Beatrix of the Netherlands celebrates this Tuesday January 31, 2023 his 86th birthday. Like Margrethe II of Denmark, the former sovereign officially announced, during a radio and television speech, his abdication in favor of his eldest sonWillem-Alexander of the Netherlands in order to “place the nation in the hands ofa new generation“. He then had 45 years old and thus became thus youngest monarch in Europe. The great popularity of his wife, Maxima of the Netherlands, had certainly contributed to this decision. If the heir to the throne had struggled, eleven years earlier, to impose on his future subjects this young and pretty Argentinian commonerthis then became today one of the most beloved figures in the royal family, and the caring mother of three adorable princesses, Catharina-Amalia (19), Alexia (17) and Ariane (15).
By abdicating for the benefit of her son, Beatrix was following the destiny of her mother, Juliana, who had abdicated in 1980, at the age of 71, when she was ill and caught up in a media storm targeting her husband’s affairs. Prince Bernhard. However, for her successor, the choice of the year 2013 was not trivial. “I am not giving up because this function is a burden“had specified the one whose motto remained: “I will maintain”. Beatrix passed the crown to her son April 30, 2013on the very day of the birthday of his thirty-three years of reign and in the middle of the festivities which celebrated the 200 years of the end of the occupation of their country by France.
⋙ PHOTOS – Beatrix of the Netherlands, Juan Carlos of Spain, Akihito of Japan… These monarchs abdicated for their heir
A devoted grandmother
Just like her mother, Queen Juliana, who chose to regain his title of royal highness, Beatrix also regained her title of Princess of the Netherlands. The following year, in 2014, she moved back to Drakensteyn Castle in Lage Vuursche, where she had lived with her husbandPrince Claus, and their sons between 1963 and 1981.
There is no doubt that if the queen wanted to take a step back, it was also to concentrate on his family life. Behind her image as an iron lady is indeed hiding a devoted and loving grandmother, who is delighted to be able to watch her grandchildren grow up. Above all, the sovereign is a mother broken by the death of his second son, Johan Friso. Victim of an avalanche in February 2012, the prince, father of two little girls, was plunged into a deep coma when his mother’s abdication was announced. He never came out and died on August 12, 2013.
Photo credits: Royalportraits Europe/Bernard Ruebsamen