Regency and early 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
golden jubilee in 1948. However, Wilhelmina was forced by further health problems 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
sworn in and inaugurated as monarch during a joint session of the States General at a ceremony held 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. The near-blindness of her daughter Christina 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 an opulent 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 like her mother before her insisting on seeing reality rather than a prepared show. On the international stage, Queen Juliana was interested in the problems of developing countries, the refugee problem, and particularly child welfare in developing countries. Together with her daughters Beatrix and Irene, she took part in the ship tour organized by
Queen Frederica and her husband King
Paul of Greece in 1954, which became known as the "
Cruise of the Kings" and was attended by over 100 royals from all over Europe.
Francis of Bavaria, a participant, reports in his memoirs the anecdote that the queens of Greece, the Netherlands and Italy went ashore in a harbor in the middle of a crowd of nephews and nieces, and a waiting journalist called out to them: "What is the purpose of this trip?", whereupon Queen Juliana replied with a friendly smile: "Oh, you know, this is our
union's company outing."
Crises and recovery 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
storm surges. More than 1800 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. at
Soestdijk Palace, 1956 In 1956, the influence of Hofmans on Juliana's political views almost brought down the monarchy in a
constitutional crisis; this 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. The crisis was resolved, when 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" . Queen Juliana faced another crisis among her Protestant citizens in 1963, 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. Given the history of the Dutch struggle for independence from Roman Catholic Spain, and with 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; 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 head of the Dutch Unidentified Flying Objects Society, Rey d'Aquilla, 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." An event in April 1967, helped by an improving Dutch economy, brought an overnight revitalization of the royal family: 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.
Later reign , September 1971. On the left the ambassador's wife, Mrs. Scheltema. In the middle adjutant
Louise Elisabeth Coldenhoff of the
Indonesian Navy met with
Hamengkubuwono IX during her visit to
Yogyakarta, August 1971 In the spring of 1975, members of the
Free South Moluccan Youths were caught conspiring to steal a heavy truck and ram the gates of
Soestdijk Palace to kidnap the Queen. Ten members of the group in a vehicle full of firearms were arrested. Their alleged aim was to force the Dutch government to recognize the
Republik Maluku Selatan (RMS) as an independent state and try to make the Indonesian government do the same. Seventeen South Moluccan youngsters were tried and convicted and sentenced to up to six years imprisonment. This was one of a series of actions for this cause during the 1970s, including the
1975 Dutch train hijacking, the
1975 Indonesian consulate hostage crisis, the
1977 Dutch train hijacking, the
1977 Dutch school hostage crisis, and the
1978 Dutch province hall hostage crisis. 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 the heir presumptive Princess Beatrix, and her husband Prince Claus. , Princess
Beatrix and Prince
Claus on holiday in
Porto Ercole. 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 yet 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 on the boards 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, in 1979, to the "
International Year of the Child". As a reigning European monarch, she was given supernumerary membership of the British
Order of the Garter as the 922nd inductee, with the rank of Stranger Lady Companion, 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. Queen Juliana was very attached to
Monte Argentario, in
Tuscany, a favorite place for the
Dutch royal family for their summer holidays for more than 40 years. ==Illness and death==