Netherlands
Juliana - Queen of the Netherlands: 6 September 1948 – 30 April 1980
1962 Silver 2½ Gulden 33mm (15.00 grams) 0.720 Silver (0.345 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 185 Designer: L.O. Wenckebach
◦ JULIANA KONINGIN DER NEDERLANDEN, Head of  Queen Juliana right.
1962 2½ G NEDERLAND around coat of arms of Netheralnds.
Edge Lettering: GOD * ZIJ * MET * ONS *

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The Kingdom of  the Netherlands, commonly known as the Netherlands, is a sovereign state and constitutional monarchy with territory in western Europe and in the Caribbean .

The  four parts of the Kingdom – Aruba , Curaçao , Sint Maarten and the Netherlands  – are constituent countries (landen in Dutch ) and participate on a basis of equality  as partners in the Kingdom. In practice, however, most of the Kingdom affairs  are administered by the Netherlands – which comprises roughly 98% of the  Kingdom's land area and population – on behalf of the entire Kingdom.  Consequently, the countries of Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten are dependent on  the Netherlands for matters like foreign policy and defence , although they are autonomous to a  certain degree with their own parliaments .

The vast majority in land area of the constituent country of the Netherlands  (as well as the Kingdom) is located in Europe, with the exception of the Caribbean Netherlands : its three special  municipalities (Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius ) that are located in the  Caribbean. The constituent countries of Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten are  located in the Caribbean as well.

Juliana  (Juliana Louise Emma  Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until 1980. She reigned  for nearly 32 years. Her reign saw the decolonization of both Indonesia (Dutch  East Indies) and Suriname from the Kingdom of the Netherlands .

Upon her death at the age of 94, she was the longest-lived former reigning  monarch in the world.

Early life and  education

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Juliana was born in The Hague on 30 April 1909, the only daughter  of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and Prince Henry, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin . She  was the first Dutch royal baby since Wilhelmina herself was born in 1880.  Wilhelmina had suffered four miscarriages and one stillbirth, raising the  prospect that the House of Orange-Nassau would die with her. In  all likelihood, this would have meant that the Dutch throne would have passed to Prince Heinrich XXXII Reuss of Köstritz , who  had very close ties to Germany . Juliana's birth thus assured the royal  family's survival. Her mother suffered two further miscarriages after her birth,  leaving Juliana as the royal couple's only child.

Juliana spent her childhood at Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn , and at Noordeinde Palace and Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague. A small  school class was formed at Noordeinde Palace on the advice of the educator Jan Ligthart so that, from the age of six, the  Princess could receive her primary education with children of her own age. These  children were Baroness Elise Bentinck , Baroness Elisabeth van Hardenbroek and Jonkvrouwe Miek (Mary) de Jonge .

As the Dutch constitution specified that Princess Juliana should be ready to  succeed to the throne by the age of eighteen, her education proceeded at a  faster pace than that of most children. After five years of primary education,  the Princess received her secondary education (to pre-university level) from  private tutors.

On 30 April 1927, Princess Juliana celebrated her eighteenth birthday. Under  the constitution, she had officially come of age and was entitled to assume the  royal prerogative, if necessary. Two days later her mother installed her in the  "Raad van State" ("Council of State").

In the same year, the Princess enrolled as a student at the University of Leiden . In her first years at  university, she attended lectures in sociology , jurisprudence , economics , history of religion , parliamentary history, and constitutional law . In the course of her  studies she also attended lectures on the cultures of Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles , international affairs , international law , history, and European law . She graduated from the university  in 1930 with a bachelor's degree in international law.

Marriage

In the 1930s, Queen Wilhelmina began a search for a suitable husband for her  daughter. At the time, the House of Orange was one of the most strictly  religious royal families in the world, and it was very difficult to find a Protestant prince who suited their standards.  Princes from the United Kingdom and Sweden were "vetted" but either declined or  were rejected by the princess.

