Juliana, signatory to RI independence, dies
Juliana, signatory to RI independence, dies
Agencies, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Former Dutch queen Juliana, who presided over the dismantling of the centuries-old Dutch empire, including granting Indonesia's independence, during her 31-year reign, died on Saturday. She was 94.
Juliana, who has been away from public life for years, passed away shortly before 6 a.m. Saturday, the government announced.
Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende called Juliana "a mother to us all".
Princess Juliana, who gave up the title of queen when she abdicated in favor of her oldest daughter Beatrix in 1980, spent the last decade of her life in seclusion, too ill and mentally feeble to appreciate the adoration of her people.
The Royal Palace was protective of her privacy, but she was known to suffer heart rhythm problems and to have been under 24- hour surveillance by two nurses. Her husband, Prince Bernhard, admitted in a televised interview in June 2001 that Juliana could no longer recognize members of her family.
Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina, Princess of Orange- Nassau, was 39 when she acceded the throne on Sept. 4, 1948.
Through her more modern, down-to-earth ways, she brought the monarchy closer to the people than under her mother, Queen Wilhelmina, who had stepped down after a reign of 50 years. Juliana was known to pour the tea herself for her visitors and ride her bike on the streets near her palaces.
One of the major tests at the outset of her reign was the Independence War in the Dutch East Indies, which was considered an economic disaster for the Netherlands and spurred her mother to abdicate after 50 years on the throne.
Juliana signed the papers that relinquished Dutch control of Indonesia on Dec. 27, 1949, at Dam Palace in Amsterdam.
As queen, she was active in social issues, frequently visiting hospitals, old age homes and nurseries. She spent days in the southern provinces of Zeeland and South Holland when they were inundated by devastating floods in early 1953.
During the turbulent 1960s, she watched the youthful social unrest that decades later evolved into such landmark legislation as legalized homosexual marriages, prostitution and euthanasia.
She faced several crises during her reign, including the blindness of her youngest daughter Christina, the conversion of her second oldest daughter Irene to Catholicism in 1963 and a bribery scandal involving her husband, German-born Prince Bernhard.