Royal Trivia

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HM Queen Julianna Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, princess of Orange-Nassau, etc., etc., etc.


Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, 1909-2004

Peter C. Hylarides
QUEEN Juliana of the Netherlands, who reigned from 1948 to 1980, died at the age of ninety-four early on the morning of Saturday, 20 March 2004. Although she abdicated in 1980, when she assumed the title, Princess, and although she had not appeared in public since 2001, she was still well admired and loved. As Prime Minister Balkenende said in his commemorating speech: 'Many of us feel the death of Princess Juliana as a personal loss ... Our country has, in a sense, lost its mother'. One sometimes hears that the Dutch are not as much monarchists as they are 'Julianists'.

'Since yesterday, I was called to a task, which is so difficult that no one who had even contemplated this for a moment would desire it, but also so beautiful that I can only say: who am I, that I am allowed to do this'. These are words spoken by Queen Juliana when she was inaugurated as Queen of the Netherlands in 1948. (In the Netherlands monarchs are not crowned, as there is no state church and therefore no spiritual authority which can perform a coronation.) Looking closer at the exact wording, it shows the dilemma Princess Juliana was confronted with almost all her working life. Born into royalty as the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Hendrik, she had to learn from a very young age to live within the boundaries of a restricted environment. This, as we shall see, did not always agree with her personality.

It is sometimes hard to establish fact from fiction when it comes to the Dutch monarchy. This is particularly the case with regard to events that happened in the last sixty years, as many of the archives are not yet open to public scrutiny. In the case of Princess Juliana this is even more difficult as her personal archives will not be opened until 2104, a hundred years after her death. We can say that during her thirty-two years as monarch, Queen Juliana steered the country through good and bad times. She succeeded her mother in a time of reconstruction and conflict. It was three years after the Second World War, and the country had not yet fully recovered from hostilities, when it become embroiled in another war. In 1945, the Indonesians had, unilaterally, declared themselves independent from the Netherlands. An armed conflict broke out and the Dutch government sent troops to fight the insurgents. It proved to be a hopeless war. The international community, in particular the United States, was firmly against this military adventure. In fact, the Netherlands had the dubious honour of being the first country called to order by the Security Council of the newly founded United Nations. For Queen Juliana it had long been clear that the Dutch colonies deserved independence. Having pacifist views, she disagreed with military action in the Netherlands Indies. Little more than a year after her accession to the throne, she would sign the transfer of sovereignty to the Republic of Indonesia.

In 1954, Queen Juliana signed a new 'Statute for the Kingdom of the Netherlands'. The relationship between the mother country and the remaining colonies, the Netherlands Antilles and Surinam, was to be put on an equal footing. From then on, they were considered partners instead of colonial subjects. Queen Juliana was always very proud of the fact that an end was made to the Dutch colonial empire during her reign. In 1963, Dutch New Guinea was finally returned to Indonesia. Twenty-two years later, the Republic of Surinam was established as an independent nation. In some of the former colonies, however, Juliana was still considered to be 'our Queen'.

The former Queen was always more internationalist than nationalist. Juliana had huge sympathies for the European Movement founded in 1948 and encouraged the creation of the European Community. She saw in it a renewal of European politics, which was previously based on narrow nationalist views. Her ideal was to see a strong and united Europe. A speech to students of the Sorbonne in Paris in 1950 summarizes her views: 'Do not look too much at the past, although it is interesting to know what not to do. Consider it a bad dream ... Previous generations have failed, as they have not been able to put a halt to the powers of destruction. Precisely this is now the task of the current generation'. When asked if the monarchy could survive in a united Europe, she answered: 'Well, then we will simply become governors of the European Netherlands'.

It was during Juliana's student days at Leiden University, that she had become a pacifist at heart. It does not come as a surprise, then, that she thoroughly disliked the Cold-War mentality of the late 1940s and early 1950s. This became particularly clear during her visit to the United States and Canada in 1952. In a speech to the U.S. Congress she talked about disarmament and coexistence at a time when the Cold War was at its peak and in the U.S. pacifism was almost regarded as knee-jerk communism. Just before her visit to the United States, she had a quarrel with her Minister of Foreign Affairs, D.U. Stikker, about the contents of the speech. A few passages had to be scrapped, amongst them her appeal to throw all weapons into the sea. Although she wrote her own speeches, she still needed the formal approval of the government, as the constitution requires.

