[5] Her five godparents were King Leopold III of Belgium; Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone; Beatrix's maternal great-great-aunt Elisabeth, Princess of Erbach-Schönberg; her paternal great-uncle Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg; and Countess Allene de Kotzebue.

One month later, Beatrix went to Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, with her mother Juliana and her sister Irene, while her father Bernhard and maternal grandmother Queen Wilhelmina remained in London.

[7] With bodyguards and ladies in waiting, the family summered at Bigwin Inn on Lake of Bays, Ontario, where four private stone cottages of the resort served as their retreat.

Princess Juliana and her family were remembered for their "down to earth" friendliness, general gratefulness and great reverence for their homeland and people, to whom they paid homage by refraining from all luxuries offered to guests at the resort that was once billed as the largest and most luxurious summer resort in Canada.

To provide them with a greater sense of security, culinary chefs and staff catered to personal orders at meal time.

Upon their departure, the hotel musicians of the Bigwin Inn Orchestra assembled dockside; and at every public performance afterward through to the end of World War II, the Wilhelmus was played.

Beatrix went to the progressive primary school De Werkplaats in Bilthoven run by pacifist social reformers Kees Boeke and Beatrice Boeke-Cadbury.

In April 1950, Princess Beatrix entered the Incrementum, a part of Baarnsch Lyceum, where, in 1956, she passed her school graduation examinations in the subjects of arts and classics.

A group of Provos threw a smoke bomb at the Golden Coach, resulting in a street battle with the police.

On 25 November 1975, Beatrix and Prince Claus attended the independence ceremony of Suriname, held in the new nation's capital, Paramaribo, representing her mother the Queen.

She signed all new Acts of Parliament and royal decrees, and until a constitutional change late in her reign, appointed the informateur, an official who is responsible for chairing coalition talks in the formation of new governments.

At the state opening of parliament each September, she made a Speech from the Throne, in which the government announced its plans for the coming parliamentary year.

Claus and Beatrix had met at the wedding-eve party of Princess Tatjana of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, in summer 1964.

[16] The bride wore a traditional gown with train in duchesse silk satin, designed by Caroline Bergé-Farwick of Maison Linette, in Den Bosch, and the Württemberg Ornate Pearl Tiara.

After the Lockheed affair, Beatrix and Claus began to delve into the royal household and made plans to adapt it.

She was sworn in and inaugurated as monarch during a joint session of the two chambers of the States General at a ceremony held in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam later that day.

Outside of these constitutional duties, her other informal roles included being the highest representative of the kingdom internationally and to be a unifying figure locally.

This policy was introduced shortly after her inauguration, reportedly to protect her from political complications that might arise from "off-the-cuff" remarks.

Historian and Dutch royalty watcher J. G. Kikkert said in a lecture that the kiss had been staged, based on what he called "usually very reliable sources".

A year and a half later her mother died after long suffering from senile dementia, while her father succumbed to cancer in December 2004.

On 8 February 2005, Beatrix received a rare honorary doctorate from Leiden University, an honour the Queen does not usually accept.

She was interviewed on Dutch television, was offered a concert on Dam Square in Amsterdam, and a celebration took place in The Hague, the country's seat of government.

[27] On 30 April 2009, Beatrix and other members of the royal family were targeted in a car attack by a man named Karst Tates.

He crashed his Suzuki Swift into a parade in Apeldoorn, narrowly missing a bus carrying the Queen, before dying as a result of his injuries.

[28] In a broadcast on national media on 28 January 2013, Beatrix announced her intention to abdicate on 30 April (Koninginnedag), when she would have been on the throne for exactly 33 years.

[30] The broadcast was followed by a statement from Prime Minister Mark Rutte who paid tribute to Beatrix, saying "Since her investiture in 1980, she has applied herself heart and soul to Dutch society.

She lives in the small moated Drakensteyn Castle near the village of Lage Vuursche, and a townhouse near Noordeinde Palace.

These include: A few parks in the country also bear her name: It has been speculated that Beatrix is De Onbekende Beeldhouwer (Unknown Sculptor), whose work has been appearing in Amsterdam since 1983.

But when in conversation with the queen the practice was to initially address her as "Your Majesty" or in Dutch as "Uwe Majesteit"[40] and thereafter as "Mevrouw" (ma'am).