Women on the throne.. 123 years on the throne of the Netherlands.. the grandmother, the daughter and the granddaughter

When the current King of the Netherlands, Willem-Alexander, took the throne, he was the first man to be crowned King of the Netherlands in 123 years. Three women had ruled the country in succession from 1890 until Willem-Alexander took over in 2013. Queen Wilhelmina remained in power for about 58 years, and lived through two world wars. Then came her daughter Juliana, and then her granddaughter Beatrix, who abdicated in favor of her son Willem-Alexander after 33 years on the throne of the Netherlands.In this article, we learn about the three queens of the Netherlands: the grandmother, the daughter, and the granddaughter, and the most important stages that each of them went through in the following lines.Queen Wilhelmina

Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria was born in The Hague on August 31, 1880. Her father, King Willem III, was 63 years old at the time. She was his only daughter from his second wife, while he had three sons from his first wife, but they all died before the little princess reached the age of four.

With the death of King Willem III in 1890, when Princess Wilhelmina was only ten years old, the little girl became Queen of the Netherlands, and her mother was her regent until she reached the age of eighteen, which actually happened in 1898 amidst a popular atmosphere full of momentum and anticipation from the Dutch people and politicians.

In terms of marriage and children, Queen Wilhelmina married Duke Henry in 1901, and suffered greatly in the issue of childbirth, as she miscarried more than once, until she was able to give birth to her daughter Juliana in 1909, but the queen returned to miscarriage again after the birth of the little princess who later became Queen of the Netherlands.

Queen Wilhelmina's life witnessed a number of important stations, including the First and Second World Wars, as the Queen of the Netherlands was trying to keep her country away from the conflict that spread to Europe in World War I, in addition to the Queen's reputation for not liking politicians and her tendency to speak directly to the people, which made her a beloved figure among a large segment of the Dutch.

The Queen of the Netherlands also left the country with her family after the German invasion of her country in 1940, where she lived in England, spoke to citizens about the resistance via radio, and formed the so-called government in exile, and assumed its responsibility until she returned to the country in 1945 after the end of World War II.

It is also worth noting that Queen Wilhelmina was one of the few monarchs who remained alive after World War II, in addition to being the first woman to become a billionaire in the world; due to the great activity of her business projects, although she witnessed the Dutch economic crisis in the 1930s, which many historians consider the worst economic crisis of the twentieth century. After the Queen returned to the Netherlands and World War II ended in 1945, the Queen began to think about abdicating the throne. Due to her advanced age and illness, Wilhelmina ruled the country in 1948 for 58 years, a record that surpassed other Dutch monarchs. Therefore, the Queen abdicated in favor of her daughter Juliana. She then lived in Het Loo Palace, away from the hustle and bustle of the city, until the end of her life, where she died on November 28, 1962, at the age of 82.Queen Juliana

The little princess Juliana was born on April 30, 1909 after several attempts to conceive to her mother, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, which caused great joy and celebration in the royal palace. Then the mother suffered from other miscarriages after the birth of the little princess, so it was likely that she would remain the only royal child, and therefore she received all the attention and preparation to be the queen of the country later.

The little princess was educated in a small class created especially for her, which included a small group of noble children, but she excelled among them; due to the fast pace of education after her father died when she was ten years old, which made her become the crown princess, so she had to learn faster and prepare to assume royal privileges at the age of eighteen, so Juliana was racing against time to be ready on that day.

In 1927, the young princess turned 18 and was ready to play her role and receive royal privileges, but she did not stop learning and enrolled in university, receiving lectures in various fields of history, constitutional law and society, and graduated in 1930 with a degree in international law, so that the princess was fully prepared to become a symbol and face of the Dutch people, and all that remained was the issue of marriage.

It should be noted that the standards within the Dutch palace and the royal family are the most difficult among the kings and princes of Europe, as marriage is associated with a large set of religious values ​​that require the husband to be religious and disciplined, and therefore most of the options were not suitable for Princess Juliana, until she met Prince Bernhard in 1936 there in Bavaria during the Winter Olympics, and love had a great influence on the decision to marry, although the Dutch people were not happy with this relationship; Because he was a German prince, the prince changed his nationality to marry the princess in 1937.

