Beatrix of the Netherlands
Beatrix is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until her abdication in 2013.
Beatrix was born during the reign of her maternal grandmother, Queen Wilhelmina, and became heiress presumptive upon the accession of her mother, Queen Juliana, in 1948. Beatrix attended a public primary school in Canada during World War II, and then finished her primary and secondary education in the Netherlands in the post-war period. In 1961, she received her law degree from Leiden University. In 1966, Beatrix married Claus von Amsberg, a German diplomat, with whom she had three children. When her mother abdicated on 30 April 1980, Beatrix succeeded her as queen.
Beatrix's reign saw the country's Caribbean possessions reshaped with Aruba's secession and becoming its own constituent country within the kingdom in 1986. This was followed by the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010, which created the new special municipalities of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba, and the two new constituent countries of Curaçao and Sint Maarten.
On Koninginnedag, 30 April 2013, Beatrix abdicated in favour of her eldest son, Willem-Alexander. At the time of her abdication at age 75, Beatrix was the oldest reigning monarch in the country's history.
Early life
Princess Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard was born on 31 January 1938 at Soestdijk Palace in Baarn, Netherlands, as the first child of Princess Juliana of the Netherlands and her husband, Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. Beatrix was baptised on 12 May 1938 in the Great Church in The Hague. Her five godparents were King Leopold III of Belgium; Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone; Beatrix's maternal great-great-aunt Elisabeth, Princess of Erbach-Schönberg; her paternal great-uncle Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg; and Countess Allene de Kotzebue. Beatrix's middle names are the first names of her grandmothers, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and Armgard, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld.When Beatrix was one year old, in 1939, her younger sister Princess Irene was born.
World War II broke out in the Netherlands on 10 May 1940. On 13 May, the Dutch Royal Family evacuated to London, United Kingdom. One month later, Beatrix went to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with her mother Juliana and her sister Irene, while her father Bernhard and maternal grandmother Queen Wilhelmina remained in London. The family lived at the Stornoway residence. With bodyguards and ladies in waiting, the family summered at Bigwin Inn on Lake of Bays, Ontario, where four private stone cottages of the resort served as their retreat. While on Bigwin Island, the constitution of the Netherlands was stored in the safe of Bigwin Inn's rotunda building. Princess Juliana and her family were remembered for their "down to earth" friendliness, general gratefulness and great reverence for their homeland and people, to whom they paid homage by refraining from all luxuries offered to guests at the resort that was once billed as the largest and most luxurious summer resort in Canada. To provide them with a greater sense of security, culinary chefs and staff catered to personal orders at meal time. Upon their departure, the hotel musicians of the Bigwin Inn Orchestra assembled dockside; and at every public performance afterward through to the end of World War II, the Wilhelmus was played. In the years following the shuttering and neglect of the island resort, the "Juliana" cottages were well maintained and preserved in an informal tribute to Princess Juliana and her family. In appreciation for the protection of her and her daughters, Princess Juliana established the custom of delivery to the Canadian government every spring of tulips, which is the centrepiece of the Canadian Tulip Festival.
The second sister of Beatrix, Princess Margriet, was born in Ottawa in 1943. During their exile in Canada, Beatrix attended nursery and Rockcliffe Park Public School, a primary school where she was known as "Trixie Orange".
On 5 May 1945, the German troops in the Netherlands surrendered. The family returned to the Netherlands on 2 August 1945. Beatrix went to the progressive primary school De Werkplaats in Bilthoven run by pacifist social reformers Kees Boeke and Beatrice Boeke-Cadbury. Her third sister Princess Christina was born in 1947. On 6 September 1948, her mother succeeded her grandmother Wilhelmina as Queen of the Netherlands. Since she had no brothers, Beatrix became the heiress presumptive to the Dutch throne at the age of ten.
Education
In April 1950, Princess Beatrix entered the Incrementum, a part of Baarnsch Lyceum, where, in 1956, she passed her school graduation examinations in the subjects of arts and classics. Her tutor from April 1951 was, who remained a close confidant until her death in 1982.In 1954, Beatrix served as a bridesmaid at the wedding of Baroness van Randwijck and Mr. T Boey.
On 31 January 1956, Beatrix celebrated her 18th birthday. From that date, under the Constitution of the Netherlands, she was entitled to assume the Royal Prerogative. At that time, her mother installed her in the Council of State.
