By 1948, she had returned to the liberated Netherlands and was the only survivor of the 16 monarchs who were sitting on their thrones at the time of her inauguration. She frequently spoke to the nation over radio and came to be regarded as a symbol of the resistance although she was criticised for failing to acknowledge some of the atrocities such as the Bombing of Nijmegen. She went on to ensure that her family was one of seven European royal houses still reigning.įollowing the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940, Wilhelmina fled to Britain and took charge of the Dutch government-in-exile. By that time, her business ventures had made her the world's first female billionaire in dollars. After taking charge of government, Wilhelmina became generally popular for maintaining Dutch neutrality during the First World War and solving many of her country's industrial problems. The only child of King William III of the Netherlands and Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Wilhelmina ascended to the throne at the age of 10 after her father's death in 1890, under her mother's regency. Her reign saw World War I, the Dutch economic crisis of 1933 and World War II. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Wilhelmina ( Dutch pronunciation: ( listen) Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948.
Queen Wilhelmina while in exile speaks to the Dutch people under Nazi occupation
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