British goods shipped from Britain to the Confederacy to aid their war effort. He saw his fair share of battle waged on the open ocean as Aquinnah was on the shipping route from Britain to the Northern section of the Americas.
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After the Confederacy’s surrender, Edwin briefly worked on whaleboats out of New Bedford with his father Willem Adriaan. After whaling, van der Hoop attended the Wayland Seminary in Washington, DC. He graduated from the seminary in 1878. With his academic credentials achieved at Wayland, Edwin traveled to Pine Buff, Arkansas to teach at the Branch Normal School. The normal school was a college that was known for training teachers, The college was a product of the Federal Morrill Act 0f 1862. The Branch Normal School was a very important center of education in the Midwest and it has evolved into the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Van der Hoop's sister, Anna van der Hoop also taught at the Branch Normal School. Anna died in Pine Bluff in 1881 of “brain fever".
When Edwin moved to Pine Bluff he met Mary Amelia Hollingsworth Cleggett who was a teaching colleague of his. Mary was the daughter of William S. Cleggett, a half Scots, half West African man from Pennsylvania and his wife Rebecca Hollingsworth. Rebecca Hollingsworth was a direct great grandchild of one of the West Africans who were being sold in the Haarlem slave market, in Central Village of the Haarlem Colony, and rebelled with his fellow Africans and they became the first freed Africans in North America. Another descendant of those brave Africans is American icon Vanessa Williams.
William S. Cleggett was a barber surgeon who had migrated to Appleton, Wisconsin where he set up his practice. Scandinavian settlers attempted to destroy Cleggett's practice by slandering him. Cleggett took his slanderers to court and won. He remained in Appleton as a practicing barber surgeon until his death. His daughter Mary Amelia was a very bright pupil and it was apparent that she had a bright future ahead of her. Mary attended Lawrence College (now Lawrence University) in Appleton becoming one of the 1st African American women to graduate college.
Edwin and Mary were a perfect match who spent all of their free time together. Soon the bond turned into romantic love. The couple formed a very strong bond and were always seen around the campus together. Anna van der Hoop wrote to her parents, Willem Adriaan and Princess Beulah, describing the happy picture than Mary and her beau made for all to enjoy. One of Anna's letters read, "I must say honestly, mijn vater en moeder, that mijn broeder is quite taken with Mary. I believe that they are destined for a happy life and many kinder."
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Edwin and Mary married in March 1883 at Pine Bluff. Their first child, Nannetta, was born in 1884 at Pine Bluff. In 1885 Edwin and Mary decided to return to Edwin's birthplace, the Aquinnah Peninsula on Martha's Vineyard Island, to raise their family. At that specific period of time the free and sovereign nation of Âhqunah Wôpanâak (the Aquinnah Wampanoag Nation) had been made into the Town of Gay Head, Massachusetts by the Great and General Court in Boston (legislature) without a formal vote of the Aquinnah Wampanoag people. Aquinnah had been the last of the 6 nations of Wampanoags on the island to survive colonization. Thereafter the Aquinnah Wampanoags were undemocratically subjugated.
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In spite of the illegal land grab executed by politicians in Boston, Edwin saw opportunity in the new reality of the Aquinnah Wampanoags. In 1887, Edwin ran a celebrated political campaign on the Vineyard and he became the county commissioner of the County of Dukes County, MA. Edwin went on to become the 1st Wampanoag elected as a state senator representing Cape Cod and the Islands. to the Massachusetts legislature, In addition to politics, van der Hoop was a hotelier running a hotel he built called the Aquinnah House. This small hotel was located on top of a hill overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. His clientele was largely steam boat travelers who traveled from New York to Boston and on to Halifax, NS. After Edwin immersed himself in politics the hotel fell into a state of disrepair and the house became known as the “Haunted House.” It is incumbent of HRH the Duke to disclose that Edwin DeVries van der Hoop was NOT an American Citizen even after his appointment to Federal Cabinet. Edwin died one year before the Indian Act was passed in congress giving citizenship to all Native Americans thereafter born in the USA. Edwin was born a Dutch Subject and remained so until his death. Edwin's son Leonard, Snr. was also born a Dutch Subject and was never counted as an American Citizen.
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​Edwin loved the ocean and decided to build his a family a home on top of the famous, multicolored clay cliffs that faced the Atlantic. Thus he built the van der Hoop Homestead. The house was passed down to Edwin's eldest son, Leonard Forest van der Hoop, Sr., who was the Duke's great grandfather. When Leonard Snr. passed the house was passed down to Leonard Jnr. When Leonard Jnr. passed in the 2000-teens his widow endowed the familial home to the Aquinnah Nation to preserve the family's extraordinary history for generations to come. The homestead is now operated as a museum called the Aquinnah Cultural Center and features exhibits on Aquinnah Wampanoag tribal history and culture.
RT. HON. LEONARD FOREST VAN DER HOOP, SR., 6TH BARON VAN DER HOOP & HIS WIFE ELSIE B. DIAMOND OF THE W8TU AU'OCCOUCH
PORTRAIT OF LEONARD FOREST VAN DER HOOP, SR., 6TH BARON VAN DER HOOP CIRCA 1920s. HAND PAINTED PORTRAIT OF THE HONORABLE ELSIE DIAMOND, LADY VAN DER HOOP THAT WAS PAINTED BY THE DUKE. THE COUPLE ARE THE DUKE'S MATERNAL GREAT GRANDPARENTS. ELSIE DIAMOND WAS THE DAUGHTER OF CHIEF JAMES DIAMOND OF THE HALF MOON BAND OF ONONDAGA HUSENOSAUNEES FROM HALF MOON, NEW YORK.
LADY BERNADETTE ELIZABETH VAN DER HOOP REBELLO, THE MOTHER OF THE DUKE OF AQUITAINE AND HER FATHER, THE RIGHT HONORABLE WILLIAM DIAMOND VAN DER HOOP, SR, 7TH BARON VAN DER HOOP AT A FAMILY EVENT IN OAK BLUFFS, MA, USA CIRCA 2000s.
