JULIANA

born April 30, 1909, The Hague in full Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina queen of The Netherlands from 1948 to 1980. The only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Juliana studied law at the University of Leiden (192730) and in 1931 helped form the Nationaal Crisis Comit to foster measures by private enterprise to alleviate the economic depression. She married Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld in 1937 and gave birth to four daughters: Beatrix (1938), Irene (1939), Margriet (1943), and Marijke (1947). During World War II Juliana took refuge in Ottawa, while her husband remained with Queen Wilhelmina's London government. After returning to The Netherlands in 1945, Juliana acted as regent (OctoberDecember 1947 and MayAugust 1948) during Wilhelmina's illness and became queen on Sept. 6, 1948, following her mother's abdication. Her employment of a faith healer in the 1950s caused public concern, and the marriages of Princess Irene to a Spanish Carlist prince (1964) and Princess Beatrix to a German diplomat (1966) aroused political controversy stemming from Dutch memories of World War II. Another crisis involved Prince Bernhard's acceptance of huge sums of money from the U.S. Lockheed Aircraft Corporation in 1976. Juliana withstood these dissensions, however. On April 30, 1980, Juliana, by her own wish, abdicated in favour of Beatrix.