Wilhelmina

Wilhelmina, full name Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria (1880-1962), Queen of the Netherlands (1890-1948), born in The Hague. In 1890, following the death of her father, King William III, the last male member of the House of Orange-Nassau, Wilhelmina became queen and her mother, Queen Emma, was appointed regent. Because Luxembourg refused to recognize a woman ruler, the union of the grand duchy with the Netherlands was terminated in that year by Wilhelmina's accession. She was crowned on September 6, 1898. In 1901 she married Henry, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Wilhelmina vigorously supported Dutch neutrality during World War I. In World War II, after the German invasion of the Netherlands (1940), she established a government-in-exile in England, where she became a symbol of Dutch resistance, remaining in contact with the Netherlands by radio. Wilhelmina returned to the Netherlands in 1945. On September 4, 1948, because of ill health, she abdicated in favour of her only child, Juliana.