About the book

Juliana (1909-2004) was a queen much loved by many; nevertheless we know little about her personal life. After a protected childhood in the confinement of the court and her flourishing during her stay in Canada during World War II, when she was much more proactive on behalf of the Allied case than is generally known, Juliana began her ‘weighty but beautiful’ duty in 1948, full of ambition. The competent princess was soon confronted with great personal and political disappointments and her reign was marked with a series of crises. Juliana’s longstanding love for Prince Bernhard, who fell from heaven to be her liberator in 1936, was her Achilles heel. He was almost her downfall.
Juliana was capricious and keen, pious and naive. One thing she was not was ordinary. She had to function in a world of men who often felt superior. And just as she resisted so many other conventions, from a young age Juliana resisted discrimination against women.
Never before has there been such a detailed, scientifically grounded biography of the monarch so many saw as ‘our’ queen. Withuis based her work on letters and other private material never previously published. This has enabled her to write not an intimate and penetrating life history as well as providing a portrait of an eventful era.