Beatrix was born on January 31, 1938 in Baarn and is the eldest child from the marriage of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. On March 10, 1966 she married Claus von Amsberg. Together they had three sons: Willem-Alexander, Friso and Constantijn. Beatrix has been a widow since 2002. In 2013, her son Friso died as a result of a skiing accident.
On the morning of April 30, 1980, Beatrix formally became queen when her mother Juliana signed the deed of abdication. In the afternoon in the Nieuwe Kerk, during a solemn session of the States General and in the presence of representatives of European royal houses, she was sworn in and inaugurated as Queen of the Netherlands.
Beatrix stepped down as head of state in 2013, after which her son Willem-Alexander succeeded her. The princess has been little in the public eye in recent years. The corona measures ensured that she also had to stay at home. Not only because of a possible risk to her health, but also to avoid creating a crowd at official trips and because almost all events were canceled or postponed.
Nevertheless, Beatrix contracted a corona infection at the end of 2021, which was detected after her four-day working visit to Curaçao at the end of November. Princess Beatrix was fully vaccinated and had also received a booster shot before she left for Curaçao. During the working visit, she mainly paid attention to the consequences of the corona pandemic and to nature conservation on the island.