[bassetman]

So sorry about the death of your Queen!

[pyritechips]

Netherlands loses its royal 'mother'
Last Updated Sat, 20 Mar 2004 14:47:38
AMSTERDAM - Queen mother Juliana, who reigned over the Netherlands for 32 years, has died at the age of 94.

She is the mother of reigning Queen Beatrix.

"In her, we lose a warm and caring woman, a mother to us all," said Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende on television. "If she hadn't been queen, she would have liked to have been a social worker."

Juliana ascended to the throne in 1948 and was dubbed the "bicycling monarch." She shopped at her local supermarket and sent her children to state schools.

Her popularity prompted the Labour party to drop its demand to turn the country into a republic.

Juliana had been out of the public eye for many years now. She was known to suffer heart rhythm problems and had been under 24-hour care by two nurses.

Canadians may recall Juliana from the Second World War. When the Nazis overran the Netherlands in 1940, the royal family fled to England. Eventually, Juliana moved to Canada and lived in Ottawa with her children. She gave birth to her third daughter, Margriet, in 1943 in an Ottawa hospital.

The Netherlands sends tulip bulbs to Ottawa annually as a gesture of thanks. The city holds a Tulip Festival in May every year.

Julianna is survived by her four daughters, 14 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Written by CBC News Online staff

*Note* The Canadian government declared the hospital to be annexed to The Netherlands so that Margriet could be born on Dutch soil and not in a foriegn country.

[ComputerFix]

So it was the Queen Mother, not the Queen?

(not to mitigate, just curious)