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.
Early life
Juliana with her mother, Queen Wilhelmina, circa 1914
Born in The Hague, the daughter of Prince
Hendrik, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Queen Wilhelmina of the
Netherlands, 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
Jonkvrouw Miek de Jonge.
As the Dutch constitution specified that she should be ready to succeed to the throne by the age of eighteen, Princess
Juliana's 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"). A young, shy and introverted woman of plain
features whose religious mother would not allow her to wear makeup, Juliana did not fit the image of a royal princess. She would,
nonetheless, become much loved and respected by most of the Dutch people.
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, the Charter of the Kingdom
of the Netherlands, international affairs, international law, history, and European law. She
was also tutored privately by Professor C. Snouck Hurgronje on the
Islamic religion, practised by most of the people in the Dutch colonies.
In line with the views of the times, Queen Wilhelmina began a search for a suitable husband for her daughter. It was difficult
to find a Protestant prince from a ruling family who suited the standards of the strictly religious Dutch Court. Princes from the
United Kingdom and Sweden were "vetted" but either declined or were rejected by the
Princess. After meeting His Serene Highness Prince Bernhard of
Lippe-Biesterfeld at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Bavaria, Princess Juliana's royal engagement was arranged by her mother. Prince Bernhard was a suave young
businessman and, although not a playboy, certainly a "man about town" with a dashing lifestyle. 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 the many publicly known
extra-marital affairs and children by the Prince. In a legal document that spelled out exactly what the German prince could and could not do, and the amount of money he could expect from the sole heir to the large
fortune of the Dutch royal family, the astute Queen Wilhelmina left nothing to chance. The document was signed, and 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 made their
home at Soestdijk Palace, Baarn.
Children
Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard had four children;
- Princess Beatrix (born 31 January
1938)
- Princess Irene (born 5 August
1939)
- Princess Margriet (born 19
January 1943)
- Princess Maria Christina (born 18 February 1947)
Exile
The tense European political climate in the shadow of the growing threat of Nazi Germany
was stoked further in the Netherlands when Adolf Hitler hinted that the Royal marriage was a sign of an alliance between the
Netherlands and Germany. An angry Queen Wilhelmina quickly made a public denunciation of Hitler's remark, but the incident had by
then caused further resentment over Juliana's choice for a husband. Further revelations of Prince Bernhard's past conduct added
to the growing resentment amongst many of the Dutch people but after the German invasion on 10
May 1940, his actions would do a great deal to change public opinion to his favour.
Stornoway House, situated in the
prestigious suburb of
Rockcliffe Park, was occupied by Princess Juliana and her children during their time of
exile.
During the war and German occupation of the Netherlands the Prince and Princess decided
to leave the Netherlands with their two daughters for the United Kingdom, to represent
the State of the Netherlands in exile. The Princess remained there for a month before taking the children to Ottawa, the capital
of Canada, where she lived in Stornoway House in the suburb of Rockcliffe Park.
Juliana quickly endeared herself to the Canadian people, displaying simple warmth, asking that she and her children be treated
as just another family during difficult times. In the city of Ottawa, where few people recognized her, Princess Juliana sent her
two daughters to public school, did her own grocery buying and shopped at Woolworth's
Department Store. She enjoyed going to the movies and often would stand innocuously in the line-up to purchase her ticket.
When her next door neighbour was about to give birth, the Princess of the Netherlands offered to baby-sit the woman's other
children.
When her third child 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. On 24 June 1945 she sailed on the RMS Queen Elizabeth 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 a Tulip Festival, in recognition of this gift.
Return to The Netherlands
On 2 August 1945 Princess Juliana was reunited with her family
on Dutch soil. Soon though, their austere father would become convinced that his children's manners had been thoroughly corrupted
from their time in Canada. At their first family dinner at Soestdijk Palace, two-year-old Margriet beat a spoon on her plate,
Irene sat with a comfortable leg curled under herself, and the seven-year-old future Queen Beatrix, who had already expressed the
desire to return to Canada, talked incessantly with food in her mouth, complaining that she did not like her Dutch meal and
wanted Canadian steak and ice cream like her mother had given them in Ottawa. The manner in which the children would be raised
was a matter of disagreement between Princess Juliana and her husband. She believed that the days of an aloof, near-isolated
monarchy were over, and that the royal children should interact as much as possible with average citizens.
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, something long missing in the Dutch Royal Family, 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
spell of Greet Hofmans, a faith healer with
heterodox beliefs considered by many to be a sham. In 1956, the influence of Ms. Hofmans on Juliana's political views would
almost bring down the House of Orange in a constitutional crisis that caused the
court and the royal family to split in a Bernhard faction set on removing a Queen considered religiously fanatic and a threat to
NATO, and the Queen's pious and pacifist courtiers. The Prime Minister 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."
For several weeks in the autumn of 1947 and again in 1948 the Princess acted as Regent when, for health reasons, Queen
Wilhelmina was unable to perform her duties. The Independence in Indonesia, which saw more
than 150,000 Dutch troops stationed there as recolonization 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. On 6
September 1948, with the eyes of the world upon her, Princess Juliana, the twelfth member of
the House of Orange to rule the Netherlands, was inaugurated Queen in the Nieuwe
Kerk in Amsterdam. On 27 December 1949 at Dam Palace in Amsterdam, Queen Juliana signed the papers
that recognised Indonesian sovereignty over the former Dutch colony.
Queen
Monarchical Styles of
Queen Juliana I of The Netherlands
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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.
The New York Times called her "an unpretentious woman of good sense and great
goodwill."
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.
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. The Government
had manipulated the report on the Prince's conduct and had removed recent cases of corruption. The cases that were published had
superannuated and were no longer punishable. Over time, the Royal Family would work hard to rehabilitate the Prince's name.
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."
In 1979, William Hoffman published a highly critical biography entitled Queen Juliana: The Story of the Richest Woman in
the World. (After Prince Bernhard's death, more details were given about the Royal fortune. It was estimated to be about 200
million Euros. Therefore, contrary to previous accounts, Queen Juliana was never one of the 10 richest women in the world.)
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.
After her abdication she was known as Her Royal Highness, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands. Juliana remained active
in numerous charitable causes until well into her eighties.
Illness and death
Coffin with Queen Juliana on its way to the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft
From the mid-1990s, Juliana suffered from the progressive onset of senility (attributed to
Alzheimer's disease by many although this was denied by the Royal Family) and so did
not appear in public after that time. At the order of the Royal Family's doctors, Juliana was placed under 24-hour watch by two
nurses. Prince Bernhard publicly admitted in a TV 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.
Trivia
- In May 1959, 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." [1] 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." [1] After the meeting, Dutch Aeronautical Association
president Cornelis Kolff said, "The Queen showed an extraordinary interest in the whole subject." [1]
Ancestry
References
External links
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