The former Queen Juliana, who presided over the dismantling of the centuries-old Dutch empire and witnessed the birth of a social revolution during her 31-year reign of the Netherlands, died yesterday. She was 94.
"She died as a result of pneumonia, combined with a general deterioration of health," her doctors said.
PrincessJuliana, who gave up the title of queen when she abdicated in favour of her daughter Beatrix in 1980, spent the last decade of her life in seclusion, too ill and mentally feeble to appreciate the adoration of her people.
The Royal Palace was protective of her privacy, but she was known to suffer heart rhythm problems and to have been under 24-hour surveillance by two nurses. Her husband, Prince Bernhard, admitted in a televised interview in June 2001 that Juliana could no longer recognise members of her family.
Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina, Princess of Orange-Nassau, was 39 when she took the throne in 1948.
