Her mother was her father's second wife as well as his junior by forty-one years. She grew up in isolation but was well-prepared for her future. She was only ten when her father died and she became Queen of The Netherlands. For the next eight years her mother was Regent while she continued with her education. When visiting England, Queen Victoria greeted her with the words: "We are both Queens, my dear, so we may say what we like to each other". In 1898 she came of age and began her task as Queen of The Netherlands. Religious, she believed she was Queen by God's grace but honoured the restrictions placed upon her by the law. However, proud, self-assured and authoritarian, she was not easy in her dealings with the politicians; differences of opinion over defence and foreign affairs caused friction with her ministers. Aged twenty, on 7 February 1901 in The Hague she married a German Duke, Heinrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. After suffering at least one miscarriage, only one child, Juliana, was born in 1909 and soon the marriage faltered until gradually they led separate lives. In 1934 she lost both her mother and her husband and, alone, in 1940 she faced the German invasion of The Netherlands. The war years, from 1940 till 1945, were spent in England where she was the centre of the Dutch resistance. In the years after the war she became more and more disappointed in her expectations of change. Shortly before the war, the independence of the Dutch East Indies had been promised; however, the violent struggle after the war which created Indonesia was yet another concern and disappointment. Suffering from ischias, bronchitis, tiredness and lack of sleep, all added to the resurgence of party embroilments, making her decide to step down. In 1948 she abdicated in favour of her daughter and went into retirement as Princess Wilhelmina. Her last years, living in Apeldoorn, were spent painting and writing her auto-biography "Eenzaam, maar niet alleen" ("Lonely, but not alone"). Aged eighty-two, she died on 28 November 1962 and was buried in Delft on 8 December 1962. As with her her husband, the mourning was in white. 

Source: Leo van de Pas