Juliana, Queen of the Netherlands, 1948-1980 World War II On May 12, 1940, two days after the German occupation had started, Princess Juliana and her two daughters fled to England. After a month they went to Canada, but before they left England Princess Irene was christened at the chapel of Buckingham Palace. Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Bernhard stayed in London and travelled to visit the family in Ottawa, Canada, a few times during the war. From Canada, the Princess undertook several travels to Suriname and the Dutch Antilles. Shortly before Princess Juliana's third child Margriet was born on January 19, 1943, the Governor General of Canada, Alexander Cambridge, granted Royal Assent to a special law declaring Princess Juliana's rooms at the Ottawa Civic Hospital as extraterritorial so that the child would have exclusively Dutch, not dual, nationality. Had these arrangements not occurred, Princess Margriet would have been excluded from the line of succession. Soon after the war ended, Princess Juliana expressed her gratitude to Canada by sending the city of Ottawa 100,000 tulip bulbs.

In 1946, she donated another 20,500 bulbs, with the request that some of them be planted at the grounds of the Ottawa Civic Hospital. At the same time, she promised Ottawa an annual gift of tulips during her lifetime to show her lasting appreciation for Canada's war-time hospitality; Ottawa has hosted the Canadian Tulip Festival in celebration of this gift every year since. Although the Netherlands was liberated in May 1945, and Princess Juliana had already visited The Netherlands soon afterwards, she and her children did not officially return until August 2, 1945. During her first return, she helped in several aid projects for the Dutch people, and in the spring of 1946 she and her husband visited several countries that had helped the Netherlands during the German occupation. The couple's last child, Marijke Christina was born on February 18, 1947. Reign Princess Juliana acted as regent for her mother from October 14 to December 1, 1947, and from May 14 to August 30, 1948.

On September 4, 1948, Queen Wilhelmina abdicated in favor of her daughter, who was formally inaugurated as Queen Juliana at the New Church in Amsterdam two days later. Juliana's first major act as queen was to sign an act of state granting independence to Indonesia (formerly Dutch West Indies), which she did at Dam Palace in Amsterdam on December 27, 1949. On the night of January 31, 1953, the Netherlands was hit by the most destructive storm in more than five hundred years. Thirty breaches of dunes and dikes occurred and many towns were swept away by twelve-foot tidal waves. More than two thousand people drowned and tens of thousands were trapped by the floodwaters. Dressed in boots and an old coat, Queen Juliana waded through water and slopped through deep mud all over the devastated areas to deliver food and clothing to devastated areas. Other major events during her reign included creation of the Benelux customs union, Dutch accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization , and the signing of the Treaty of Rome as one of six founder members of what is now the European Union .

Although Queen Juliana was generally well liked by the Dutch citizenry, several events in her and her family's personal lives tested her relationship with her "subjects." The first began with the birth of Princess Marijke, who was born almost blind. In 1956, a friend of Prince Bernhard introduced the Queen to prayer-healer Greet Hofmans, who was subsequently hired to try and heal Marijke's eyes. Although Hofmans failed to cure the Princess, the Queen kept her on as an adviser and confidante, and even moved her into the palace. The increasing influence of Hofmans seriously affected the Queen's relationship with her husband, who did not share her faith in the "healer." Once the discord between the Queen and the Prince became public knowledge, the Dutch began to openly question the competency of the Queen.

Prince Bernhard eventually got Hofmans dismissed, and Queen Juliana was able to repair her image, thanks in large part to her habit of appearing in public dressed like an "ordinary" Dutch woman and preference for being addressed as "Mrs." instead of "Her Majesty." Another crisis erupted when her daughter Irene secretly converted to Roman Catholicism and, without government or family approval, on April 29, 1964 married Prince Carlos Hugo of Bourbon, a claimant to the Spanish throne and a leader in Spain's Carlist Party. With memories of the Dutch struggle for independence from Roman Catholic Spain and fascist German oppression still fresh in the minds of the Dutch people, the events leading to the marriage were played out in all the newspapers and a storm of hostility erupted against the monarchy for allowing it to happen. In fact, the matter was considered so serious that the queen's abdication became a real possibility. She survived, however, thanks to the underlying devotion she had earned over the years.

The controversy surrounding Irene's marriage had barely subsided when, in July 1965, the royal family announced the engagement of Princess Beatrix to Claus von Amsberg, a German diplomat who had been a member of the Nazi Wehrmacht and the Hitler Youth movement. This announcement led to demonstrations and rallies, and many Dutch began to question the value of having a monarchy. After attempting to have the marriage cancelled, Queen Juliana acquiesced and the marriage took place under a continued storm of protest. Despite the controversy, the people once again decided to forgive their Queen. The public's opinion of Princess Beatrix finally changed for the better in 1967, when she gave birth to Willem-Alexander, the first male heir to the throne in 116 years. Scandal rocked the royal family again in 1976, when it was revealed that Prince Bernhard had accepted a US$1.1 million bribe from U.S. aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Corporation to influence the Dutch government's purchase of fighter aircraft. The Prime Minister of the Netherlands ordered an inquiry into the affair, while Prince Bernhard refused to answer reporters' questions.

