La reine Wilhelmine ayant abdiqué le 4 septembre 1948, la reine Juliana fut intronisée le 6 septembre en présence des États généraux réunis dans la Nouvelle Église à Amsterdam. Le règne de Juliana fut marqué par d'importants événements, comme le transfert de souveraineté à l'Indonésie, en 1949, et l'indépendance du Suriname en 1975.Juliana était très populaire auprès de ses sujets, comme le montre l'hommage fleuri qui lui était fait chaque année, au palais de Soesdijk, le jour de son anniversaire. Elle abdiqua en faveur de sa fille en 1980.
Her Majesty Queen Juliana of The Netherlands was born Her Royal Highness Princess Juliana of The Netherlands in The Hague, on the 30th April 1909, the daughter of Her Majesty Queen Wilhelmina and His Royal Highness Prince Hendrik.
She spent her childhood at Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn, and at Noordeinde Palace and Huis ten Bosch Palace in The Hague. A small class was formed at Huis ten Bosch Palace on the advice of the educationalist Jan Ligthart so that, from the age of six, the Princess could receive her primary education with children of her own age. As the Constitution specified that she was to be ready to succeed to the throne by the age of eighteen, Princess Juliana's education proceeded at a faster pace than that of most children. On the 30th April 1927, Princess Juliana celebrated her eighteenth birthday. Under the Constitution, she had officially come of age and was entitled to assume the royal prerogative, if necessary. Two days later her mother installed her in the Council of State.
From 1927 to 1930, the Princess attended lectures at Leiden University. During this time she lived with a number of other women students in Katwijk. She chose her subjects partly to prepare her for her duties as Head of State, and partly to satisfy her personal interest in literature and religion. She joined the Women Students' Association and took an active part in a wide range of undergraduate activities. Her studies were crowned with the award of an honorary doctorate in literature and philosophy, her sponsor being the renowned historian Johan Huizinga. On leaving university, Princess Juliana acquired her own secretariat in her palace on the Kneuterdijk. Though she was not yet involved in matters of State, she represented the Royal House at many official events.
Princess Juliana's engagement to His Serene Highness Prince Bernhard of Lippe Biesterfeld was announced on the 8th September 1936 and they were married on the 7th January 1937, the date on which Princess Juliana's grandparents, King William III and Queen Emma, had married fifty-eight years earlier. A most remarkable and glittering event, the civil ceremony was held in The Hague Town Hall and the marriage was blessed in the Great Church (St. Jacobskerk), likewise in The Hague. The couple travelled together on the Golden State Coach in between ceremonies and later appeared on the balcony of Noordeinde Palace. The young couple made their home at Soestdijk Palace, Baarn.
Four daughters were born to Princess Juliana and Prince Bernhard: HRH Princess Beatrix (1938), HRH Princess Irene (1939), HRH Princess Margriet (1943) and HRH Princess Christina (1947). All the princesses were born at Soestdijk Palace, with the exception of Princess Margriet, who was born in Ottawa, Canada, during the war. The German invasion on the 10th May 1940 forced TRH the Prince and Princess and their two daughters to leave the Netherlands for the United Kingdom; the Princess remained there for a month before taking the children to Canada, where she lived in Rockcliffe, a suburb of Ottawa, until the Netherlands was liberated. Prince Bernhard, who remained in London with HM Queen Wilhelmina, was able to visit his family in Canada on several occasions. During the war, the Princess visited Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles.
In April 1945 she returned with HM Queen Wilhelmina to the liberated part of the Netherlands, settling in Breda. After the German capitulation in May 1945, the Princess took part in various relief operations to help the victims of the occupation. For several weeks in the autumn of 1947 and again in 1948 the Princess acted as Regent when, for health reasons, HM Queen Wilhelmina was unable to perform her duties. In 1948 the Queen announced her intention to abdicate and, on the 4th September 1948, HRH Princess Juliana assumed the royal prerogative, just before being presented by her mother from the balcony of the Royal Palace of Amsterdam. The new royal couple and their daughters travelled in open carriages through Amsterdam. Two days later, on 6 September, Princess Juliana's investiture as Queen of the Netherlands took place in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam. Dressed in the ermine trimmed robe of crimson velvet and wearing a diamond-embroidered bonnet, as well as a most amazing diamond and ruby stomacher and a matching necklace, the Queen arrived at the church with Prince Bernhard and swore allegiance to the Constitution inside. Afterwards there was a new cortege through the city, this time in the Golden State Coach.
In the first year of her reign, it was principally the Indonesian question that claimed Queen Juliana's attention. In 1949, she signed the documents transferring sovereignty to Indonesia in the Royal Palace on the Dam Square in Amsterdam. On 15 December 1954 Queen Juliana gave her assent to the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which formed the basis for cooperation between the three remaining parts of the Kingdom: the Netherlands, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles. Suriname became an independent republic in 1975 after the Queen signed the Act transferring sovereignty to the Republic of Suriname.
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