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Beatrix of the Netherlands
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<p>Beatrix is a member of the <a href="/facts/Dutch_royal_house/gWX8dwql">Dutch royal house</a> who reigned as <a href="/facts/List_of_monarchs_of_the_Netherlands/9otUtB0M">Queen of the Netherlands</a> from 1980 until her <a href="/facts/Abdication/ptcIGUdn">abdication</a> in 2013. </p><p>Beatrix was born during the reign of her maternal grandmother, <a href="/facts/Queen_Wilhelmina/kU38zQDK">Queen Wilhelmina</a>, and became <a href="/facts/Heiress_presumptive/NPLIlCGB">heiress presumptive</a> upon the accession of her mother, <a href="/facts/Queen_Juliana/94ADCLXB">Queen Juliana</a>, in 1948. Beatrix attended a public primary school in Canada during <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>, and then finished her primary and secondary education in the Netherlands in the post-war period. In 1961, she received her <a href="/facts/Law_degree/dWtGK4Ip">law degree</a> from <a href="/facts/Leiden_University/MqnmnTtF">Leiden University</a>. In 1966, Beatrix married <a href="/facts/Claus_von_Amsberg/jeENGXsF">Claus von Amsberg</a>, a <a href="/facts/Germans/F7mBCrJ4">German</a> diplomat, with whom she had three children. When her mother abdicated on 30 April 1980, Beatrix succeeded her as queen. </p><p>Beatrix's reign saw the country's <a href="/facts/Netherlands_Antilles/5bmWIKqe">Caribbean possessions</a> reshaped with <a href="/facts/Aruba/zvI1fUg1">Aruba</a>'s <a href="/facts/Status_aparte/LVQC4sGQ">secession</a> and becoming its own <a href="/facts/Countries_of_the_Kingdom_of_the_Netherlands/q08uRoR9">constituent country</a> within the kingdom in 1986. This was followed by the <a href="/facts/Dissolution_of_the_Netherlands_Antilles/MS9LR0lA">dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles</a> in 2010, which created the new <a href="/facts/Caribbean_Netherlands/hCVdbmtP">special municipalities</a> of <a href="/facts/Bonaire/FLs4lUqU">Bonaire</a>, <a href="/facts/Sint_Eustatius/YCSuk9Tj">Sint Eustatius</a>, and <a href="/facts/Saba_(island)/sPfYbeGC">Saba</a>, and the two new constituent countries of <a href="/facts/Cura%C3%A7ao/upV1jGtJ">Curaçao</a> and <a href="/facts/Sint_Maarten/MUFmDfD5">Sint Maarten</a>. </p><p>On <a href="/facts/Koninginnedag/RgahLap7">Koninginnedag</a> (<i>Queen's Day</i>), 30 April 2013, Beatrix <a href="/facts/Abdicated/ptcIGUdn">abdicated</a> in favour of her eldest son, <a href="/facts/Willem-Alexander/5KUSYstl">Willem-Alexander</a>. At the time of her abdication at age 75, Beatrix was the oldest reigning <a href="/facts/Monarchy_of_the_Netherlands/1IqP0vKA">monarch in the country's history</a>. </p>