Beatrix of the Netherlands

Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013.

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 Bernhard 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 (Westfeldzug).

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 (now the residence of the Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament of Canada).

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 thanks 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 centerpiece 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.

Beatrix was born during the reign of her maternal grandmother, Queen Wilhelmina, and became heir 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.

On 6 September 1948, her mother succeeded her grandmother Wilhelmina as Queen of the Netherlands.

Since she had no brothers, Beatrix became the heir presumptive to the Dutch throne at the age of ten.

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 Gertrude Büringh Boekhoudt, who remained a close confidant until Büringh Boekhoudt's 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.

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 (Queen's Day), 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.