Rather than calling on the queen to abdicate, the Dutch people were this time fearful that their beloved Juliana might abdicate out of shame or because of a criminal prosecution conducted in her name against her husband. Queen Juliana chose to stay on the throne, and to stand by her husband. The controversy subsided after Prince Bernhard resigned his various high-profile positions as a lieutenant admiral, a general and an inspector general of the armed forces, as well as from his positions on the boards of many businesses, charities, the World Wildlife Fund, and other institutions. In return, the States-General agreed that there would be no criminal prosecution. On April 30, 1980, her 70th birthday, Queen Juliana followed her mother's example and abdicated in favor of her eldest daughter, who became Queen Beatrix. Juliana remained active in numerous charitable causes until well into her eighties, but by the 1990's she was beginning to show signs of dementia and her public appearances became less and less frequent.

On May 30, 1998, Princess Juliana appeared in public for the last time, at the wedding of her grandson Prince Maurits to Marilï¿½ne van den Broek. In a letter dated February 23, 1999, Princess Juliana revealed that she was no longer able to accept official invitations because of her old age. Afterwards, only a few photos of her were published, mainly by gossip magazines. In 2001, in an interview on the occasion of his 90th birthday, Prince Bernhard revealed that after a fall in which she broke her hip his wife's memory had become worse and that the last time she had been really well had been at the vacation they spent with their children and grandchildren in Africa on the occasion of their 60th wedding anniversary in 1997. Juliana died in her sleep on March 20, 2004, at Soestdijk Palace in Baarn from complications of pneumonia. "Obituary, Queen Juliana of the Nethderlands The Guardian Queen Juliana of the Netherlands - YouTube Queen Juliana of the Netherlands Want to watch this again later?

Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Jan 31, 2011 Juliana (Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 -- 20 March 2004) was the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands between 1948 and 1980. She was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry. She was married to Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, with whom she had four children: Princess Beatrix (born 1938), Princess Irene (born 1939), Princess Margriet (born 1943), Princess Christina (born 1947). During the Second World War she lived in exile with her children in Ottawa, Canada. She became Queen of the Netherlands with her mother's abdication in 1948 and was succeeded by Queen Beatrix after her own abdication in 1980.

During her reign both Indonesia (Dutch East Indies) in 1949 and Suriname in 1975 became independent from the Netherlands. Her birthday is celebrated annually as Koninginnedag, Queen's Day. Since her death at the age of 94, she became the longest lived former ruling monarch in the world. Category European royalty--Netherlands: Queen Juliana Alexander European Royalty: The Dutch Monarchy--Queen Juliana (1948-80) Figure 1.-- Crown Princess Juliana was born in 1909. Princess Juliana in 1937 married Berhard von Lippe-Biesterfeld (1911- ) and they had four children. The Princess escaped with her mother to Britain (May 1940). The Queen sent the Princess to Canada in case the Germans also invaded Britain and Juliana spent the war there. Queen Wilhelmina in 1948, after a reign of 50 years, abdicated the throne for her daughter Juliana. Parents Crown Princess Juliana was born in 1909.

Childhood Clothes Education Marriage (1937) Princess Juliana in 1937 married Berhard von Lippe-Biesterfeld (1911-2004). There was considerable controversy when the groom's family at pre-wedding festivities priceeded to give the NAZI salute. The Duke of Kent and Princess Alice of Athlone were there when it occurred. The Dutch denied passports to many German relatives for the wedding. World War II (1939-45) The Netherlands had a very small army. The country had remained neutral in World War I and hoped to do the same wgen World War II broke out (1939). The NAZI invasion surprised most Dutch people. The Princess escaped with her mother to Britain (May 1940). H.M. the Queen stayed in London, with the Dutch government of which she was the formal head. The Queen sent the Princess to Canada in case the Germans also invaded Britain and Juliana spent the war there.

Queen Wilhelmina had just one child, the then Crown Princess Juliana who stayed in Canada during the war with her two eldest children, Beatrix (1938- ) and Irene (1939- ). Prince Bernhard shuttled between Canada and London were he coordinated the Dutch resistance movement. Their third child was born in Ottawa (1943) and named Margriet. Accension (1948) Queen Wilhelmina in 1948, after a reign of 50 years, abdicated the throne for her daughter Juliana. Children Queen Juliana and her husband had five children: Beatrix (1938- ) As the eldest child of Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard, Beatrix succeeded her mother in 1980. Queen Juliana in 1980 was succeeded by Beatrix, the present Dutch monarch. Beatrix, Wilhelmina, Armgard is the current Queen of the Netherlands. Beatrix was born in in 1938 with the title Princess of Oranje Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld. Beatrix went to college in Leiden, where she obtained the doctoral in laws.

Since the age of 18 she sits on the "Raad van State", the State Council. Princess Beatrix mairred Prince Claus, Jonkheer von Amsberg (1926- ) in 1966. The mairrage was quite controversial at the time. He was a German diplomat and because of the NAZI occupation there was considerable anti-German feeling. They had three boys. Irene (1939- ) Renounced her rights, married Carlos Hugo de Bourbon-Parma (1930- ) in 1964 and divorced 1981. Their children included: Carlos de Bourbon-Parma (1970-), Jaime de Bourbon-Parma (1972- ), Margarita de Bourbon-Parma (1972- ), and Carolina de Bourbon-Parma (1974- ). Margriet (1943- ) Princess Margriet was born in Canada during World War II. She married Pieter van Vollenhoven (1939- ) in 1967. Their had four children.