The same year her studies at Leiden University began. In her first years at the university, she studied sociology, jurisprudence, economics, 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 for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, international affairs, international law, history and European law.
The princess also visited various European and international organisations in Geneva, Strasbourg, Paris, and Brussels. She was also an active member of the VVSL, now called L.S.V. Minerva, after merging with the Leidsch Studenten Corps. In the summer of 1959, she passed her preliminary examination in law, and she obtained her law degree in July 1961.
Political involvement
In 1965, Beatrix became engaged to the German aristocrat Claus von Amsberg, a diplomat working for the German Foreign Office. There was a massive protest on their wedding day in Amsterdam on 10 March 1966. Prince Claus had served in the Hitler Youth and the Wehrmacht and therefore was easily associated with German Nazism. Protests included slogans like "Claus 'raus!" and "Mijn fiets terug". A group of Provos threw a smoke bomb at the Golden Coach, resulting in a street battle with the police.As time went on, Prince Claus became one of the most popular members of the Dutch monarchy.
On 25 November 1975, Beatrix and Prince Claus attended the independence ceremony of Suriname, held in the new nation's capital, Paramaribo, representing her mother the Queen.
As a monarch, Beatrix had weekly meetings with the prime minister. She signed all new Acts of Parliament and royal decrees, and until a constitutional change late in her reign, appointed the informateur, an official who is responsible for chairing coalition talks in the formation of new governments. At the state opening of parliament each September, she made a Speech from the Throne, in which the government announced its plans for the coming parliamentary year. As Queen, she was president of the Council of State. Her role was largely ceremonial and as a focus of national unity, she did not make legislative or executive decisions.
Beatrix is a member of the Bilderberg Group.
Marriage and children
Engagement to Claus
On 28 June 1965, the engagement of Princess Beatrix to the German diplomat Claus von Amsberg was announced. Claus and Beatrix had met at the wedding-eve party of Princess Tatjana of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, in summer 1964. After Parliament consented to the marriage, Claus von Amsberg became a Dutch citizen, and upon his marriage became Prince Claus of the Netherlands, Jonkheer van Amsberg.Wedding, 1966
Beatrix married Claus von Amsberg on 10 March 1966 in civil and religious ceremonies. The bride wore a traditional gown with train in duchesse silk satin, designed by Caroline Bergé-Farwick of Maison Linette, in Den Bosch, and the Württemberg Ornate Pearl Tiara. The senior bridesmaids were the bride's youngest sister, Princess Christina of the Netherlands; Princess Christina of Sweden; Lady Elizabeth Anson; Joanna Roëll; Eugénie Loudon; and the bridegroom's sister, Christina von Amsberg. The junior bridesmaids were Daphne Stewart-Clark and Carolijn Alting von Geusau, with page boys Joachim Jencquel and Markus von Oeynhausen-Sierstorpff.The royal couple travelled to the ceremony together in the gold state carriage. The civil ceremony was conducted by the Mayor of Amsterdam, Gijsbert van Hall, at Amsterdam City Hall. The marriage blessing took place in the Westerkerk, conducted by the Rev. Hendrik Jan Kater, with a sermon by the Rev. Johannes Hendrik Sillevis Smitt.
Children
The royal couple had three sons. They lived at Drakensteyn Castle in Lage Vuursche with their children until Beatrix ascended the throne. In 1981, they moved into Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague.Accession and inauguration
From the 1970s, Beatrix began to prepare more intensively for her future position as head of state. She made many trips abroad with Prince Claus, including a controversial one to the Soviet Union.After the Lockheed affair, Beatrix and Claus began to delve into the royal household and made plans to adapt it. In addition, they asked advisers to prepare for Beatrix's reign. On 31 January 1980, the birthday of her eldest daughter and heiress presumptive, Queen Juliana announced during a live television speech that she wished to abdicate on 30 April in favor of her daughter Beatrix.
That Beatrix would succeed her mother as queen was not a matter of course when she was born. It was not until 1983 that the Constitution was amended in such a way that the eldest child of the head of state becomes the legal heir to the throne. Until then, it had been arranged that the eldest son always had priority over a daughter. It was only after it was clear that Juliana was biologically unable to have any more children, let alone a son, that Beatrix was certain that she was the intended successor.
On 30 April 1980, Juliana abdicated, and Beatrix became the 13th member of the House of Orange to reign over the Netherlands. She was sworn in and inaugurated as monarch during a joint session of the two chambers of the States General at a ceremony held in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam later that day.