Juliana of the Netherlands

Juliana
Queen of the Netherlands
Queen Juliana of the Netherlands
Queen Juliana of the Netherlands
Reign	4 September, 1948 – 30 April, 1980 (31 years)
Full name	Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina
Titles	Queen of the Netherlands Princess of Orange-Nassau Duchess of Mecklenburg
Born	30 April 1909(1909-04-30)
	The Hague, Netherlands
Died	20 March 2004 (aged 94)
	Soestdijk Palace, Baarn, Netherlands
Buried	Nieuwe Kerk, Delft, Netherlands
Predecessor	Queen Wilhelmina
Successor	Queen Beatrix
Consort	Prince Bernhard
Royal House	House of Orange-Nassau
Royal anthem	Het Wilhelmus
Father	Prince Hendrik
Mother	Queen Wilhelmina

Juliana (Juliana Emma Louise Marie Wilhelmina van Oranje-Nassau; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands from her mother's abdication in 1948 to her own abdication in 1980. After her abdication she reverted to the style she used before coming to the throne as Princess Juliana, although she was popularly perceived as Mother of the nation. Becoming Queen as her nation emerged from the trauma of World War II when it was occupied by Germany, she found herself signing the Act of Sovereignty by which Indonesia gained its independence on December 27, 1949. As Holland readjusted itself to a new status in the world without its empire, Juliana's interests in international development, peace and humanitarian work helped to nurture a different national orientation, as Holland evolved as a major participant in the work of global peace-keeping and as a defender of human rights.

Queen

Monarchical Styles of Queen Juliana I of The Netherlands

Reference style Her Majesty Spoken style Your Majesty Alternative style Ma'am

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. The people of the Netherlands watched as their Queen often appeared in public dressed like any ordinary Dutch woman. Queen Juliana began riding a bicycle for exercise and fresh air. The Queen wanted to be addressed as "Mevrouw" (Dutch for "Madam") by her subjects.

Although the bicycle and the down-to-earth manners suggest a simple life style, the Dutch Royal court of the 1950s and 1960s was at the same time 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.

Soestdijk Palace, where Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard lived for over six decades.

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 1963 Queen Juliana faced another crisis among the Protestant part of her people when her daughter Irene secretly converted to 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 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, the Queen's abdication became a real possibility. She survived, however, thanks to the underlying devotion she had earned over the years.

But crisis, as a result of marriage, would come again with the announcement in July 1965 of the engagement of Princess Beatrix, heir to the throne, to a 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 upset citizens did not call for the Queen's abdication because the true object of their 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 difficult matters, Queen Juliana's personal popularity suffered only temporarily.

The Queen was noted for her courtesy and kindness. In May 1959, for example, 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."

An event in April 1967 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 ones of love and enthusiasm. This joyful occasion was helped along by an ever-improving Dutch economy.

Scandal rocked the Royal family again in 1976 when it was revealed that Prince Bernhard had accepted a $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, stating: "I am above such things." This time, the Dutch people rather than calling on the Queen to abdicate, were fearful 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. The Prince 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. Her husband's disgrace was a "sad blow" for Juliana but while he resigned from "most of his official business" her "personal popularity" remained high.<ref="Hindley">Hindley, page 266.</ref>

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."

Abdication

On 30 April 1980, the day of her 71st birthday, Queen Juliana signed the Act of Abdication and her eldest daughter succeeded her as Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. Juliana remained active in numerous charitable causes until well into her eighties. Many people in Holland looked upon her as "mother of her country." In abdicating in favor of her daughter as her mother had in her favor, she p[erpetuated a tradition in which Dutch monarch's chose to "retire" so that their children could succeed while still relatively young. Unlike in some contexts, such as Great Britain, abidication, which is more like retirement, in Hollands does not have a negative association.

Illness and death

The Royal Hearse with the remains of the late Princess Juliana on its way to the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft

From the mid-1990s, Juliana's health declined. Some have attributed this to Alzheimer's disease.," although this was denied by the Royal Family. Juliana did not appear in public after that time. At the order of the Royal Family's doctors, Juliana was placed under 24-hour care. Prince Bernhard publicly admitted in a television interview in 2001 that she could no longer recognize her family.

Juliana died in her sleep on 20 March 2004, aged 94, at Soestdijk Palace in Baarn from complications of pneumonia, exactly 70 years after her grandmother Emma.

She was embalmed (unlike her mother, who chose not to be) and on 30 March 2004 interred beside her mother, Wilhelmina, 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 told in her sermon, was interested in all religions and in reincarnation.

Her husband Prince Bernhard died barely eight months after her, on 1 December 2004, aged 93 and his remains were placed next to hers.

Legacy

Juliana reigned through immediately after her nation suffered the trauma of Nazi occupation, oversaw loss of its largest colonial possession and during Holland's post-World War II readjustment within the European Union. Despite her personal wealth as the richest woman in the world and the lavish life-style of the royal court, she managed to develop an authentic raport with her people so much so that she was known as the people's princess. Her exile in Canada, where few people recognized who she was, may have contributed to her ability to move at ease in the streets of her nation. To some degree, the media image of the Dutch royal family has been carefully cultivated, with "strict control of information about the royal family going to the press." This careful control, though, could not prevent public revelations of her husband's financial dealings. Like her mother, she never "attempted to exercise direct political influence" but made her opinions known "behind the scenes." She always respected the constitutional limitations of her position. Her main skill, like her mother's, was knowing how to "embody the unity of the Dutch nation." Blom comments that during the Juliana era, the Dutch "expressed a deep satisfaction in their unique and examplary qualities, particularly its love of peace and high moral sense.". The role of the twentieth century Queens of the House of Orange contributed to this self-image. Blom says that while ninteenth century kings had "generated tension in Dutch political life," their twentieth century successors, all women, "enjoyed great popularity." Hooker cites a 1998 poll in which 66 percent of the population say they think Holland will still be a monarchy in fifty years time. Juliana's reputation for social compassion, her concern for the plight of refugees and interest in issues of development and her ability to embody the moral sense of her nation suggests that women can bring some distinctive, feminine qualities to leadership that men do not always exhibit or possess, or dare to express. Arguably, Juliana played a key role in nurturing what has been described as a "moral impulse" underlying Dutch foreign-policy and international relations.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Blom, J. C. H., and Emiel Lamberts. 1998. History of the Low Countries. New York: Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781571810847
• Hindley, Geoffrey. 2000. The royal families of Europe. New York: Carroll & Graf. ISBN 9780786708284
• Hoffman, William. 1979. Queen Juliana: the story of the richest woman in the world. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

ISBN 9780151465316

• Hooker, Mark T. 1999. The history of Holland. The Greenwood histories of the modern nations. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.ISBN 9780313306587
• "Princess Juliana of the Netherlands A commoners' queen." 2004. ECONOMIST -LONDON- ECONOMIST NEWSPAPER LIMITED-. (8370): 82-91. ISSN 0013-0613

External links

• Tribute with images.
• Queen Juliana (1909-2004) at the Dutch Royal House website
• Juliana at De.Ridder.com

House of Orange-Nassau Born: 30 April 1909; Died: 20 March 2004
Regnal Titles
Preceded by: Queen Wilhelmina	Queen of the Netherlands 1948 - 1980	Succeeded by: Queen Beatrix
Dutch royalty
Preceded by: William Ernest	Heir to the Dutch throne as heiress presumptive 1909–1948	Succeeded by: Princess Beatrix later became Queen Beatrix

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