1) Maurits (1968- ), married 1998 Marie-Hel�ne; Angela (Maril�ne) van den Broek (1970- ), youngest daughter of the politician Hans van den Broek (1936- ) and Jos�phine Adriana Antoinette van Schendel (1943- ). The marriage took place on May 29/30, 1998 in Apledoorn. 2) Berhard (1969- ), c3) Pieter-Christiaan (1972- ), and 4) Floris (1975- ). Maria Christina ("Marijke" before 1964) (1947- ) The fourth daughter was born in 1947 after the royal family had returned to the Netherlands. She was christened Marijke. [She later preferred to be called her second Christian name Christina. A Dutch reader writes, "This was much to the disappointment of my parents who had christened their third child Marijke in 1949.

Maria Christina renounced her rights, married 1975, divorced 1996, Jorge Guillermo (1946- ). Children: 1) Bernardo Guillermo (b1977), 2) Nicol�s Guillermo (1979- ), and Juliana Guillermo (b1981). Succession (1980) Queen Juliana in 1980 was succeeded by Beatrix, the present Dutch monarch. Beatrix, Wilhelmina, Armgard is the current Queen of the Netherlands. Princess Juliana of the Netherlands - Telegraph Obituaries Princess Juliana of the Netherlands Her Royal Highness the Princess Juliana, Former Queen of the Netherlands, who died on Saturday aged 94, reigned over her country for 32 years with a benign maternalism that won the deep affection and respect of her subjects; she abdicated in 1980, to be succeeded by her eldest daughter, now Queen Beatrix.

12:02AM GMT 22 Mar 2004 Comments Uncomfortable with ceremonial and pomp, Queen Juliana abolished the curtsey and other formalities which she considered to be outdated; and she spent as much time as she could with her four daughters, claiming that her maternal duties were as important to her as they were to any other woman. The richest reigning monarch in Europe, Queen Juliana was also profoundly religious and ever concerned for the less fortunate and for the afflicted. In 1953, when devastating floods in Zeeland and South Holland claimed the lives of 1,600 people, the Queen visited the disaster area at once. Clad in an old coat, boots and a head scarf, she travelled by boat, helicopter and aircraft to the worst-stricken spots, and for several days helped personally with the rescue work. In the aftermath, she was closely involved in the Delta Project, for a new rampart to withstand the North Sea. Such actions inspired the esteem the Dutch people; and the Queen's personal popularity would prove a crucial factor in helping the Dutch monarchy weather the political storm created by her husband Prince Bernhard's involvement in the Lockheed scandal of the 1970s.

Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina, Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau and Duchess of Mecklenburg, was born in The Hague on April 30 1909, the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry of the Netherlands. Prince Henry was the youngest son of Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Queen Wilhelmina had ascended the throne aged 10, on the death of her father King William III in 1890; her mother, the Queen Dowager Emma (a first-cousin of the dreamy Carmen Sylva, Queen Elisabeth of Romania), served as a most effective Regent until 1898. Soon after her accession, Queen Wilhelmina paid a visit to England to stay with Queen Victoria - who is reputed to have said to her young guest, "As we're two Queens together, we can say what we like." Princess Juliana spent her early childhood at Het Loo, the palace near Apeldoorn which was originally built as a hunting lodge. Photographs show her playing in a sand-pit, riding a pony and playing with her dolls.

When she was six, the family moved to the palace of Huis den Bosch - the House in the Woods - near The Hague, where she attended lessons with other children. In 1920 her further education was placed in the hands of a tutor, Dr J H Gunning Willemszoon, while her mother instructed her in religious matters. Aged 18, in 1927, Princess Juliana, now Crown Princess, became simultaneously a member of the Council of State and a full member of the Dutch Reformed Church. That year she also enrolled as an undergraduate at Leyden University, founded in 1574 by William the Silent (after whose mother, Juliana, the Princess had been named). There she followed a broad course comprising pre-Napoleonic Dutch law, international law, Dutch and French literature, religious history and hydraulics. She acquired a knowledge of seven languages, and won a prize for writing (anonymously) a student song. During the Depression of the 1930s, Princess Juliana formed the National Crisis Committee and served as its honorary chairman for five years, acquiring an intimate experience of economic distress across the nation.

After her father's death in 1934, she took on the presidency of the Netherlands Red Cross. In November 1934, she was a bridesmaid at the Duke of Kent's wedding to Princess Marina at Westminster Abbey. In January 1937 Princess Juliana married His Serene Highness Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, elder son of Prince Bernhard of Lippe and a grandson Prince Ernst, Regent of the German Principality of Lippe from 1897 to 1904. The young couple had met the year before, and during their engagement the Dutch inquired closely into Prince Bernhard's political sympathies, because of the menace of Nazism. Once the Prince had convinced Queen Wilhelmina and her government that he was strongly opposed to Hitler, the betrothal received official blessing. Prince Bernhard was naturalised in the Netherlands in 1936, and the marriage took place in the Great Church of St James in The Hague on January 7 1937.

