Queen Juliana, Dutch leader was 'people's queen'; at 94
AMSTERDAM -- Queen Juliana, dubbed the "people's queen" of the Netherlands after she helped the country recover from World War II and oversaw the independence of its last remaining colonies, died of a lung infection yesterday at the age of 94.
The bicycling monarch, who broke with convention by shopping at her local supermarket and sending her children to state school, died in the Soestdijk Palace where she lived most of her life. She had been ill for several years.
Her husband, Prince Bernhard, and three of her four daughters, including Queen Beatrix, were at her bedside when she died. The fourth daughter arrived soon afterwards from the United States.
"The Netherlands has lost its mother," Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende said in a televised address.
He said Queen Juliana, who reigned from 1948 until she abdicated in 1980 in favor of Beatrix, was a queen "for the people, not the powerful." Balkenende said she would have become a social worker if she had not been queen.
Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina was born in The Hague, the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Hendrik.
On ascending the throne, she quickly captured hearts at home and abroad as she strove to bring the royal family closer to the people. It is her birthday, on April 30, that is still celebrated as the Queen's Day holiday.
"Together with Prince Bernhard, she worked for the reconstruction of our country after World War II. Supported by her religion, she was an indefatigable campaigner for solidarity, community spirit, and human dignity," Balkenende said.
Queen Juliana also kept close ties with former colonies Indonesia and Surinam.
She campaigned for peace and ruffled diplomatic feathers during a speech to the US Congress during the Cold War when she urged more "mutual understanding between nations" -- comments taken as a criticism of the United States.
Tributes poured in. Trades union leader Lodewijk de Waal described her as a progressive monarch who cared for the weak in society. Leading Roman Catholic cleric, Cardinal Adrianus Simonis, said Queen Juliana was key to the cohesion of the nation. The Dutch royal family has managed to avoid the scandals that have dogged Britain's royals, but Queen Juliana's reign was not without its problems.
An upsetting episode of her reign was her husband's disgrace in the 1976 Lockheed bribery scandal. Bernhard was forced to relinquish his title of commander of the Dutch armed forces after a government commission found he had solicited bribes from the US plane manufacturer.
An earlier crisis was triggered by Queen Juliana turning to an austere faith healer in her desperate search for a cure for her youngest daughter, born almost totally blind in 1947.
Her husband was said to be unhappy, and Queen Juliana was advised in 1956 to ditch the faith healer after press reports of an impending split between the royal couple.
Queen Juliana looked weak at her last public appearance at the wedding of her grandson, Prince Maurits, in May 1998. Her health worsened after breaking a hip. In one of her last television interviews, Queen Juliana appeared to sum up the style and spirit of her reign when she said: "I have always done my best not to become old-fashioned."
A funeral date has not been set.
