Beatrix | |||||
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Beatrix in 2015
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Queen of the Netherlands | |||||
Reign | 30 April 1980 – 30 April 2013 | ||||
Inauguration | 30 April 1980 | ||||
Predecessor | Juliana | ||||
Successor | Willem-Alexander | ||||
Prime Ministers | |||||
Born | 31 January 1938 Utrecht, Netherlands | ||||
Spouse | Prince Claus of the Netherlands (m. 1966; d. 2002) |
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Issue Detail |
King Willem-Alexander Prince Friso Prince Constantijn |
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House |
Orange-Nassau (official) Lippe (agnatic) |
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Father | Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld | ||||
Mother | Queen Juliana of the Netherlands | ||||
Religion | Protestant Church in the Netherlands | ||||
Signature |
Full name | |
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Beatrix Wilhemina Armgard |
Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbeːjaˌtrɪks ˌʋɪlɦɛlˈmina ˈɑrmɣɑrt] ( listen); born 31 January 1938) reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013, after a reign of exactly 33 years.
Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husband, Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. Upon her mother's accession in 1948, she became heir presumptive. 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. 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 as well as the subsequent Antillean Dissolution 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.