A few months after their wedding, for which Prince Bernhard was created a Prince of the Netherlands, the couple came to London to attend the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. In Holland, they settled at Soestdijk Palace, at Baarn, in the province of Utrecht. Their first two daughters, the Princesses Beatrix and Irene, were born in 1938 and 1939. But two days after the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, the Dutch Royal Family were evacuated to England in the British warship Codrington, and within 24 hours, a Government-in-Exile was proclaimed in London by Queen Wilhelmina. Princess Juliana and her children initially stayed in London as the guests of Lord Bledisloe, but in June 1940 accepted an invitation from Queen Wilhelmina's first-cousin Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone - whose husband the Earl of Athlone was then Governor-General of Canada - to live in Ottawa, at Rockcliffe Park. Princess Juliana and her children crossed the Atlantic in the Dutch cruiser Sumatra, and on arrival in Canada the Princess expressed her thanks in a wireless broadcast.

"Do not give me your pity," she said. "Pity is for the weak and our terrible fate has made us stronger than ever before." "Juliana," Princess Alice recalled, "was really magnificent. She never once complained or expressed unhappiness, but threw herself into everything that was being done for the war. She was one of the first blood-donors when the campaign started and waited upon patients regularly." For a time, the Princess was separated from her husband, who had been appointed by Queen Wilhelmina as Chief Liaison Officer between the Dutch and British forces. He eventually joined Princess Juliana in Canada in 1941, and in 1943 their third daughter, Princess Margriet, was born in Ottawa. Later that year, Princess Juliana became the first member of the House of Orange to visit the colony of Dutch Guiana, and in 1944 she visited The Netherlands Antilles. Towards the end of the war, she was able to join Queen Wilhelmina at Breda, to await the liberation of their country.

With Germany's final defeat, the Dutch Royal Family returned to a shattered nation, in which nearly all the Jewish population - about 112,000 people - had been exterminated. Princess Juliana became chairman of the Council for the Rehabilitation of the People of the Netherlands, and plunged into work to ease the plight of the hordes of displaced people. In 1946 she and her husband made a good-will tour of Norway, Denmark and Sweden, to thank those countries' peoples for their assistance during the war. The following year a fourth daughter, Princess Maria Christina, was born. Princess Juliana had two short spells as Regent, after which, in 1948, Queen Wilhelmina abdicated, having celebrated her Golden Jubilee. The new Queen's inauguration took place in the New Church in Amsterdam on September 6. The next year Queen Juliana presided at a ceremony to transfer sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies to the United States of Indonesia, an occasion which marked the beginning of the end of The Netherlands as an imperial power. Dutch Guiana (Surinam) and The Netherlands Antilles, in the West Indies, gained independence in 1954.

Closer to home, Queen Juliana found herself at the centre of a minor domestic crisis: in 1956 it was revealed that for the previous eight years she had been relying on the services of a faith healer named Greet Hofmans - who, it was rumoured, had come to wield an undue influence over the Queen. Miss Hofmans had been introduced into the Royal family by Prince Bernhard, in the hope that she might cure the near-blindness of the youngest Princess, Maria Christina, who had been born with a congenital cataract. It was then said that she had begun to obtain posts at the palace for her friends, and that she tried to interfere in government affairs. Certainly, her influence was such that she persuaded Queen Juliana to move from her private rooms "because the earth waves were not right". Consequently, two years after her arrival, Miss Hofmans was moved out of the palace. However, she went to live in a caravan in a nearby park and continued to see the Queen and Princess Maria Christina. The Dutch press remained silent on these goings-on until June 14 1956, when newspaper editors commented on the affair for the first time.

Amidst wild rumours that the Queen was contemplating abdication, the story made international headlines for two months. A committee of three elder statesmen was appointed to discuss the matter with Queen Juliana, and subsequently, on their advice, she broke off all relations with the faith-healer. With Prince Bernhard, the Queen signed a statement declaring that they had fully accepted the committee's advice. The royal couple flew to Corfu for a holiday, and Miss Hofmans vanished from their lives. There was another upheaval in 1959, after Queen Juliana had invited George Adamski, a self-styled American "professor" and former hamburger vendor, to visit her privately to tell her about what he described as his flight around the moon in a space-ship from Venus. After the meeting, however, it was announced that the Queen and Prince Bernhard regarded Adamski's views as "fantastic" and that they had not been impressed. A potentially more serious crisis erupted in 1976, when Prince Bernhard was accused of soliciting money from the Lockheed Corporation of America.

An official inquiry failed to find any evidence that Prince Bernhard had either directly or indirectly received some £500,000 in pay-offs, but it did declare that he was open to "dishonourable requests and offers". Queen Juliana, who stood firmly by her husband, was persuaded not to abdicate. Prince Bernhard expressed his regret, saying that he hoped "to retain the opportunity of serving the country and in this way, as in others, to restore confidence in me". He resigned all his business and military posts, including that of Inspector-General of the Armed Forces, and stepped down as International President of the World Wildlife Fund. When Queen Juliana did eventually abdicate in 1980, it was a free and considered decision to hand over the throne to her eldest daughter, Crown Princess Beatrix. Thereafter, as Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, the former Queen lived quietly with Prince Bernhard at Soesdijk, and largely retired from public view. As Queen, she made State Visits to Britain in 1950 and 1973. She received the Royal Victorian Chain in 1950, and became a Lady of the Garter in 1958.

