Dutch Queen of Holland 09/06/1948 upon abdication of her mother, Queen Wilhelmina, due to her mother’s poor health. She had been a member of the Council of State for 20 years and was considered the mother of the country. Unpretentious, her countrymen considered her one of them. Juliana abdicated the throne to her daughter, Beatrix, in 1980.
Juliana was born in the Royal Palace at The Hague, province of South Holland, the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry (Wladimir Albert Ernst) of The Netherlands, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Her parents had waited eight years for a child and her arrival was celebrated by a 51-gun salute. She was baptized Julianna Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Duchess of Mecklenburg, each name honoring a distinguished relative. She enjoyed a fairly normal childhood, playing with dolls, riding ponies and playing in the sandbox at Het Loo palace, originally built as a hunting lodge. Later, during World War II, the family lived mostly in Huis Ten Bosch (House in the Woods) near The Hague.
Princess Juliana was privately tutored with a few other girls by a progressive teacher. She learned to skate, ride a horse and bicycle, and to speak French, German and English. She studied Latin and Greek, history, geography, constitutional law, economics, mathematics and physics.
On 04/30/1927, Juliana came of age at 18 and was given her own income, staff and home, the Kneuterdijk Palace at The Hague. She became a member of the Dutch Reformed Church and a member of the State Council, the Queen’s highest advisory board. In September of that year, she entered the University of Leiden, as a regular student enrolled as Julia van Bueren. There she studied Dutch literature, Indonesian law, international law, ethnology and history. After two and a half years she was awarded an honorary degree in literature and philosophy.
During the economic depression of the 1930s Juliana formed a National Crisis Committee to foster measures by private enterprise to help alleviate the distress. In 1934 she became president of The Netherlands Red Cross after the death of her father, who had headed the organization for years. Her engagement, on 09/08/1936, to German Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld during the Nazi period prompted careful investigation of his political ideas. They were married on 01/07/1937 in a simple ceremony and moved into the Soedstdijk Palace the following April, after it had been modernized by Queen Wilhelmina as a wedding gift.
Princess Beatrix was born on 1/31/1938 and Princess Irene was born on 8/05/1939. Princess Juliana and her two daughters left The Hague on 5/12/1940 during the German occupation and moved to Ottawa, Canada at the invitation of her aunt, Princess Alice, wife of Canada’s Governor-General. Her husband remained with Queen Wilhelmina’s government in London. Her third child, Princess Margriet, was born in Canada on 1/19/1943. During her exile she was active in war charities and made trips to the U.S. and to Dutch Guiana, becoming the first member of the house of Orange to go to that Netherlands colony in South America. She and her family returned to The Netherlands after the war in 1945 and acted as regent during Wilhelmina’s illnesses. Juliana’s fourth child, Princess Maria Christine was born there on 2/18/1947. The arrival of a fourth daughter completed three generations without any male heirs.
Wilhelmina abdicated to Juliana on 9/06/1948. As Queen, she presided over the ceremony in 1949 that ended the 300-year sovereignty of the Dutch East Indies, granting them independence and losing most of her empire in the East Indies. She successfully brought her country through the difficult post-war rehabilitation years, and transformed The Netherlands from a debtor to a creditor nation, contributing to its economic stability.
Several controversies marked her reign. Her use of a faith healer in the 1950s caused public concern. The marriages of Princess Irene in 1964 and Princess Beatrix in 1966 caused political contention. Prince Bernhard’s acceptance of large sums of money from U.S. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in 1976 created a crisis. However, Juliana withstood these challenges. By her own wish, she abdicated to Beatrix on 04/30/1980.
Called Princess Juliana after her abdication in 1980, the beloved matriarch of the Royal Family died on March 20, 2004. According to the official palace press release, she died in her sleep at her home in the Soestdijk Palace in Baarn, The Netherlands, at 5:50 AM local time. The cause of her death was pneumonia although she had been in deteriorating health for several months. She was 94.
Link to Wikipedia biography