At the 1936 Winter Olympics in Bavaria , she met Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld , a young German aristocrat. Prince Bernhard was a suave  young businessman, and though not a playboy, certainly a "man about town" with a  dashing lifestyle. But his rank and religion were suitable, and so Princess  Juliana's royal engagement was arranged by her mother. Princess Juliana fell  deeply in love with her fiancé, a love that was to last a lifetime and that  withstood separation during the war and Bernhard's many extramarital affairs and  illegitimate children. The astute Queen Wilhelmina, by then the richest woman in  the world, left nothing to chance. Wilhelmina had her lawyers draw up a prenuptial agreement that specified exactly  what the German-born prince could and could not do, and what money he would  receive from the royal estate. The couple's engagement was announced on 8  September 1936.

The wedding announcement divided a country that mistrusted Germany under Adolf Hitler . Prior to the wedding, on 24  November 1936, Prince Bernhard was granted Dutch citizenship and changed the spelling of his  names from German to Dutch. They married in The Hague on 7 January 1937, the date on which  Princess Juliana's grandparents, King William III and Queen Emma , had married fifty-eight years  earlier. The civil ceremony was held in The Hague Town Hall  and the marriage was blessed in the Great Church (St. Jacobskerk), likewise in  The Hague. The young couple moved into Soestdijk Palace in Baarn .

Their first child, Princess Beatrix , was born on 31 January 1938,  and their second, Princess Irene , on 5 August 1939.

Canadian exile

On 12 May 1940, during the invasion of the Netherlands by Germany in World War II , Prince Bernhard and Princess  Juliana were evacuated to the United Kingdom to be followed the following day  by the Queen Wilhelmina and the Dutch Government, who set up a government in exile . The princess remained  there for a month before taking the children to Ottawa , the capital of Canada , where she resided at Stornoway in the suburb of Rockcliffe Park . Her mother and husband  remained in Britain with the Dutch government-in-exile .

When her third child, Princess Margriet , was born, the Governor General of Canada , Alexander Cambridge, Earl of Athlone , granted Royal Assent to a special law declaring  Princess Juliana's rooms at the Ottawa Civic Hospital as extraterritorial so that the infant would have  exclusively Dutch, not dual nationality . Had these arrangements not  occurred, Princess Margriet would not be in the line of succession . The Canadian government  flew the Dutch tricolour flag on parliament's Peace Tower while its carillon rang out with Dutch music at the news  of Princess Margriet's birth. Prince Bernhard, who had remained in London with Queen Wilhelmina and members of the  exiled Dutch government, was able to visit his family in Canada and be there for  Margriet's birth. Princess Juliana's genuine warmth and the gestures of her  Canadian hosts created a lasting bond which was reinforced when Canadian  soldiers fought and died by the thousands in 1944 and 1945 to liberate the  Netherlands from the Nazis . On 2 May 1945 she returned by a military  transport plane with Queen Wilhelmina to the liberated part of the Netherlands,  rushing to Breda to set up a temporary Dutch government.  Once home she expressed her gratitude to Canada by sending the city of Ottawa  100,000 tulip bulbs. Princess Juliana of the Netherlands erected a Wooden  lectern and brass plaque which is dedicated in thanks to the St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church (Ottawa) for  their hospitality during Princess Juliana's residence in Ottawa during the  Second World War.

On 24 June 1945, she sailed on the Queen ElizabethRMS   from Gourock , Scotland , to the United States , listing her last permanent  residence as London , England . The following year (1946), Juliana  donated another 20,500 bulbs, with the request that a portion of these be  planted at the grounds of the Ottawa Civic Hospital where she had given birth to  Margriet. 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.  Each year Ottawa hosts the Canadian Tulip Festival in celebration of this  gift.

On 2 August 1945, Princess Juliana was reunited with her family on Dutch  soil. Juliana immediately took part in a post-war relief operation for the  people in the northern part of the country, where the Nazi-caused famine (the  famine winter of 1944–1945) and their continued torturing and murdering of the  previous winter had claimed many victims. She was very active as the president  of the Dutch Red Cross and worked closely with the  National Reconstruction organization. Her down-to-earth manner endeared her to  her people so much that a majority of the Dutch people would soon want Queen  Wilhelmina to abdicate in favour of her daughter. In the spring of 1946 Princess  Juliana and Prince Bernhard visited the countries that had helped the  Netherlands during the occupation.