She was Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Sussex Regiment from 1953. She was awarded the United Nations Peace Medal in 1974. Juliana of the Netherlands enjoyed music and the theatre, and played the violin. In her younger days, she also enjoyed tennis, skating, skiing, bicycling and yachting. She is survived by Prince Bernhard and by her four daughters. Obituary: Queen Juliana of the Netherlands | News | The Guardian browse all sections close Queen Juliana of the Netherlands Former monarch who, in 1980, followed the House of Orange-Nassau's practice of abdicating, in favour of her daughter Beatrix Monday 22 March 2004 07.10 EST First published on Monday 22 March 2004 07.10 EST Share on Messenger Close Princess Juliana, who has died, aged 94, of a lung infection, was Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 to 1980, when she abdicated in favour of her daughter, Queen Beatrix. Hers was a reign marked by dramatic upheavals, national and personal.

Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina, Princess of Orange-Nassau, was born in the Hague to Queen Wilhelmina - on the throne since 1898 - and her consort, Prince Hendrik of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. As their only child she was the last of the direct line of the House of Orange-Nassau, hereditary but often controversial rulers of the Netherlands since William the Silent liberated the country from Spain in the 16th century. Her first name was his mother's. Her own mother was a fierce autocrat who made the princess sit on a gilt chair as invited children, ordered to address her only as "Mevrouw" (Madame), played on the floor round her feet. As an adult Juliana startled such dignitaries as the governor-general of Canada by sitting on the floor whenever she could. Graduating in international law in 1930 from the University of Leyden, where she lived student life to the full, she plunged into voluntary social work. She chaired a quango helping the unemployed in the great depression of the 1930s. After the war she took a similarly active interest in aiding refugees until her accession in 1948.

As headstrong as her mother, Juliana took the question of the Orange succession into her own hands. Always a keen skier, she went to the winter Olympics in Bavaria early in 1936 and fell for Bernhard von Lippe-Biesterfeld, a dashing prince of a minor royal house. German consorts were the norm in a royal family which itself derived from Germany; but it was not normal for a princess and heir-apparent to find one for herself, without consulting her mother or the government. They announced their engagement in September 1936 and married in January 1937. Beatrix was born in 1938 and Juliana could not end the run of female heirs to the throne - and vast private wealth - of Orange. Irene came in 1939, Margriet in 1943 and Maria-Christina in 1947. Then, in 1948, the mother of four became mother of the nation when Wilhelmina followed the Orange custom of abdicating. Her reign had lasted 50 years.

The inauguration of Juliana (the Dutch, as republicans manqués, do not have coronations) came at a difficult time for a nation still reeling from the worst disaster in its history. The German invasion of the neutral Netherlands in May 1940 was an unsurpassed national trauma. Most of the country was liberated only on the very last day of hostilities, May 8 1945. The royal family had fled to England. Juliana and the girls moved on to Canada, leaving Queen Wilhemina in London to head the government in exile and Bernhard to go on active service as commander in chief of the Dutch forces. After the war, as the Dutch struggled to rebuild their ruined country, their army fought a nasty rearguard action in what had been the Dutch East Indies. But in 1949 Juliana signed an act of state making Indonesia independent and thus ending 346 years of colonial rule. Another national crisis came in 1953, when one third of the overcrowded national territory was overrun by the oldest enemy, the sea, and thousands died. Juliana visited every community affected by this disaster, even when the only access was by rowing boat and rubber boots.

These setbacks apart, the first decade of Juliana's reign saw an economic miracle to rival Germany's; the creation of the Benelux customs union; the accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the signing of the Treaty of Rome as one of six founder members of what was to become today's European Union. The family life of the energetic and informal queen - she was a keen cyclist - whose matronly appearance reflected her role at home and in a society seething with free-thinking individuals, was at least as uneven as that of the nation. Maria-Christina had been born blind and an operation could give her only minimal eyesight. Juliana, as religious as her mother, came under the influence of a machiavellian faith healer called Greet Hofmans. Despite widespread scepticism about Hofmans's activities, the child's eyes improved and Hofmans became a trusted comforter and intimate of the impulsive queen, or the Rasputin of the House of Orange as her many detractors put it. She finally overreached herself by trying to win a reprieve for a war-criminal sentenced to death. A government inquiry led to her dismissal in 1956 amid hugely damaging and protracted publicity.

In 1964 Irene became a Roman Catholic after falling in love with Don Carlos Hugo, Carlist pretender to the Spanish crown. Although there are as many Catholics as protestants in the Netherlands, the folk-memory of Spanish rule bars Catholics from the throne. Juliana and Bernhard unwisely and publicly pursued her to Paris. Bernhard caught up with her in Madrid, and the most elegant of the turbulent Orange princesses returned to a wave of public sympathy. She was excluded from the succession but wed her prince. When the marriage broke up, she remained as popular as ever, and she went to live with a television star. Christina upset her parents rather more than the nation when she married a Cuban social worker in New York. Beatrix upset almost everybody by marrying Claus von Amsberg. Not only was he unroyal; he was a German, and the postwar public had no stomach for any more German consorts. There were riots when they married in 1966. But the couple ended the female domination of the royal line by eventually producing four sons, a fact which helped to endear the outspoken heir-apparent and her chronically depressive consort to the nation, even in egalitarian times.