Queen Juliana had four daughters with her husband Prince Bernhard, namely Beatrix, who later became Queen of the Netherlands, Princess Irene, Princess Margrethe, who was born during World War II, and Princess Christina, her youngest daughter, who was born after World War II.

World War II was one of the most important events in Queen Juliana's life, as she fled with her husband and two daughters to Canada, which forced her to give birth in Canada, which caused a major problem, as the child had to be born in the Netherlands in order to obtain Dutch citizenship. Then the Canadian Parliament intervened and declared the wing in which Queen Juliana was staying at the Ottawa Hospital a restricted area, so the Dutch flag was raised when Princess Margrethe was born, a precedent that had never happened before in Canada.

After the end of World War II, preparations began for the transfer of power from the Queen Mother to her daughter, Princess Juliana, which actually happened in 1948, and Queen Juliana's rule of the Netherlands began in one of the most difficult periods in history, as the era of colonialism began to end, and thus countries and islands demanded independence, and the Netherlands was forced to give up its gains in the East Indies, Indonesia and Suriname. Despite the many disputes in the Dutch royal family, Queen Juliana, over the course of about 32 years she spent on the throne of the country, was beloved and preferred by most of the Dutch people until she reached the age of seventy, when she decided to abdicate in favor of her eldest daughter, Beatrix, as her mother did with her, and the year 1980 witnessed Queen Juliana's abdication and retirement until she died in 2004 at the age of 94.Queen Beatrix

Princess Beatrix was born on 31 January 1938, the first child of Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard. Her grandmother was Queen of the country at the time on her mother's side, Queen Wilhelmina. The princess's childhood was marked by difficult circumstances and world events. World War II broke out a year after her birth, forcing the royal family to leave the country, so the little princess went with her mother to Canada.

The little princess lived in a safe retreat in Canada with her mother and two sisters until the end of the war in 1945. The family returned to the Netherlands and the little princess began attending primary school. In 1948, her mother, Princess Juliana, ascended to the throne of the Netherlands, so Princess Beatrix became the crown princess of the country and heir presumptive before she was ten years old.

In 1956, the young princess turned eighteen, and thus received a royal privilege that allowed her to assume the crown, which officially made her a crown princess, and her mother appointed her to the Council of State, and the princess continued her university studies to obtain a degree in international law.

On the level of marriage and personal life, Beatrix married the German diplomat Claus von Amsberg, and her mother also married a German prince, which required the approval of the Dutch parliament, which approved the marriage and granted her husband Dutch citizenship, and immediately after his marriage in 1966, Claus became one of the princes of the Netherlands.

Princess Beatrix and her husband Prince Claus had three sons: Prince Willem-Alexander, who was born in 1967 and later became King of the Netherlands; Prince Friso, who was born in 1968 and died in 2013; Her youngest daughter, Prince Constantijn, was born in 1969.

In 1980, Princess Beatrix took over the throne of the Netherlands after her mother, Queen Juliana, abdicated, making Beatrix the third woman in a row to sit on the throne of the Netherlands after her grandmother and mother. Her reign lasted for about 33 years, during which the queen was known for her love of peace and her calm and humble personality, which made her beloved and greatly respected and appreciated by the Dutch people in particular and Europeans in general.

In 2013, Queen Beatrix decided to abdicate the throne of the Netherlands in favor of her eldest son, Willem-Alexander. She announced in a televised speech that she had chosen this time at the age of 75, saying: (I am not withdrawing because my task is heavy, but because I am fully convinced that we must place the responsibility in the hands of the new generation, so I am handing over the throne to my son Willem-Alexander and I trust him completely).

Thus ends the period of female rule in the Netherlands, which lasted for about 123 years, during which three successive queens ruled, and the throne of the country passed between the grandmother, the mother and the granddaughter until it reached Willem-Alexander.