In Dutch politics, Juliana also made her mark. According to the constitution, the Queen has the right to be consulted, the right to warn and the right to urge. It is difficult to measure her influence, as the meetings between ministers and the Queen are a state secret, but when we look at her record we can see that at times she stretched her constitutional powers to the limit. When Willi Lages, head of the Amsterdam SD (Sicherheitsdienst, Nazi security police) during the war, received the death penalty Queen Juliana refused the advice of her Minister of Justice to deny a pardon to Lages. It resulted in a pardon in 1952.

In the formation of coalition governments, the Queen played an important role. She appointed the so-called informateur and formateur on the advice of party leaders in Parliament. Whilst the former has the task of exploring which parties are likely to form a government, the latter is responsible for the actual formation of the government. Having participated in the formation of thirteen governments during her reign, Queen Juliana would sometimes steer politicians in a certain direction or would indicate that she was not in favour of a proposed prime minister. Legendary is her role in the formation of the 1973 government under the social democrat, Joop den Uyl. Many politicians were surprised that Juliana, after failed negotiations between the Social Democrats (PvdA) and the Christian ARP (Anti-Revolutionary Party), immediately reap-pointed a social democrat in the role of informateur, instead of waiting for new advice from the party leaders. She clearly preferred a social-democratic government. In her latter days as Queen she also presided over informal meetings with MPs, in which she could vent her opinion. Queen Juliana never saw her signature under a new law as a sheer formality. She was always well informed and impressed ministers with her detailed knowledge and iron memory.

In her role as Queen, Juliana would deviate completely from her predecessors. She wanted to bring the monarchy closer to the people by abandoning, in her eyes, some of the anachronistic accoutrements connected with this institution. One of the first measures she took was the prohibition of the curtsy, which she regarded as thoroughly outdated. Juliana also refused to use the pluralis majestatis or royal 'we', preferring to say 'my husband and I'. Countless are the stories of Queen Juliana thwarting protocol. At her inauguration, her husband, Prince Bernhard, was supposed to walk behind her. In her anger she exclaimed: 'Gentlemen, I am legally married' and she left the church walking hand in hand with the Prince. In an obituary in The New York Times a story was included about the time when Juliana had her limousine pull up unannounced outside the home of one of her subjects. She knocked on the door and asked if she could come in for tea.

Every year, at Christmas, Queen Juliana treated palace staff to hot chocolate, poured and served by her and her family. This would provide enduring images of the Queen as a warm and endearing person. In death, she would show her last defiance to protocol. A few years before her demise, she decided that a female emeritus vicar of the Remonstrant Brotherhood would perform the service at her funeral. The Remonstrant Brotherhood had broken away from the 'official' Dutch Reformed Church in 1619. In orthodox Protestant circles this decision was regarded as highly disappointing. A female vicar, in their eyes, is doubtful, the Remonstrant Brotherhood detestable and the sheer fact that the 'True Religion' would not be preached in the New Church in Amsterdam was almost indigestible. In her private life Juliana also wanted to be treated as a human being. When a good friend sent her a letter shortly after her accession to the throne in which she addressed Juliana as 'Your Majesty', Queen Juliana responded indignantly: 'What kind of prehistoric monster do you think I will become. If you ever write anything other than 'Dear Ju' to me ... you may not regard yourself as my friend'. It was typical of a Queen who, in her own words, thoroughly disliked pomposity and ritual deference.

In her personal life she steered through a variety of crises. Her youngest daughter, Princess Marijke (who later used her second name, Christina) was born almost blind. Through a family friend, the Queen came into contact with a faith healer by the name of Greet Hofmans, who promised to cure the Princess. This, of course, did not happen but the Queen stayed in contact with the woman, who was also a known militant pacifist. It was rumoured that the faith healer greatly influenced the Queen in her pacifist attitudes, including her speech in Washington in 1952. This, in turn, brought her into conflict with her husband and the government who were in favour of more armament to counter the threat of communism. It turned into a full-blown constitutional crisis in 1956, when the German magazine, Der Spiegel, published a story about the divisions in the Palace. A commission was set up at the instigation of the Queen and Prince Bernhard to investigate the allegations about Greet Hofman's alleged influence. The report was never made public, but the Queen would later brake off her contacts with the faith healer.