He died in 2002 (obituary, October 8). The fortunes of the House of Orange reached a modern nadir in 1976 when Bernhard, who had no fortune of his own, was revealed to have accepted a bribe of $1.1m from the American aerospace company Lockheed, which got contracts from the Dutch Air Force. He lost all his public offices, including his favourite post as inspector-general of the forces. The throne tottered but did not fall. Juliana stayed on it for another four years. There were riots again in 1980, when she made way for Beatrix. After that Juliana and Bernhard lived quietly. But the former queen caused much embarrassment in 1987 when she and her consort were interviewed on television for their golden wedding. She did a Pythonesque nudge-nudge, wink-wink act, urging Bernhard to reveal why he really married her. On the same day she appeared on the palace balcony to wave at the crowd - and wave and wave, until she virtually had to be led away.

Perhaps the most apposite remark this self-willed, emotional yet personally modest daughter of Orange made about herself was that if she had not had to become queen, she would have been a social worker. But regardless of all the tumult, she carried out all her constitutional tasks, such as presiding over the agonisingly slow formation of coalition governments, with discretion, fairness and aplomb. Despite all vicissitudes she retained the affection of most people in the only republic in the world headed by a constitutional monarch. She is survived by her husband, and her daughters Queen Beatrix and Princesses Irene, Margriet and Christina.

· Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Queen of the Netherlands, born April 30 1909; died March 20 2004 1000+ images about Queen Juliana of Netherlands on Pinterest | The netherlands, Queen and Netherlands CHRISTINA 65 ANS : portrait d'une princesse L'ENFANCE Princesses Beatrix, Irene, Margriet and Christina of the Netherlands with their parents, Prince Bernhard and Queen Juliana More Queen Juliana of the Netherlands | Unofficial Royalty Queen Juliana of the Netherlands Photo Credit – Wikipedia Juliana was Queen of the Netherlands from September 4, 1948 to April 30, 1980 when she abdicated in favor of her eldest daughter Beatrix. Born at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, the Netherlands on April 30, 1909, Juliana was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her husband Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Juliana was given the names Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina: Juliana: for Juliana of Stolberg , the mother of William I of Orange (William the Silent) Louise: for Louise de Coligny , the wife of William I of Orange (William the Silent) Emma: for Queen Emma , her maternal grandmother Marie: for Princess Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt , her paternal grandmother Wilhelmina: for her mother Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands Juliana and her mother Queen Wilhelmina in 1914; Photo Credit – Wikipedia, United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs Division When Juliana was six years old, a small class was formed at Noordeinde Palace so that the young princess could be educated with other children. Her classmates were all from Dutch noble families : Baroness Elise Bentinck, Baroness Elisabeth van Hardenbroek and Jonkvrouwe Miek de Jonge. Juliana continued with this class until the age of eleven when she began studying with private tutors. At the age of 18, Juliana enrolled at Leiden University where she studied sociology, jurisprudence, economics, history of religion, parliamentary history, constitutional law, and international law.

She finished her studies three years later in 1930. In February of 1936, Juliana attended the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany. There she met and fell in love with Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, a prince of a minor German royal house. After Queen Wilhelmina had lawyers draft a very detailed prenuptial agreement that specified exactly what Bernhard could and could not do, the couple’s engagement was announced on September 8, 1936. After a civil marriage at The Hague City Hall, a religious marriage was held at the Grote of Sint-Jacobskerk in The Hague on January 7, 1937. Before the wedding, Bernhard had been granted Dutch citizenship and changed the spelling of his names from German to Dutch, and on his wedding day he became His Royal Highness Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.

Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard after their engagement; Photo Credit – Wikipedia Juliana and Bernhard had four daughters: Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (born January 31, 1938), married 1966 Claus von Amsberg, had three sons Princess Irene of the Netherlands (born August 5, 1939), married 1964 Carlos Hugo, Duke of Parma, divorced 1981, had two sons and two daughters Princess Margriet of the Netherlands (born January 19, 1943), married 1967 Pieter van Vollenhoven, had four sons Princess Christina of the Netherlands (born February 18, 1947) married 1975 Jorge Pérez y Guillermo, divorced 1996, had two sons and one daughter View image | gettyimages.com During World War II, three days after Germany began its invasion of the Netherlands in May 1940, the Dutch Royal Family left for London, England. One month later, Juliana, along with her daughters Beatrix and Irene, went to Ottawa, Canada, where they would be safer.

Prince Bernhard stayed with Queen Wilhelmina in London during the war, although both did make occasional visits to the rest of the family in Canada. Juliana’s third daughter Margriet was born while the family was in Canada. On August 2, 1945, the whole family returned to the Netherlands. Juliana with her mother, husband, and daughters in Ottawa, Canada in 1943; Photo Credit – Wikipedia, Library and Archives Canada After World War II, Juliana served twice as regent (October 14, 1947 – December 1, 1947 and May 14, 1948 – August 30, 1948) due to the ill health of her mother, Queen Wilhlemina. On September 4, 1948, after a reign of nearly 58 years, Queen Wilhelmina abdicated in favor of her daughter and Juliana became Queen of the Netherlands. Wilhelmina survived until 1962, when she died at the age of 82.

