[2] At the time of her birth, her family constituted the princely cadet line of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern, but after the death of his cousin and father-in-law Louis Rudolph in March 1735, Ferdinand Albert inherited the Principality of Wolfenbüttel and resigned as field marshal.

[1] In 1752, a dynastic marriage was negotiated between Juliana Maria and King Frederick V of Denmark and Norway who had lost his first wife Louise of Great Britain the previous year.

The wedding was celebrated on 8 July 1752 at the chapel of Frederiksborg Palace, just a little more than six months after the death of the king's first wife, with Juliana Maria being crowned the same day.

The wedding was celebrated by a number of court festivities on the royal palaces around North Zealand during the following summer months, but "among the common men the mood was more still, as this seems to them to be so sudden after the mourning of Queen Louise".

[3] While she lacked all influence in politics, as her own son progressed in age, she reportedly came to the conclusion that he would be more suitable as ruler than her stepson, the crown prince.

Her brother-in-law, Frederick the Great, had encouraged her marriage and expected her to act as his agent in Denmark and help him to remove Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff from his position, but she never participated in any such thing.

Her stepson king Christian VII rejected her attempts to make contact with him, as did his spouse, Caroline Matilda of Great Britain.

It was noted how the younger of the two queen dowagers were neglected by the royal couple: despite the fact that Juliana Maria's summer residence Fredensborg Palace was but a short distance from summer residence of the king and queen, Hirschholm Slot, she was never visited by them; she was only invited to the royal table when it was absolutely necessary, and at those occasions, she was markedly ignored, which demonstratively placed her in a neglected position at court.

By 1770, her stepson King Christian VII, had become insane and the power had fallen in the hands of his consort Caroline Matilda of Great Britain and her lover Johann Friedrich Struensee.

In January 1772, Queen Caroline Matilda, Johann Friedrich Struensee and Enevold Brandt were arrested and their rule ousted in a palace coup led by the opposition under Juliana Maria's confidante Ove Høegh-Guldberg.

On 17 January, Juliana Maria convinced the mentally unstable monarch to sign the arrest order of the queen, Struensee and Brandt, thereby effectively bringing about a coup.

Juliana Maria was hailed in the press, in pamphlets and poems as the leader of the coup and favorably compared to Esther, Deborah, and Judith.

The son of Juliana Maria, Hereditary Prince Frederick, was formally made regent for the mentally incapacitated monarch, but his rule was nominal.

In reality, however, Juliana Maria was universally and openly recognized as de facto ruler of the regency, aided by Ove Høegh-Guldberg.

Her ally and brother-in-law Frederick the Great warned her in 1783; According to stipulations, the Crown Prince should be admitted to the royal regency council as soon as he reached legal majority after his confirmation.

[9] The Crown Prince, however, had no intention to allow Juliana Maria and her son to continue their rule, and made contact with Bernstorff to prepare the ousting of the government of 1772.

On 12 April 1784, Juliana Maria commented to Frederick the Great: "As I fear one may frighten your majesty with words of an incident, which indeed has taken us by surprise, as it came so unexpected, and which could have occurred in a less public manner, I have taken it as my duty to inform my incomparable king and dearest friend myself", upon which she assured him that the so-called palace coup was in fact a transference of power long planned by mutual agreement between herself, her son the Crown Prince, that she could not praise the kindness of the Crown Prince enough and: When during the summer of 1784, the Crown Prince left for Frederiksberg Slot, while she was to spend her summer separated from the king at Fredensborg Palace, it was symbolically shown that the queen dowager was no longer to have anything more to do with the regency and care of the king and that she was to live the rest of her live quietly as a queen dowager and nothing more.

Her dissatisfaction was voiced in a couple of letters, such as when she wrote to the court official E. Schack that she wished that he would find out "what loyalty, righteousness and truthfulness can expect for reward in this vile world", and in a letter to Frederick the Great, while expressing her satisfaction with her new quiet life, she added: "I am surprised by nothing after my experiences during 23 years in this Kingdom, and I have in truth learned the nature of the world and its inhabitants".

[12] At least one other trading ship, Fronning Juliana Maria, acquired by Peter Rabe Holm, Hartvig Marcus Frisch and partners in Danzig in 1782, was also named after her.