Queen+Beatrix

=Queen Beatrix=

Amsterdam
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands was born a princess on January 31, 1938. She was the first child to be born into the family, her mother was Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and her father, Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. A little over twelve years after she was born, World War ll broke out in the Netherlands. It was May 10, 1940. Three long days later, the Dutch Royal family started their journey to London. They had to evacuate Amsterdam before it was too late. One month after their family moved to London, Beatrix, her mother, and her sister moved to Canada. The war in the Netherlands came to an end when the German generals surrendered on May 5, 1945. It was a few days less than a five year war. The family later returned to the Netherlands on August 2, 1945. After a while, since they returned to Amsterdam, Beatrix was engaged and started a family life.

Later in her life, she got engaged to Claus Von Amsberg. Unfortunately, Claus was a German aristocrat. Politically, this caused many debates and feuds. He had previously been associated with "Hitler youth", therefore associated with German Nazism. Terms such as "Claus 'raus" meaning Claus out! or "mijn fiets terug" meaning 'return my bicycle', which is a reference to the occupying German soldiers who took away Dutch bikes during World War ll. Many people of the community didn't approve of their queen being the spouse of a German aristocrat. Later on, a very violent riot happened on April 30,1980. This riot was started because of the poor housing conditions. The people wanted Beatrix to address the situation on hand. A new term such as "geen woning; geen kroning" meaning, no homes - no coronation. As queen, she was the president of the Council of the State but she did not make executive or legislative decisions.

Queen Beatrix was born into royalty. After her inauguration, April 30, 1980, she did many things for Amsterdam, such as attend anniversaries. Along with just doing things for her people, she was very political. She led governmental negotiations and made appearances by giving some speeches and interviews. Beatrix of the Netherlands is very well known, especially because of the contribution of facilities using her name as their own. In her honor of course, places such as Reina Beatrix school in Aruba and Queen Beatrix Hospital Medical Center. Her position was largely ceremonial and was a focus of national unity. Now, Queen Beatrix is out of her reign. She retired on April 30, 2013 after exactly 33 years of being queen at age 77. Even though she is starting a new chapter of her life she is still remembered for her days of service and ruling the Netherlands.