During her pregnancy with her last child, Marijke Christina , Princess Juliana contracted German measles . The girl was born in 1947 with cataracts in both eyes and was soon diagnosed  as almost totally blind in one eye and severely limited in the other. Despite  her blindness, Christina, as she was called, was a happy and gifted child with a  talent for languages and an ear for music. Over time, and with advances in  medical technology, her eyesight did improve such that with thick glasses, she  could attend school and even ride a bicycle. However, before that happened, her  mother, the Princess, clinging to any thread that offered some hope for a cure,  came under the strong influence of Greet Hofmans , a faith healer with heterodox beliefs, who was considered by "her  many detractors" to be a sham.

Reign

Wilhelmina's increasingly precarious health made it increasingly difficult  for her to perform her duties. Juliana was forced to take over as regent from 14 October to 1 December 1947.  Wilhelmina seriously considered abdicating in favour of Juliana at the end of  1947, but Juliana urged her mother to stay on the throne so she could celebrate  her diamond jubilee . However, Wilhelmina was forced  to relinquish her royal duties to Juliana once again on 4 May 1948.

The independence of Indonesia , which saw more than 150,000 Dutch  troops stationed there as decolonization force, was regarded as an  economic disaster for the Netherlands. With the certain loss of the prized  colony, the queen announced her intention to abdicate, doing so on 4 September  1948. Two days later, with the eyes of the world upon her, Juliana was  inaugurated in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam , becoming the 12th member of the  House of Orange to rule the Netherlands.

On 27 December 1949 at Dam Palace in Amsterdam, Queen Juliana signed  the papers that recognised Indonesian sovereignty over the former Dutch colony . She became Hoofd der Unie  (Head of the Union) of the Netherlands-Indonesian Union (1949-1956). On 15  December 1954, the Queen announced that the nation's Caribbean possessions of the Netherlands Antilles and Suriname were to be reconstituted as constituent countries of the Kingdom of the  Netherlands, making them equal partners with the mainland.

Her daughter's blindness and the increasing influence of Hofmans, who had  moved into a royal palace, severely affected the queen's marital relationship.  Over the next few years, the controversy surrounding the faith healer, at first  kept out of the Dutch media, erupted into a national debate over the competency  of the queen. However, the debate subsided in part due to Juliana's efforts to  connect with her 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 title of 'majesty'. She also began  riding a bicycle for exercise and fresh air.

Although the bicycle and the down-to-earth manners suggest a simple life  style, the Dutch royal court of the 1950s and 1960s was still a splendid affair  with chamberlains in magnificent uniforms, gilded state coaches, visits to towns  in open carriages and lavish entertaining in the huge palaces. At the same time  the queen began visiting the citizens of the nearby towns and, unannounced,  would drop in on social institutions and schools. Her refreshingly  straightforward manner and talk made her a powerful public speaker. On the  international stage, Queen Juliana was particularly interested in the problems  of developing countries, the refugee problem, and had a very special interest in  child welfare, particularly in the developing countries.

On the night of 31 January 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 bring desperate people food and clothing. Showing compassion  and concern, reassuring the people, her tireless efforts would permanently  endear her to the citizens of the Netherlands.

In 1956, the influence of Miss Hofmans on Juliana's political views almost  brought down the monarchy in a constitutional crisis that caused the court and  the royal family to split into a "Bernhard faction" set on removing a queen  considered a religious fanatic and a threat to NATO , and the queen's pious and pacifist courtiers. Prime Minister Willem Drees resolved the crisis. However,  Juliana lost out to her powerful husband and his friends. Hofmans was banished  from the court and Juliana's supporters were sacked or pensioned. Prince  Bernhard planned to divorce his wife but decided against it when he, as he told  an American journalist, "found out that the woman still loved him".

In 1963 Queen Juliana faced another crisis among her Protestant citizens when  her second daughter Irene secretly converted to Roman Catholicism and, without government  approval, on 29 April 1964 married Prince Carlos Hugo of Bourbon , Duke of Parma , a claimant to the Spanish throne  and also 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—a matter 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.