Juliana was a much more relaxed monarch than her mother had been and this lessened the distance between the royal family and the Dutch people. She often appeared in public dressed like any ordinary Dutch woman, and preferred to be addressed as “Mevrouw” (Dutch for “Mrs.”) rather than her formal “Majesty”. Juliana’s love of bicycling for exercise gave rise to the royal family’s nickname, “the cycling family.” Queen Juliana riding a bike in 1967; Photo Credit – Wikipedia, Nationaal Archief Queen Juliana was particularly interested in the problems of developing countries, the refugee problem after World War II, and child welfare. In 1953, when the Netherlands suffered its most destructive storm in 500 years with more than two thousand people drowned and tens of thousands were trapped by the flood waters, Queen Juliana quickly visited the areas affected, outfitted with boots, to comfort the affected people and to raise their morale. During her Silver Jubilee in 1973, Queen Juliana donated all of the money that had been raised by the National Silver Jubilee Committee to organizations that supported children in need throughout the world.

On January 31, 1980, the birthday of her eldest daughter Beatrix, Queen Juliana announced that she would abdicate in favor of Beatrix on April 30, 1980, her 71st birthday. Juliana indicated that she wanted to be styled as Her Royal Highness Princess Juliana. After her abdication, Juliana remained active in the socially and appeared regularly in public. One of her favorite activities was dining at fine restaurants – a favorite was the Auberge de l’Ill in Illhaeusern in Alsace, France. View image | gettyimages.com After 1995, when Juliana’s general health began to decline, she made fewer public appearances. Her last public appearance was in 1998 at the wedding of her grandson Prince Maurits and Marilène van den Broek . In 2001, during a television interview on the occasion of his 90th birthday, Prince Bernhard said that Juliana no longer recognized her family and had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for several years.

On Saturday, March 20, 2004, shortly before six o’clock in the morning, Juliana died in her sleep at the age of 94 due to pneumonia, in the presence of her three eldest children. Juliana’s funeral was held on March 30, 2004 at the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft . She had requested that the color white be the focus of her funeral and therefore her daughters dressed in white. Princess Christina, Juliana’s youngest daughter and a talented singer who had studied classical music, beautifully sang ( 7:52 in the video below) the Shaker song “Simple Gifts.” As Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg’s familiar Morgenstemning (Morning Mood) played (18:16 in the video below), Prince Bernhard, Queen Beatrix, Princess Irene, Princess Margriet, Princess Christina, and Margriet’s husband Pieter van Vollenhoven followed the casket down the stairs to the royal vault for the internment. Prince Bernhard survived his wife by eight months, dying at the age of 93 on December 1, 2004.

Abdicating Dutch queen was a wartime Ottawa schoolgirl - World - CBC News Abdicating Dutch queen was a wartime Ottawa schoolgirl Queen Beatrix abdicates Tuesday in favour of her son, Willem-Alexander By Janet Davison , CBC News Posted: Apr 29, 2013 5:18 AM ET Last Updated: Apr 30, 2013 10:03 AM ET Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.) When the future Dutch Queen Beatrix and her family returned to the Netherlands after their Second World War sojourn in Ottawa, the young princess discovered mealtimes just weren't what she was used to. For one thing, there was no ice cream. "For the young children, going back to the Netherlands, which of course was something the adults longed for, was a bit of shock," says Carolyn Harris, a Toronto-based royal historian and blogger. Dutch Princess Juliana holds Princess Margriet in March 1943 in Ottawa, flanked by her daughters Princess Irene, left, Princess Beatrix, and her husband, Prince Bernhard.

(Associated Press) "There was quite an abundance of food in Canada, whereas for the little girls, when they went back to the Netherlands, they noticed that ice cream, for instance, wasn't available as it was there," because of Europe's post-war food shortages. Ice cream had been just one small feature of a royal life lived with a certain degree of normalcy and anonymity during the royal family's five-year stay in Ottawa. It was also a period that ultimately forged close ties between Canada and a country that will see its queen — that same Beatrix — abdicate in favour of her son, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, tomorrow. "There's a long-standing relationship between Canada and the house of Orange-Nassau," says Harris, who notes that Princess Margriet, Queen Beatrix's younger sister, is a "real link between the Netherlands and Canada." Beatrix came to Ottawa in 1940 with her mother, Crown Princess Juliana, and her sister Irene. Her sister Margriet was born in 1943 in Ottawa Civic Hospital. A federal proclamation declared the maternity ward extraterritorial, ensuring that the new princess would only be a Dutch — and not also a Canadian — citizen.

