The Dutch queen’s mom died yesterday morning, and the first thing I did was go to the Dutch broadcasting corporation and view the news streams. I noticed that most people, when asked for the opinion, told that they regarded queen Juliana as the ‘people’s queen’.
Ruling from 1948 to 1980, she directed the Dutch government from signing the independence of Indonesia (the former Dutch East Indies) to the Lockheed scandal. Not to mention her utter disappointment in minister van Agt when he ordered Dutch police forces and military to bring an end to the De Punt hijacking.
It’s funny that the Dutch news agency mentioned that quite a percentage of the Dutch population did not live when Juliana reigned as a queen. I remember watching countless of ‘defiles’, that was until the (then) queen decided to hand the crown to daughter Beatrix. I also remember the demonstrations during that 1980 abdiction, where most people feared for the worst. Those were weird days.