Another crisis developed as a result of the announcement in July 1965 of the  engagement of Princess Beatrix, heir to the throne, to German diplomat Claus von Amsberg . The future husband of the  future queen had been a member of the Nazi Wehrmacht and the Hitler Youth movement. Many angry Dutch  citizens demonstrated in the streets, and held rallies and marches against the  "traitorous" affair. While this time there were no calls for the queen's  abdication because the true object of the people's wrath, Princess Beatrix,  would then be queen, they did start to question the value of having a monarchy  at all. After attempting to have the marriage cancelled, Queen Juliana  acquiesced and the marriage took place under a continued storm of protest and an  almost certain attitude pervaded the country that Princess Beatrix might be the  last member of the House of Orange to ever reign in the Netherlands. Despite all  these difficulties, Queen Juliana's personal popularity suffered only  temporarily.

The queen was noted for her courtesy and kindness. In May 1959, for example, Polish-American ufologist George Adamski received a letter from the lady  head of the Dutch Unidentified Flying Objects Society informing him that she had  been contacted by Queen Juliana's palace and "that the Queen would like to  receive you." Adamski informed a London newspaper about the invitation, which  prompted the court and cabinet to request that the queen cancel her meeting with  Adamski, but the queen went ahead with the meeting saying that, "A hostess  cannot slam the door in the face of her guests." After the meeting, Dutch  Aeronautical Association president Cornelis Kolff said, "The Queen showed an  extraordinary interest in the whole subject." The Dutch press put it more  straightforwardly: According to Time Magazine Amsterdam newspaper De  Volkskrant said: "The Dutch press could hardly be accused of concealing the  facts last week. Once again, Queen Juliana's weakness for the preternatural had  landed her back in the headlines: she had invited to the palace a crackpot from  California who numbered among his friends men from Mars, Venus and other  solar-system suburbs."

An event in April 1967, helped by an improving Dutch economy, brought an  overnight revitalization of the royal family when the first male heir to the  Dutch throne in 116 years, Willem-Alexander , was born to Princess Beatrix.  This time the demonstrations in the street were of love and enthusiasm.

On 25 November 1975, Suriname seceded from the Dutch Kingdom and  became independent. Representing the Queen at the independence ceremony in the  Surinamese capital, Paramaribo , were her daughter and heir  presumptive, Princess Beatrix , and her husband, Prince Claus .

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 in what became known as the Lockheed Scandal .

Prime Minister Joop den Uyl ordered an inquiry into the affair  while Prince Bernhard refused to answer reporters' questions, stating: "I am  above such things." 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  consort.

On 26 August 1976, a censored and toned-down, but devastating report on  Prince Bernhard's activities was released to a shocked Dutch public. The prince  resigned his various high-profile positions as a lieutenant admiral , a general, and an Inspector General of the Armed Forces . He  resigned from his positions in the board of many businesses, charities, the World Wildlife Fund , and other institutions.  The prince also accepted that he would have to give up wearing his beloved  uniforms. In return, the States-General accepted that there was to be no  criminal prosecution.

On her Silver Jubilee in 1973, Queen Juliana donated  all of the money that had been raised by the National Silver Jubilee Committee  to organizations for children in need throughout the world. She donated the gift  from the nation which she received on her seventieth birthday to the "International  Year of the Child." She was the 922nd Lady of the Order of the Garter in 1958.

On 30 April 1980, her 71st birthday, Queen Juliana abdicated and her eldest daughter succeeded  her. Juliana remained active in numerous charitable causes until well into her  eighties.

Illness and death

From the mid-1990s, Juliana's health declined and she also suffered the  progressive onset of dementia . Juliana did not appear in public  after this time. At the order of the Royal Family's doctors, Juliana was placed  under 24-hour care. Prince Bernhard said in a television interview in 2001 that  the former Queen was no longer able to recognise her family and that she had  been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for several years.

Juliana died in her sleep on 20 March 2004, several weeks before her 95th  birthday, at Soestdijk Palace in Baarn from complications of pneumonia , seventy years to the day after her  grandmother, Queen Emma . She was embalmed , unlike her mother Wilhelmina, who  chose not to be, and on 30 March 2004 interred beside her mother in the royal  vaults under the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft . The memorial service made her ecumenical and often highly personal views on  matters of religion public. The late Princess, a vicar said in her sermon, was interested in all  religions and in reincarnation . Juliana's husband Prince  Bernhard died eight months later aged 93, on 1 December 2004; his remains were  placed next to hers.

In 2009 an exhibition of portraits of Juliana, and objects from her life, was  held at the Het Loo Palace to mark the centenary of her  birth.