But that has not stopped Margriet from visiting Canada many times over the years and receiving an honorary doctorate from McMaster University in Hamilton last year. Thousands of tulips The gratitude the Dutch royal family felt for its time in Ottawa — coupled with the thanks they felt for the role of Canadian Forces in the liberation of the Netherlands — also spawned one of the city's higher-profile and more colourful events: the annual Tulip Festival. After the royal family's return to the Netherlands, Juliana's mother, Queen Wilhelmina, gave Canada 100,000 tulip bulbs. The gift has become an annual one, and the inspiration for the festival that was launched six decades ago. Tulips bloom on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 1, 2009, on the first day of that year's Canadian Tulip Festival. (Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press) For Beatrix and her sisters, the time in Canada — much of it spent in Stornoway, now the residence of the leader of the Official Opposition — was a chance, relatively speaking, to live a normal life.

"There was a certain degree of anonymity for the children in Canada that they didn’t have in the Netherlands where the House of Orange-Nassau really symbolized the Dutch resistance and Dutch independence," says Harris. "When Princess Juliana and her daughters left for Canada, Juliana made it clear that her daughters would be seen in public and … that they would be living informally." Read about this year's Tulip Festival Beatrix went to elementary school in Rockcliffe Park. "One of my friends … was in her class and remembers that she was known as Trixie Orange," says Michiel Horn, a professor emeritus of history at Toronto's York University, who was born in the Netherlands. Horn says Juliana, who never took very well to the kind of scrutiny that comes with being part of a royal family, particularly in its homeland, "really appreciated" her time in Ottawa.

'As near to being normal' "Their life was as near to being normal as it could be given that they were out of their own country and given that of course Juliana was heir to the Dutch throne." Juliana was queen from 1948 until 1980 when she abdicated, on her 71st birthday, passing the throne to Beatrix. That throne will now be handed to her son on Tuesday, giving the Netherlands its first king in more than a century. Princess Margriet of the Netherlands is presented with a bouquet of tulips by Canadian veteran Tom Rappel as she arrives at the Perley Veterans Health Centre in Ottawa on May 12, 2010. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press) Beatrix will be the third Dutch queen in succession to abdicate, following her grandmother and mother, in 1948 and 1980 respectively. "In the Netherlands, it's become an established tradition and this allows the new monarch to have transition time to grow into the new role and still be advised by the former monarch," says Harris.

"Unlike in the United Kingdom and Canada, for instance, where the abdication of Edward the Eighth was a destabilizing event that appeared to shake the foundations of the monarchy, in the Netherlands, royal abdication is expected and it's a very smooth transition of power from one reign to the next." For some Canadians of Dutch heritage — the Dutch Embassy says one million persons of Dutch origin reside in Canada — the abdication was to be expected. "I figured it would happen sooner than later," says Adri Degroot, a director of Club The Netherlands in St. Catharines, Ont. "She was getting older, too." 'Mother for the country' Degroot says Beatrix "seemed like a mother for the country," but considers that Willhem-Alexander will bring "a new vision to the country. He should be good." Queen Beatrix, centre, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander and his wife, Princess Maxima, pose for photographers in Amsterdam on April 10, 2013. (Peter Dejong/Associated Press) Horn isn't predicting what kind of king Willem-Alexander will be.

But he does note that there was some considerable public commotion when he married because his Argentine wife was the daughter of a man who was a minister in her native country's dictatorship. But Maxima "seems to have done very well," says Horn. "Her father's had the good sense not to intrude himself onto the Dutch scene." In fact, says Harris, Maxima's parents won't be at the ceremonies on Tuesday. Horn considers that Beatrix's reign was "competent and quite normal," without the kind of controversy that erupted over her mother Juliana's involvement with a faith healer in the mid-1950s as she sought a cure for her daughter Christina's eye problems. Beatrix "is widely loved even with people who have misgivings about the monarchy as an instiution," says Horn. "Beatrix, in so far as I am able to judge, has been a perfect constitutional monarch." Welcome to retirement From Horn's perspective, Beatrix's departure from the throne is more of a retirement, and it's a move he sees holding much virtue.

"I think the present situation in England, where Charles has to hang in there while his mother carries on as best she can —well, I know why it happens, but I must say that in this respect I think that the Dutch royal house has it right." It also does it differently — at least when it comes to how the actual throne passes hands. Harris says the ceremonies installing Crown Prince Willem-Alexander on Tuesday will be very different from how the House of Windsor puts a new monarch on the throne in England. Regalia that goes with the position will be on display, but no crown will be placed on Willem-Alexander's head. There will be a church setting, and a reciprocal oath between the new king and members of parliament. Sandra Terpstra, left, and Linda Clewits pose with trays of cakes made for Queen's Day, a national holiday and the day of the abdication of Queen Beatrix and the crowning of the new king, at a pastry shop in Amsterdam on April 23, 2013.

(Peter Dejong/Associated Press) "It's definitely a more elaborate ceremony than in Spain, for instance, where [King] Juan Carlos simply went to parliament and was sworn in there," says Harris. "Because the coronation of Elizabeth the Second is so iconic— it was shown on television around the world — often there's an assumption that all monarchs receive a coronation of that kind, and it's not recent practice among the continental monarchies." Willhem-Alexander will also want a calmer arrival to the throne than his mother experienced in 1980. "Hopefully the proceedings will be more peaceful than they were when Beatrix came to the throne and there was some rioting in Amsterdam about the lack of affordable housing," says Harris.

Question: Juliana was the queen of which European country between 1948 and 1980?
Answer: Netherlands