Other minor crises concerning her family were caused by the marriages of two of her daughters, Irene and Beatrix. Princess Irene had converted to Roman Catholicism and married a Spanish Prince. In a nation with a strong Protestant tradition such as the Netherlands (despite the fact that the majority of the population at the time was Catholic), this caused a lot of problems. It was constitutionally impossible to become the wife of Prince Carlos Hugo de Bourbon-Parma, who was also a pretender to the Spanish throne and the head of a dubious extreme right-wing movement, without sacrificing her rights as second in line to the Dutch throne. Queen Juliana stood firmly behind her government when they refused to propose a bill permitting the marriage. In the end Princess Irene did marry her Spanish nobleman in Rome, thereby giving up the rights to the throne. The Queen and Prince Bernhard declined the invitation to her wedding. They watched the ceremony on television, until a power cut prevented them from seeing the exchange of vows. It was a sorrowful event in the life of the Queen.

There were also problems surrounding the wedding in 1966 of her eldest daughter, Princess Beatrix, who chose the West German diplomat, Claus von Amsberg, as her husband to be. Although he had an impeccable record, he was still a German and, like all others of his age, had been conscripted in the Wehrmacht during the war. This was a fact that did not go down well in a country that was still plagued by huge anti-German sentiments. However, in press conferences, Herr von Amsberg made a highly favourable impression. He spoke Dutch and showed himself to be a very modest and likeable man. Permission for the marriage was easily granted. The only problem left was the location of the wedding. Princess Beatrix had indicated a preference for Amsterdam, the nation's capital, which had probably suffered the most from the German occupation and was at the time immersed in protests against the Vietnam War. She would later change her mind about Amsterdam, but the government insisted she should not give way to 'street terror'. The wedding did take place in Amsterdam, probably the most republican of Dutch cities. There were some major disturbances during the day, such as the throwing of a smoke bomb in front of the carriage that carried Princess Beatrix and her husband. It was a difficult day for Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard.

Nothing, however, could have prepared Queen Juliana for the most severe personal crisis during her reign. Her husband, Prince Bernhard, had always played a major role in society. He stood at the centre of the World Wildlife Fund and had presided over the so-called 'Bilderberg' conferences, meeting places where he exchanged thoughts with powerful men in politics and the international business community. He was considered to be an excellent source of information for the Dutch government and a phenomenal goodwill ambassador for the Netherlands. Prince Bernhard was also Inspector-General of the Dutch armed forces, a job he relished and performed to the great satisfaction of the military. As Inspector-General he came into contact with many companies which specialized in military goods. One of them, the Lockheed Corporation, would become his Achilles heel. In 1976, the government disclosed that Prince Bernhard was involved in a bribery scandal and had accepted goods and favours from Lockheed. Queen Juliana was distraught and privately indicated that she was willing to abdicate. The government, afraid of a constitutional crisis and the consequences for the country, decided not to prosecute the Prince but he was stripped of his military commissions and many of his public tasks. For Queen Juliana this was a terrible personal tragedy.

On the 31 January 1980, the birthday of then Princess Beatrix, Queen Juliana made an announcement on television that she would abdicate the throne in favour of her daughter. 'Everyone getting older must, sooner or later, face the fact that one's strength is fading'. She had given all her strength to the well-being of the Dutch nation. Princess Juliana would continue to do social work, visiting the aged, the sick and the handicapped, until old age prevented her from performing these tasks.

Winston Churchill once described her mother, Queen Wilhelmina as 'the only man in the Dutch government'. Her daughter, Queen Beatrix, is more 'majesty' and concerned with protocol. Prince Willem-Alexander, the first male heir to the throne in over a century, has indicated that he identifies most with his grandmother, Princess Juliana. In that way Juliana's spirit will continue to live on and that is not a bad thing.

Peter C. Hylarides studied history and law at Leiden University and graduated with an MA in Contemporary History. He currently works for KLM and is a freelance journalist.

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